# Hillary Clinton, the 'Seinfeld' Candidate **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 9, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317 "2007-03-09T21:53:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/1 "2007-03-09T21:53:31Z")
[Running a ‘campaign about nothing.’](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/08/AR2007030801786.html) > [@](#): > > Yesterday, the Democratic front-runner took a number of provocative stands as she spoke about soldiers and veterans at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank: > > “If you serve your country, your country should serve you.” > > “I’m here to say that the buck does stop with this president.” > > “Let us work . . . to take care of those who are taking care of us.” > [@](#): > > “I come to share the memories of a troubled past and a hope for a better tomorrow,” Clinton said in Selma, Ala., on Sunday. “Our future matters, and it is up to us to take it back, put it into our hands, start marching toward a better tomorrow.” Any objections? > > Clinton reserved her loftiest words for the “blood, sweat and tears” put into the Voting Rights Act, which “gave more Americans from every corner of our nation the chance to live out their dreams,” she said. “And it is the gift that keeps on giving.” Clinton kept giving, too: “Let us join together and complete that march for freedom, justice, opportunity and everything America should be,” she said. > > A month earlier, she appeared before a Democratic National Committee crowd. “I’m in, and I’m in to win, because we have to take our country back!” she announced. She mixed metaphors like a Cuisinart: “Take our country back and put it on the right track. . . . I am not running for president to put Band-Aids on our problems. . . . Let’s plow ahead.” > > On the Senate floor, Clinton’s observations have been sharp and trenchant. On national security: “Keeping our nation strong and our people safe requires that we employ the best and smartest strategies available.” On Iraq: “Standing on the sidelines is no way to stand up for the troops.” On civil rights: “The endurance of our democracy requires constant vigilance.” In the words of George Tirebiter, “And you can believe me, because I never lie and I’m always right.” Saying stuff like that, it’s hard to be wrong. Of course, you’ve said nothing, but it sure sounds great. Yeah, I know: she has actual positions on actual issues. Just barely. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/2 "2007-03-09T21:58:32Z")
[Quote=Hillary Rodham Clinton] “Our future matters, and it is up to us to take it back, put it into our hands, start marching toward a better tomorrow.” [/Quote] You guys go on ahead. I’m gonna wait for the bus, if you don’t mind. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/3 "2007-03-09T21:59:44Z")
and while we’re on the roll, can I comment about her vocal inflections? They’ve annoyed me since Bill’s days in the WH, you always know when she’s about to utter the 5 second sound bite because it’s all done in one breath with a strident vocalization, carefully enunciating every. single. **word**! _(pause for applause)_ damned annoying. (edited to add parenthetical comment) ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/4 "2007-03-09T22:05:39Z")
I don’t see how I could vote for her…I sure as hell hope she doesn’t get the nomination. She’s obviously the least inspiring of the bunch. Personally I’d rather have someone with some big plans than her. I want radical change far beyond correcting the mistakes of GWB. Yeah, maybe it’s risky, but dammit, we could take the risk now. Otherwise we’ll just slide further into mediocrity in everything we do. It’s quite annoying that she’s the democratic front-runner. She has no charisma. But she’s got “experience!” Well, consider me non-plussed. I always though of her as a power-hungry person willing to sacrifice nearly any kind of personal beliefs for power. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/5 "2007-03-09T22:15:07Z")
That faux Southern accent in Alabama last week was just painful. As was Obama’s constant use of “y’all.” ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/6 "2007-03-09T22:48:37Z")
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe] I don’t see how I could vote for her…I sure as hell hope she doesn’t get the nomination. [/QUOTE] Agreed. Sure, she’d be better than the fool we’ve got now. But every other candidate, on any side, would be, too. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/7 "2007-03-09T22:54:03Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] As was Obama’s constant use of “y’all.” [/QUOTE] In his defense, that’s an easy one to pick up and a hard one to put down. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/8 "2007-03-09T22:55:08Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] As was Obama’s constant use of “y’all.” [/QUOTE] Many blacks say “y’all” no matter where they live. Right there in Chicago is another conspicuous example — Oprah. She says it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/9 "2007-03-09T22:55:16Z")
I’m pretty apolitical, but if she has funky bass riffs play after every press conference, I’m voting for her. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/10 "2007-03-09T22:58:04Z")
I agree that she has a public image of being a consummate politician with absolutely no real convictions. But: (a) how much of that is what we believe just because we’ve heard that so often from so many different sources? Isn’t that exactly what her enemies want us to believe? and (b) to the extent that that’s true, so what? Wasn’t Bill more or less the same way? And (barring getting hijacked due to his zipper issues) didn’t he generally do a damn good job as president? Not that I necessarily support her over the other democrats right now, but I think she’s being dismissed in this thread a bit facilely. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/11 "2007-03-09T23:01:29Z")
I’m not black or southern and I’ve been known to say y’all from time to time, a habit I picked up from some rural Marylanders in my teens. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/12 "2007-03-09T23:06:32Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Many blacks say “y’all” no matter where they live. Right there in Chicago is another conspicuous example — Oprah. She says it all the time. [/QUOTE] I’m aware of that. But the key to your argument is that she does it _all the time_. The reason i made my observation, as you surely must have realised, is that Obama’s use of the term struck me as unusual, for him. I’ve heard a few Obama speeches over the past months, and snippets of even more on news reports and on shows like The Daily Show, and i can’t recall ever hearing him use it before. If you have some examples contradicting my experience, i’d be happy to change my opinion on the matter. Not only that, but there are ways to say “y’all” without giving it an extended Southern drawl. Obama didn’t just use the term, he used it in an accent clearly different from the one he normally uses. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/13 "2007-03-09T23:13:40Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Borgia] I’m not black or southern and I’ve been known to say y’all from time to time, a habit I picked up from some rural Marylanders in my teens. [/QUOTE] Absolutely, and in fact, in a language like English that has no good term for addressing people in the second person plural (vosotros, ustedes, etc.), a term like “y’all” can serve a real grammatical purpose in informal speech. When i was growing up in Australia, some people used “youse” in the same way. “Where are youse going?” But, as i said, it’s not a usage i’d ever heard before from Obama, and the careful management of candidate image and self-presentation that goes into appearances like this make me doubt its authenticity. I have nothing in particular against Obama—i’ve defended him on these Boards—and he’s certainly not the first candidate to change his accent or his usage or something else about himself to appeal to a particular constituency. Doesn’t mean i have to like the practice, though. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/14 "2007-03-09T23:24:00Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Many blacks say “y’all” no matter where they live. Right there in Chicago is another conspicuous example — Oprah. She says it all the time. [/QUOTE] Ummmm…Oprah is from Mississippi. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/15 "2007-03-09T23:30:16Z")
Senator Obama is from Illinois, is he not? I used to work in an all-night diner with a young lady from Chicago. The plural pronoun for the second person is “youse.” ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/16 "2007-03-09T23:52:54Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] I’m pretty apolitical, but if she has funky bass riffs play after every press conference, I’m voting for her. [/QUOTE] This is how I will base my vote until two funky bass riffs run against each other. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/17 "2007-03-09T23:53:45Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Senator Obama is from Illinois, is he not? I used to work in an all-night diner with a young lady from Chicago. The plural pronoun for the second person is “youse.” [/QUOTE] No, he’s from Hawai’i. Not that we say y’all, or youse, either. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/18 "2007-03-09T23:59:42Z")
Well, I meant “currently.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/19 "2007-03-10T00:13:02Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] You guys go on ahead. I’m gonna wait for the bus, if you don’t mind. [/QUOTE] I think we’re all Bozos on this bus. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317/20 "2007-03-10T00:16:02Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Well, I meant “currently.” [/QUOTE] Fair enough. I was responding in the “Oprah’s from Mississippi” sense. His childhood speech wouldn’t have included anything but “you,” unless his Kansan kin used some other form. Do they say “y’all” in Kansas? I grew up in New York with a mother from Tennessee and I’ve been know to use both “youse” and “y’all.” I also like to keep pointing out that Obama’s from Hawai’i. And it doesn’t bother me if he says “y’all” occasionally. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-the-seinfeld-candidate/395317.md?page=2)