Gloria Steinem… asks whether a woman born in exactly Barack Obama's circumstances would ever have made it to the U.S. Senate, much less have a shot at the presidency, but she never stops to ask whether a black woman with Hillary Clinton's bio would ever have enjoyed the advantage of her husband's success at the highest level of politics to slingshot her on her way.
The point is that Hillary's path is the privileged one here, in a way that only a female candidate could be. She emerged into regional and national prominence because of her husband, not because of herself. His career opened her door, however admirably she has taken advantage of that fact. (Chris Crane via Andrew Sullivan)
To say that “she emerged into regional and national prominence because of her husband” is reductive and misleading, and has gone on unchecked throughout this entire election. Bill Clinton's career succeeded in large part due to Hillary Clinton’s hard work behind the scenes, her firm grasp of policy, and her clear vision for the future. To imply that Clinton just “slingshot”-ed her way to the top makes denies how instrumental she was in her husband’s ascension, and how much political acumen and experience she has because of it. Read the Carville/Matlin book, where Carville talks about how Clinton’s smarts and grasp of the issue helped Bill Clinton run a successful campaign.
Read Sullivan himself, who just yesterday said, “[Bill] Clinton will be deeply involved in a possible future Clinton administration, just as his wife was in his.”
Read any number of the conservative critics who, in 1992, said "that the Clintons may have pushed too hard on the concept of an unprecedented partnership in the White House,” They called her:
"a hall monitor" type whose drive and earnestness are off-putting: "She doesn't complement Clinton because she appears to be another liberal policy wonk. It doesn't seem like a family -- more like a merger." (NY Times, May 18 1992)
When she was involved in her husband’s campaign and presidency, she was a meddling power-hungry bitch. Now she’s a privileged lady who gets to side-step all the “real” work while her husband - ever so chivalrously - "opens the door" for her to waltz right through.
Calling another Clinton presidency represents a "dynasty" – a word used by both Democrats and Republicans – is just as frustrating. It implies that Bill has taken all he earned and handed it to her in a neatly wrapped package. The truth is that she and Bill earned it together, and now it’s her turn to step up. Using the term "dynasty" implies a sense of entitlement and privilege which completely disrespects the hard work she’s done for the past 40 years.
Hillary Clinton did what a lot of women of her generation, and the generation before that, ad nauseum did: they married a man they loved and believed in, did what they could to support his career, then allowed themselves to be the center of attention once his goals were achieved. Now the same people who endorsed and imposed that system are trying to punish her for following their rules. It's enough to make you want to cry.
No comments:
Post a Comment