Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton is a remarkable person. I didn't vote for her in the primary. But she's still a remarkable person. People really love Hillary Clinton. And people really hate Hillary Clinton. I am sort of baffled as to why on both accounts. I can not comment on her background as a senator or her voting record in congress and because politics is far too important a stage for me to feign knowledge in this, I readily profess my ignorance. So to those who love Hillary Clinton for her senatorial record and various achievements, I commend you. For those who hate Hillary Clinton for her senatorial record and, in this case, various failures, I commend you also. Political conciousness of any kind is a worthy and attractive trait. Congrats.
But then there are those people. You know, those people. I'm not talking about Republicans or Democrats. Those people are bi-partisan. They span across the ages, races, and religions. They can be either sex. They are just those people.
Those people are the people that don't like Hillary Clinton just 'cause. I'm not naming names, but I recently heard a young woman say "I just don't know if a woman can be President." Upon hearing my audible gasp of dissent she cushioned her statement with the following "I just don't know if America is ready for a female president." And of course, once the young, wannabe radical feminist driven burst of testosterone and estrogen finished coursing through my body and I no longer felt the need for blood, I started to think about that statement. Although I have heard it before and, I am ashamed to admit, even said it myself at 17 when I was still reeling from a Bush administration re-election and had lost all hope in the democratic process, I had never actually heard that sentiment verbalized by a young woman. The sentiment that maybe it is just because she is a woman that those people don't like her.
One of the young women I know from University was talking with me about politics, something in which we are both very interested. And while she is very informed about politics and current political situations, she could not give me a concrete reason why she just didn't like Hillary Clinton. It was just something about her, she said. Something that just didn't feel right. A hunch. An irksome feeling. Well, what about her policies, I said. Her stance on the environment, the war in Iraq, her current plan for healthcare reform, her stance on same-sex marriages, her views on illegal immigrants. What, WHAT about her do you not like. And she just could not do it. It was just not there. She just had a "feeling."
I have been feeling this sentiment from many people. The common "icky" feeling that Hillary Clinton inspires. Although I will admit her speeches are lackluster and her looks, made important through our televised and wireless society, may not be those of a supermodel, I certainly don't feel something about her. If so many people, from so many different backgrounds, can feel the same "ickyness" about the same person what is the common denominator? What is it about her? For some reason, I think the answer may lie just below the belly button and just above the kneecaps. You guessed it, Hillary Clinton has a vagina.
That must be the reason. I can think of no other plausible explanation. An illustration, if you will. I recently saw a bumper sticker on facebook that made me angry. It said "Hillary Clinton: Not good enough for Bill, not good enough for America." That seemed curious to me. Not only was it curious that someone could take a horrible experience in a person's life, that of a woman's husband cheating on her and lying about it, and make it fodder for a joke, but it was also curious that Hillary Clinton's personal marital woes would be ground for her dismissal as a presidential candidate. Now, I know the sticker was in jest and I know that the person sending the bumper sticker probably doesn't believe that mistakes a woman's husband makes reflect negatively on her, but the fact remains that it was said in the first place. The saying implied firstly, that Hillary Clinton was "not good enough" for her husband and that was the reason he had an affair with another woman. Implying that it was some sort of character flaw within her that caused her husband to stray. But that is not all the phrase is implying. It is implying much, much more about U.S. views on gender roles and politics. There are deeply divided gender roles still in the United States today and women are continually categorized by these gender roles. If Hillary Clinton can't be a "woman" in the traditional sense, if she can't fit into the gender roles in our society, then she can't do much else either. Because, after all, isn't it a woman's job to satisfy her husband? Isn't is what women are supposed to do? Look after home and hearth. And if a woman can not do that, how is she supposed to run a country?
People, those people, should describe their funky feeling about Hillary Clinton as an "uncomfortable" feeling. U.S. citizens, as a whole, are intimidated by women in positions of power. It goes against hundreds of years of Western political thought. The foundation of democracy, the foundation of our government has been built upon the writing and teachings of the great thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau (thanks Prof. Taylor) and countless others and nearly all of them have views about traditional gender roles and how they define women's place in politics. These ideas, which I could not even articulate in a semester course, much less a blog, have created our ideas about women. Politicians and members of U.S. society have perpetuated these antiquated theories about the feminine "nature" and the women's "natural role" as wife and mother.
Women have a delicate nature. They are too soft for politics. Educating women will not help them perform their wifely and feminie duties. According to Roussea, the very presence of schooling will hurt a woman's chances of fulfilling her womanly duties of conceiving a child. It all goes back to gender roles. It even goes back to the Bible and Christianity. Women suffer during childbirth because Eve showed Adam the Forbidden Fruit.
Hillary Clinton is calling bullshit on this....well, bullshit.
She is a strong woman. Who is a wife. And a mother. And someone who does portray the traditional femininity on the outside. That woman is queen of the pantsuit and the matching necklace and earrings and she has to use AquaNet like it's going out of style. Yet she is a politician. She is running for the presidential nomination. And it is a close race. And this is so unfamiliar, so intimidating, and so damn scary.
The United States likes ruts. We like our tradition. Our happy little medium where everything ends like a full house episode. Unfortunately, real life isn't like that. Change happens. Revolutions happen. Hillary Clinton happens. And people are afraid. But it is only through this "uncomfortable" feeling and this "icky" period that women can break through in the realm of politics.
We have done it before and we can do it again. Can I get an Amen?