I was tabling for Obama (full disclosure) the other day, and a woman who was very active in NOW and the ERA drive in Missouri came by. She declared that she was voting for Hillary “…because I want to see a woman president in my lifetime.” Discussing issues with her revealed that she disagreed, as a progressive, with many Clinton positions…especially Hillary’s vote calling Iran’s Army a “terrorist” organization. For her, Hillary’s gender trumped everything.
Hard to argue with that, but would Hillary be the first female President, or, would she hold a kind of Barry Bonds place in the record books?
First Female President* (asterix)
More below the fold…
Seems to me that Hillary as a former first lady will always be viewed first, fair or not, as Bill’s wife and First Lady. Not a feminist viewpoint, but like Barry Bond’s record breaking ball, Hillary Clinton should she win, would always have an asterix next her “first female” designation.
There are qualified female Governors, business leaders and Senators… Republicans and Democrats… ready to run for President. When a progressive woman in that field runs I will gladly work for her election.
Meanwhile lets choose who to support, not by their race, gender or sexual orientation, but by the quality of their characters, their goals and positions on issues. Vote for Hillary because of her views and character, not because of her sex.
What does Hillary Clinton have to say about it?
Ironically in response to a debate question about whether she was “playing the gender card”, the primary candidate denied she was doing so by telling us about all the 95 year old women she meets at her events who say “I just want to see a woman President in my lifetime…”
The gender card.
The gender card with an asterix.
I hope I don’t have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary next year like I did for Kerry in 2004. Please no more DLC insiders for candidates. Hillary is way too fond of corporate money, NAFTA type trade deals, H1B visa increases, etc., for my tastes.
But it should be noted that she follows an old Southern custom. Several times when the husband-governor of a Southern state couldn’t run again, the wife was elected as a place holder for the popular governor. I know this happened in Alabama with the Wallaces. I believe there was a second instance of “surrogate wife governor” but I can’t recall who specifically. Is Hillary going for a upgrade of this tradition to the White House?
Hillary Clinton is definitely not my choice, but if she wins the presidency, she will be the first female president full stop. There will be no asterisk.
… and I’m no fan of those either, but that is a separate issue from whether people will think of her as “Bill’s wife and First Lady.” It’s not Hillary’s fault if people think of her that shallowly, and I don’ see why we should care about it.
on being Bill Clinton’s wife. I don’t think so. She is perfectly capable of standing on her own, rather notable, merits. I am not a strong fan of Hillary’s b/c of her DLC leanings, but if she is the candidate I will vote for her with hope in my heart. Since females are prone to thinking w. both sides of the brain, that would be twice as much going on as currently is happeing in the WH. Too often among the gen public I hear, “America is not ready for a female prez”. Well if not now, then when?” Almost every other nation in the world, including Pakistan, has had a female leader at one time or another. Even Latin America is coming around.
play the gender card and yet people can say things like this about her.
She’s a woman. If she is president she will be the first woman president. And she will be the first woman who was elected president.
I’m not supporting Hillary but posts like this sometimes make me think I should. Because it would be nice to see a woman elected.
The fact that she isn’t progressive enough doesn’t mean she isn’t a woman. The fact that you don’t like her doesn’t mean she isn’t a woman. The fact that you may think she doesn’t act like “a lady” or whatever your conception of how a woman should act doesn’t mean she’s not a woman.
And then this:
(emphasis mine)
What a closed minded statement even for someone who obviously would view her that way on the day she was sworn in. Always? You’d always view her that way? Even if she was president for eight years? No matter what she did in office during that time? None of it would matter to you -she’d just be the little wife? Sheesh.
Before you start criticizing someone else for not being progressive enough – look in the mirror.