One for the history books

by | Jun 9, 2016 | Editor's Blog, Presidential race | 9 comments

Today, Hillary Clinton is a controversial figure. She’s a rallying point for women who’ve been fighting for women’s rights and equality for the past 25 years.  She’s been vilified by the left and right for everything from her honesty to her relationship with Wall Street to her foreign policy. But none of these factions will determine Hillary’s place in history.

For women like my wife and her friends, Hillary Clinton is a symbol of possibility. She came into their world as the First Lady who took an active role in her husband’s administration, leading the charge for health care reform and going toe-to-toe with the boys’ club that ran Washington. They watched her endure defeat and humiliation, ridiculed by her enemies in ways that would never have happened to men. And they watched her come back, time after time. For them, she’s a symbol of the resilience, determination, and, yes, compromise necessary to break down barriers. Clinton personified the saying, “Well behaved women seldom make history.”

For another generation of women, my eldest daughter’s friends, Clinton is just another member of a political establishment that’s underserved their generation. By the time they reached political awareness, Clinton had always been on the scene. She wasn’t a symbol of struggle or change; she was just another politician who happened to have a more famous husband. Many of them opted for the septuagenarian who promoted a reform agenda over the woman who seemed to offer more of the same.

I’ve watched the election through the prism of my wife, whose first vote for president was Bill Clinton in 1992. For awhile, she was torn. She was intrigued by Bernie Sanders and his progressive agenda, but still loyal to the woman who had inspired her and showed her what women can do. Her flirtation with Sanders ended when his supporters started viciously attacking Clinton.

Women who had been on the fence, suddenly jumped off in defense of their mentor. With careers and professions to consider, they didn’t wrestle publicly with their opponents on social media like their younger peers. They formed private support groups on Facebook, places where they could vent and reinforce their support for the less progressive but more historical choice. They became a silent majority within the Democratic fold that gave Clinton a huge majority of votes and pledged delegates in the primary.

But neither the skeptics of the millennial generation nor the Gen X fighters will define Clinton.  She will ultimately be defined by the generation of children, like my son and daughter, watching this election. They will write the history books and, for most of them, this will be an election to remember. Their parents kept them up at night to watch Hillary Clinton’s speech when she won the nomination. Much of the controversy surrounding her today will be lost. She’ll go down in history as the first woman to be the presidential nominee for a major political party and, most likely, the first woman president. Particularly for our daughters, the message is important and essential, at the heart of the ideals of our country: anybody can be president of the United States.

 

9 Comments

  1. Lee Mortimer

    It is because Hillary Clinton “most likely (will be) the first woman president” that I feel secure in withholding my support and voting instead for Jill Stein (provided the Green Party gains write-in status in North Carolina). The benefit will be that when Clinton manages to squeeze past someone so demonstrably ill-suited for the presidency as Donald Trump, that her small winning margin will serve as notice that America deserves a better way of choosing our presidents. And her embarrassingly small margin over Trump should then motivate Clinton to prove she is better than what voters have concluded about her.

    • Norma Munn

      I am curious what “better way” you would recommend. I would readily vote for three: much shorter campaigns ; an end to barriers to voting; and eliminating all PACs and any other forms of money other than small individual contributions or public financing. After that, not sure. Probably no caucuses, or at least seriously changed ones where widespread participation is possible. Probably automatic registration for young people as they turn 18.

      • Lee Mortimer

        All those are worthy proposals for presidential selection. For general elections, the most important would be the National Popular Vote (NPV) plan that is more than halfway to implementation (http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation). In conjunction with NPV, some version of France’s two-round general election would streamline, shorten, and alleviate many of the worst features of our current presidential primary morass. I wrote an article about that four years ago, but it’s no longer online. If you send me a note, I could email you a PDF copy of the article (leemort1@yahoo.com).

        • Norma Munn

          Thanks. Sent email re article.

  2. Christopher Lizak

    History has been made. Hmm. Yes, the Presidential Glass Ceiling has been broken at the primary level. That is a good thing.

    I wish I could feel the joy of the moment like I did when Obama was elected in 2008, like apparently a lot of women of my generation feel right now. I could really use that feeling of hope for the future right now.

    But instead I’m left with an awful sinking feeling – a realization that we have ended up in a situation where the best we can possibly do is maintain the status quo. A realization that our political system just gave us two candidates that are essentially despised – with approval numbers in the 30’s and disapproval numbers in the 50’s.

    Is that what we are to expect now? That our political system will keep giving us unpopular plutocrats, and we get to decide which one to vote against?

    I knew that this was the likely outcome out of the starting gate (though we thought it would be Bush not Trump), yet it still depresses me.

  3. Thomas W Hill

    Thomas, “[Your wife’s] flirtation with Sanders ended when his supporters started viciously attacking Clinton.” How about giving us a break? Clinton supporters have been attacking Bernie viciously from the moment he entered the race, slandering him and demanding that he withdraw from a race wherein he has invested his heart and soul. And they have been aided by the corporately-owned TV media. Bernie lost the primary because he was too principled to attack Hillary personally, especially on Bill’s conduct and her compromise of top secret materials. Trump has no such scruples. Real Clear Politics shows that Hillary has 2203 pledged delegates and Bernie has 1828. The number required to win the Demo nomination is 2382. Hillary locked up 574 super-delegates early on (most before the first citizen vote had been counted), and Bernie has 48, with 90 uncommitted. Reverse the super-delegate numbers and Bernie wins going away. But then you sexists would be rioting in the streets, throwing benches, etc., and threatening to vote for Trump.

    • Norma Munn

      Are you really going to ignore the enormous difference in the number of popular votes between Clinton and Sanders? Regardless of super delegates, those votes should be considered. I doubt you would be so willing to disregard them had you been one.
      I also suggest you think very carefully about the caucus system under which Sanders won so many delegates, as contrasted with the primary processes from which the majority of Clinton’s delegates come. Caucuses sound like great ways to involve folks until you consider the times they are held, which tend to eliminate many folks from participation, the need to publicly declare your voting preference, which many people simply will not do. I have never thought they were great ideas and the more I learned this year, the less I see them as democratic. (Please note the small “d.”)
      This is not a perfect process, but Bernie has not won the popular vote nor the majority of the pledged delegate by a long shot. Why should the super delegates ignore the person who has? And, please don’t answer by saying the polls show Sanders beating Trump by a larger margin. We don’t select our candidates, I hope, based on public polls.
      I am glad Bernie chose to run. He put on the public agenda very important issues, and none of the blogs, or friends, colleagues I know, have derided him or his supporters — even when he said Hillary Clinton was unqualified to be president, which was both wrong and gave the GOP a perfect quote for an ad against her. However, I have never in all my years read anything like the irrational slurs and claims about anyone as I have in the past few months about Hillary Clinton. They rank with the racism I have seen about Obama. It is deeply dispiriting to see such garbage as part of this campaign. So, please stop calling us “sexists” and suggesting that Clinton supporters are irrational. (Reminds me too much of the men who used to say that women should only be wives and mothers, etc. etc. etc. And, yes, I would consider throwing something at a man who did that today.)

  4. Norma Munn

    I saw JFK once also, but not quite that personally. For reasons that elude me, he had a small (and it was small) campaign stop in Jacksonville, FL and I went a bit early. Ended up at the very front, and, I too recall his being somehow smaller. He was still interesting, but I also thought so very, very young. Given my age, that was odd, but it always stayed in my mind.

    The Benghazi hearing was Hillary at her best in some way. Calm, well informed, and so much more in control than the inquisition. I started to watch, intending to simply drink my coffee and move on. I stayed to the end. Have not done that since Watergate.
    I thought both Warren and Biden were outstanding in their presentations yesterday to the American Constitution Society. Each put Trump’s remarks on the judiciary squarely in the framework of the efforts by the GOP to control and intimidate the judiciary for the last couple of decades. They were scathing about how it conflicted with both the Constitution and the views of the framers. Along with the President’s endorsement of Hillary, I would say Trump had a decidedly bad day – well deserved.
    It is early, however, and I expect the Benghazi inquisitors to put out their report with every possible slur, etc. against Hillary probably just prior to the convention. Doubt it will do much, and for that they cost us taxpayers millions and millions.

  5. Norma Munn

    My first presidential vote opportunity was JFK versus Nixon, so I have seen a both a few presidents and a lot of campaigns. As much as I support Hillary and agree with the previous comment, I did not expect to be so moved, nor elated, Tuesday night. No, she is not the most charismatic candidate I have ever seen, but I have also seen quite a few of those fail when it came to actually thinking about solving problems. I am fiercely proud of her for her decades long commitment to children, to women’s rights, and finally to human rights. I respect her stubborn insistence that “We” can do better. I admire her intelligence and I do not believe the innuendo and smears. I also don’t see her as a perfect person, devoid of mistakes, but then I have not found such a being on this planet. But I trust her to work as hard as she can and as smartly as she can for me, my loved ones, my friends and yes, even those who smear her. Ultimately, the “We” is what is important.

    As for Trump, I shudder to imagine what he would do to this country. His only concern is ultimately for himself, and he would not know the truth if it hit him in the head. Ignorance and bullying are his least offensive character failures.

    I don’t look forward to this campaign given Trump’s behavior. He fits well into the “Lord of the Flies” approach to life and his ranting and vicious lies will continue to be hurtful to many. I also will never forget the GOP elected officials who have come out in support of him. They are well aware of the damage he can do, but have put themselves and their party ahead of the country. I predict they will further jump on the Trump bandwagon and add to the shrill, mean, lying about Hillary Clinton.

    But for the moment, I am going to re-watch Hillary’s speech Tuesday night and revel in the sheer joy of seeing her succeed.

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