My latest column at Pajamas Media is up and I am getting socked around by everyone for my less than hateful portrayal of Hillary Clinton’s motives for staying in the race:
For all the talk of “glass ceilings” and “old boys networks” — and there are still significant barriers to professional women who seek power and influence in the political and corporate world — Hillary Clinton’s candidacy has shattered a few of those ceilings as she has elbowed her way into the oldest and most male of all networks: serious consideration for the most powerful office on the planet.
So she bows her neck and keeps charging not so much because she still has a slim chance at the nomination, but because she feels an obligation to the millions of women who are out there now and who will follow in her footsteps. She is still in it for the shining faces of teenage girls who look back at her from the audience and who see beyond the dream of becoming president and can now taste the reality of it. She is in it for the seniors who she cultivates so assiduously and who see in her perhaps a culmination of all their hopes and dreams that never materialized in their lifetime because of the barriers that Hillary has now smashed to pieces, never to be erected again.
This is not a quest for the nomination as much as it is the road to a validation of her place in history. One can hardly fault her for trying to keep faith with the millions who see her as a living icon and a harbinger of things to come. For that reason, she may decide to stay in the race until the last primary has been held so that every woman who believes in her and, more importantly, what she represents, can be heard.
I have heard from conservative women that they feel exactly the same way so maybe I am channeling my feminine side today. Or maybe I see Clinton as a historical figure rather than the rapacious, power hungry harridan that many rightly claim also dominates her personae.
People are three dimensional – they are not cartoons. To find absolutely good or evil people is extremely rare. Reagan was not a good father and could be distant with people – even his wife. FDR was a philanderer and wished to transform America into something approaching communism. To accept the good and bad in people is to recognize that they are human beings – imperfect, prone to mistakes, and not always living up (or living down) to our expectations.
I see Hillary as a historical figure standing astride two eras in American history. Her campaign will open the door to other women running for president so that the next time, the fact that a candidate is a woman will hardly be noticed. This is incredible for someone my age who grew up with June Cleaver as the model mother – a model I saw in my mother and the mothers of all my friends at that age. To travel from there to here in my lifetime is a journey that demands its own story, its own narrative. And Hillary Clinton is supplying that story.
In another decade, it will be commonplace for women to be running Fortune 500 companies, starting their share of new businesses, and running for president. This will not take place because of Hillary Clinton. But her campaign is a very significant milestone along the road we have travelled to give women the respect and dignity – and the power – that men demand for themselves.
12:17 pm
I don’t think it’s particularly “feminist” or un-conservative to note that in previous generations, this would not have been possible. And if a woman runs for President in 2012 or 2016, her gender will be unremarkable to anyone, in part because we’ve been through the Clinton 2008 campaign, and she’s proven her mettle in a way that Patty Schroeder’s and Carol Mosley Braun’s halting candidacies did not.
I also don’t have any particular problem with her continuing to run. For one thing, it only helps McCain that she do so. For another, it’s her campaign and she’s the one who gets to decide when it ends, not the media and not her opponent and not Howard Dean and not all the wide-eyed Obama Groupies and not Andrew Sullivan.
2:47 pm
Hillary Clinton is the female version of Jackie Robinson in presidential politics. She is indeed an historical figure, being the first woman to seriously contend for the American presidency. Like Robinson, she would not be in the position without an association with a white male (Branch Rickey for him, Bill Clinton for her). But also like Robinson, she has fought through the catcalls, overt hostility, threats and sabotage to establish herself as credible, capable and indominable in spirit. Jackie Robinson’s sheer strength of character and baseball skills opened the way for the tremendous black atheletes in professional atheletics today and HRC is doing the same for women in politics. Someday a conservative woman will come through that door, a la Lady Thatcher, and it will be easier for her thanks in part to Hillary.
That said, I never rooted for the Dodgers and I don’t vote for Hillary.
2:56 pm
This is why I love your blog- you produce genuinely insightful analysis (or at least possibilities) that I would not have come up with in a thousand years. My judgment tends to be clouded by my distaste for everything she has done in the past, and all she does today- it is very difficult for me to assign good motives to any HRC action, and that makes me a lesser man.
But if I was a betting man (and I am not), I would bet that she stays in because she is a rapacious, power-hungry harridan (I had to look up “harridan”- good word).
4:39 pm
I agree Hilary should stay in the race and, according to today’s Rasmussen poll (May 14, 2008); 62% of Democrats agree.
More interestingly, in the same poll, 29% of responding Democrats think she should run as an Independent if she loses the party nomination!
How about this scenario: Hilary runs as an Independent to provide an option to disenfranchised Democrats and Ron Paul or Mitt Romney run as Independents to provide an option for disenfranchised Republicans.
I, like most conservative Republicans, would love to have a viable alternative to the ding-bat McCain.
6:22 pm
Hillary is not a Thatcher or a Golda who I recognize as being the feminine leaders this past century. Those women had the brains and the fortitude to embarrass wannabe male politicians of their time. Hillary is a far cry from them and she loves the attention and camera that most politicians crave while they are intoxicated with the further power that they seek. Hillary is a New York Senator that has not been on the job since she took office and has been on the campaign the majority of her time in office. Her history is as pretty as a plugged toilet. Too many videos and speeches plainly prove this to be correct.
Women have their heros already firmly printed in the history books.
9:01 pm
I’m sympathetic to your view, Rick. Just a shame it couldn’t have been a Maggie Thatcher instead of the sleazy “wife” of a former Pres.
1:19 am
FDR was a philanderer and wished to transform America into something approaching communism.
1:27 am
philanderer
1. To carry on a sexual affair, especially an extramarital affair, with a woman one cannot or does not intend to marry. Used of a man.
2. To engage in many love affairs, especially with a frivolous or casual attitude. Used of a man.
1:35 am
Roosevelt
”
Twentieth-century America was blessed with greatness in many quarters, but none stood taller than Roosevelt, though of course for the last two decades of his life he could stand only with the aid of braces and crutches. He was a giant, immense in his flaws as well as his gifts, but a giant all the same. He led the nation out of the Depression that could well have destroyed it, and then he led it to total victory in the most terrible war the world has known. He gave hope to millions who had lost it, and he changed forever the relationship between the citizens of the United States America and their government.
”
1:44 am
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American Betrayal – Franklin Roosevelt Casts Poland into Communist Captivity
2:23 am
Analysis: Clinton’s decisive win…
After enduring a week of political obituaries, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign proved Tuesday that i…
8:07 am
She wasn’t the first “serious” woman candidate – Elizabeth Dole was
8:34 pm
Somehow, I cannot buy into this statement. The glass ceiling will still be there, no matter how many Clinton-like creatures have a go. Especially the Clinton types, I believe!
4:24 pm
Hanging around instead of standing down is an example of the selfishness and ego blatant within the clinton clan. Even with all their money and political connections they were unable to purchase the white house for another four years. The clintons have brough enough pain and disgrace to this nation and the democratic party and its time they fade away. Its a shame she won’t do the honorable thing and congratulate her worthy opponent who has battled her on her on her own turf and won, and not just by a narrow margin. Her opponent seems to have out-classed her and has shown her respect throughout the race. The same cannot be said for the clinton campaign, neither on her part nor that of her husband. She is arrogant, in debt, and her ego will not let her admit she’s through. One wonders after all her actions, whether or not she is electable to any position.