Projected Fantasies and the Political Process: Toward Understanding Why Hillary Lost

Abstract

The author explores the events involved in the Democratic Party primary campaign of 2007–2008. Well before the campaign began, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was seen as the odds-on favorite to capture the nomination. But, that did not happen. Not only did she trail a relatively politically unknown, but she lost favor with many of those who would normally have supported her, such as advocates of gender progressivism, including many women. The author attempts to explain what happened by examining voter behavior, large group identity and its corollary of political identity, and the relation of large groups to leaders. Noting the effect of the sexual scandals during the Presidency of her husband, the author postulates that particular scenarios that have been repetitive throughout history, in art and literature, and reflected in mythology were graphed onto the perception of the Clintons. These narratives, much like Jung’s archetypes, have evocative potential. Freud’s early formulation of oedipal betrayal is used to explain the dynamics of infidelity and how that weakened Senator Clinton in the eyes of the public.