We are 200 years overdue for a woman U.S. President. But Hillary, at best, would be a mediocre start. What does she stand for? Similar to 2008, when her supporters are questioned the response is often conceptual like “It’s her turn.” The argument is based on proximity (she bade her time as First Lady for eight years in the White House, was a U.S. Senator for years, took a Secretary of State position as a consolation prize for losing in 2008, her last name is Clinton so it’s only fair she should inherit the position after her husband).
“It’s her turn” responses are often based on projection. A woman should be President. Women we know (or are) have been unfairly treated for centuries, and women should have their due. It doesn’t so much matter which woman, so much as a woman becomes President. Of course candidates typically are screens on which we can project whatever we want onto, but the blankness around Clinton seems more pronounced.
And the “it’s her turn” rationale is often based on name recognition or that the entire nation owes both parties in the Clinton marriage a go at being U.S. President. That’s a dynasty, and our nation was largely founded to get away from that stuff. Can we at least all agree to take a break from Bush and Clinton dynasties? We have another 300 million people to draw from. Sure, we’re a plutocracy and republic, but at least plutocrats alternate the family names of those in charge. It’s a courtesy they grant to us in the craven throng below.
Bolstering the theory that support for her is based on the concept, not reality, there’s polling (yeah, yeah, I know) that shows that Clinton is more popular in times when she is not running for office compared to in the public spotlight as an active candidate. This may be why the Clinton’s supporters in Democratic National Committee are trying to reduce the number of presidential candidate debates. Note Clinton’s numbers in 2008 and Spring 2015 as her new campaign was starting:
Has Clinton taken stances on important issues that were ahead of the crowd? The only one I can think of is trying to move the nation to single-payer healthcare way back as First Lady in 1993. Good on her for that. She tends to be years, even decades behind the right place to be. Alert people knew marriage equality was the just stance, yet the Clintons supported the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ensuring decades of misery and shame for thousands of families. Many of us were howling that the case for the Iraq invasion was based on bullshit, yet Clinton voted for that due to expediency and posturing. I don’t trust her to do the thing that’s right, I do expect her to take public moral stances based on Dick Morris-style cynical “triangulation”, though.
There is no doubt that she has been subjected to decades of frothing attacks by the verifiable “vast right-wing conspiracy”. David Brock’s Blinded by the Right laid this out in great detail, as he was one of the lead right-wing conspirators. And the expensive, vapid circuses continue. Trying to make Benghazi a thing, private email servers a thing, on and on.
I see that women in politics have a more difficult balancing act when it comes to a public persona. Too assertive and behaviors that would label a man “daring” or “ballsy” get a woman labeled a “bitch”. Too soft and behaviors described as “empathetic” in a man get a woman labeled “emotional”. Women have to worry about triggering responses to however people feel about their own mothers. Men in politics don’t seem to have to deal with people’s father issues so overtly.
But Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi, even Olympia Snowe (yeah, she’s a Republican – there are sane, moderate ones out there – by the way take your party back you guys!) would make for more appealing candidates. How about Cecile Richards?
Heck, if Hillary Clinton ditched her married name and ran under her birth name as Hillary Rodham that would make me feel a little better. Actually, wouldn’t that be marvelous?
