Hillary's Sapphic Tragedy

I read Terry Castle's recent "diary" entry in the LRB as an "outing" of Hillary Clinton. If my interpretation is accurate, and Hillary Clinton is, in fact, a lesbian, I find her a far more sympathetic figure than I did when I assumed she was heterosexual. For now I understand that Hillary's political ambitions have forced her to engage in a complicated series of subterfuges.

Before, I saw Hillary playing Tammy Wynette to Bill Clinton's George Jones. But Tammy divorced George, and I could not, for the life of me, understand why a self-assertive "liberated" woman like Hillary never left a serial philanderer like Bill.

Did she really cherish a more traditional view of marriage than, say, Ronald Reagan? Had she not noticed the fact that Reagan's divorce did not seriously undermine his political career? Or did she think that, as a woman, voters would hold her to a different standard than they would hold a man? Perhaps she did. But in light of her husband's long track record of infidelities, I think it quite plausible that the electorate would forgive her--even applaud her--if, after 2000, she and Bill chose to go their separate ways.

There would be decidedly less applause, however, if Hillary left Bill for someone such as Huma Abedin. For Huma is not only a woman (married to an unfaithful husband), but a Muslim. Perhaps, after all of her struggles in politics and heterosexual marriage, it was just Hillary's luck to fall in love with someone who would be perceived by many of her adversaries as the ultimate political liability.

All of which leads me to see the life of Hillary Clinton as the stuff of Greek tragedy. I also see the loose relationship that she has often exhibited with the facts (e.g., her shifting position on same-sex marriage or on NAFTA, her seemingly delusional tale of coming under sniper fire in Bosnia, etc.) as part of a larger pattern of deceit. Hillary Clinton has never allowed the public to see her as she understands herself: a woman who loves, and seeks sexual gratification from, other women. The lies and prevarications begin there and the habit of spinning like a top whenever she is questioned spills over into her professional life.

This realization, however, has not persuaded me to change my position on Hillary's candidacy for President of the United States. Hillary Clinton is a plutocrat and, as such, represents everything that is wrong with American politics. I want her out of the Presidential race; I want her out of national politics altogether. But now I want her out for an additional reason: she is 68 years of age and, if I'm correct, a closeted homosexual. I have no problem with her gender, age, or sexual orientation--in my view, none of those facts disqualify her in the least to be President of the United States. Her Wall Street pandering and war mongering most definitely do.

My additional reason is this: even troglodyte Neo-Cons deserve a decent shot at personal fulfillment and happiness. For her own sake, Hillary Clinton should divorce Bill and ride off into the sunset with her lesbian lover and enjoy the time she has left on this earth being true to herself and--finally--honest with the rest of us.