Let’s not lose sight of how historic a Hillary Clinton presidency would be for women

[SecularMotion]

To announce you’re excited about Hillary Clinton is an oddly subversive act, and to suggest others ought to feel the same, even more so.

But following a decisive victory in New York and with her path to the presidency ever-more surefooted, the possibility of the first female president is sinking in. And whatever your feelings about Clinton as the vessel for this achievement, it’s an extraordinary one.

Even Clinton herself will acknowledge she doesn’t have the magnetism of certain politicians, telling feminist writer Lena Dunham memorably of her candidacy, “If you can’t get excited, be pragmatic.” Clinton’s bid for president may not have the dreaminess of Barack Obama’s, but it’s on track to be every bit as historic. And to simply say she would be the first female commander-in-chief is almost too glib. Should she actually win in November, she’ll have overcome a political process that, until Obama, systematically kept everyone but white men from the presidency for the last 220-plus years.

If young Democrats, who champion inclusivity in politics, can’t start getting excited about upending that centuries-old tradition, they – to quote a popular internet meme – are doing it wrong.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/lets-not-lose-sight-of-how-historic-a-hillary-clinton-presidency-would-be-for-women/

[glowing]

1. Really, so how is Margret Thatcher viewed in the world?

[SFnomad]

13. The world doesn't view her as a former US President n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

20. she was a woman though

[SFnomad]

27. Yes, but she wasn't a head of state ... so it really doesn't compare n/t

[Duckhunter935]

48. The Queen has been the head of state for decades

[SFnomad]

64. That's true, but poster didn't mention the Queen, they mentioned Margret Thatcher

and if they had mentioned the Queen, it really doesn't compare either, being that Royalty isn't an elected position.

[Loudestlib]

62. Good lord

The "head of state" is not elected. The head of Her Majesty's Government is. Pedantic crap.

[SFnomad]

69. What is "pedantic crap" about what I stated? The OP stated

how historic a Secretary Clinton Presidency would be for women. The next poster tried to minimize Clinton's accomplishment by bringing up MT. Well, I'm sorry if you think it's "pedantic crap", but Margaret Thatcher wasn't a Head of State, which is what Secretary Clinton would be ... so Margaret Thatcher isn't as big a deal. So you can take your "pedantic crap" ...

[beedle]

76. Some people's children!?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_and_appointed_female_heads_of_state

But I guess like real heath care reform, getting money out of politics, LGBTQ equality, etc, it's only in America where this stuff counts. If the American establishment right wing say it can't be done, or that it never happened, then to hell with the evidence exists in the rest of the world!?

[imagine2015]

74. Thatcher had real power. The queen is ceremonial.

[SFnomad]

75. For as much power as Thatcher had, she still was NOT Head of State

Some Primer Ministers are also Heads of State .. some are not. In the case of Thatcher, she was not.

[imagine2015]

81. Thatch was the head of the government. But she wasn't the queen. Will Hillary be a queen

and the corporate/Wall Street CEO of the federal government if elected?

[SFnomad]

83. Hillary will be Head of State, anything else is your imagination n/t

[imagine2015]

84. So Hillary would be the head of government just like Thatcher.

That's what I thought.

[SFnomad]

86. But Thatcher was not Head of State, like Secretary Clinton will be n/t

[imagine2015]

87. Yes. Hillary will be the head of 50 states. Thatcher wasn't.

[SFnomad]

88. Yawn, you've become tiring ... n/t

[bjo59]

26. Exactly. It will be historic if Hillary Clinton wins because

it will show that even when given a chance to do otherwise, Americans still wanted to vote in another war-loving corporatist as president. Margaret Thatcher dealt a real body blow to the UK, but hey, it was historic when a woman was elected Prime Minister. That's so neat!

[Baobab]

47. Somebody's sex is not a good reason to vote for somebody

Especially not somebody so scary in terms of their militarism.

Do you know that in even a small nuclear war, between, say India and Pakistan, 2 billion people, mostly children and older people, would die of starvation, because the price of food would go way up worldwide.

[Wilms]

36. Here's how her death was viewed in England.

Much more, here: https://www.google.com/search?q=thatcher+funeral+protest&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW8_7x5aXMAhUEOj4KHW26DgIQ_AUICSgD&biw=979&bih=455&dpr=1.4

[polly7]

39. I remember the threads here ........... same thing.

Not a lot good to say about what she'd done.

[demigoddess]

45. as a Prime Minister of the UK, which is a lot less

sexist than the US.

[Thinkingabout]

2. It will be exciting to have the first woman president. In the case of Hillary,

She just happens to be the most qualified candidate running.

[Hortensis]

61. Exactly. If HRC is elected, IMO that will be a

more important advance for our nation than even Obama's election, and I was very, very proud of us then. Women are 50% of all Americans, half of virtually every single subgroup of Americans, a parent of every American, and members of the vast majority of households. But we are still viewed as second-class citizens and discriminated against to various degrees in every sphere.

That we discarded a woman to elect our first black male president is entirely consistent with our history. Black men were given the vote 50 years before black women, and of course women of every other group.

A striking number of prominent black women, especially leaders, have said that of being black and being female they felt being female was the bigger handicap -- i.e., caused them to be discriminated against significantly more. Just look at the bizarre decades of persecution and character assassination of Hillary Clinton. It would not have happened to a man, and has not.

But, here we are! Although shamefully backwards in this respect, we now are very close to joining the community of advanced nations in being able to point to a female we elected to lead our nation. See, we're not all knuckle-draggers. We have one too!

Who knows, maybe this year we'll even elect our second black female U.S. Senator. Our first and only, Carol Moseley Braun, has been gone a long time.

[Thinkingabout]

63. Filling congress with Democrats is so very important, also having members who want to work

Instead of blocking will get thing accomplished.

[Hortensis]

68. +1000. We'll probably give our president a Democratic-

lead Senate to work with and at a much better presence in the House. Then there are all those governorships and state legislature seats to be picked up.

And, of course, Scalia died during Obama's administration, so that's a wonderful piece of third-branch good fortune to be grateful for.

[Paper Roses]

3. Gender should not be the qualifier. n/t

[apcalc]

10. You are right gender should not be the qualifier.

But for most of my life it has been the " disqualifier" mostly by arbitrary rules set up by entrenched patriarchy.

Now don't get me wrong, I could not vote for someone just because she is a woman ( consider Palin, Fiorina).

However THIS woman is supremely qualified and knowledgeable. You bet.

[boston bean]

16. + a million

[pangaia]

33. She is a corporate shill, just like ALMOST all the others.

I have had enough corporate shills.

Why would anyone what another one?

[JoePhilly]

38. + 100

[lakeguy]

4. i guarantee you one woman who will not be happy...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/20/exclusive-hillary-clinton-took-me-through-hell-rape-victim-says.html

oh, and the millions of women who live (or used to be alive) in the middle east.

[apcalc]

6. Middle eastern women

Willbe thrilled. It will give hope to women all over the world.

[artislife]

12. She hasn't been so good for us brown women

and I give the Latinas who have been voting for her the side eye.

She will forget them in a heart beat.

[oberliner]

19. Women of color has been her strongest voting demographic

Presumably, they know what they are doing.

[artislife]

49. I disagree with them.. but I am not a boomer

So I think they DO know what they are doing. They are waiting on the nice white woman to remember them and bring them along.

Me and many other younger women of color see through her. We have worked for a lot of women and we see how far the "sisterhood" really stretches. They will drop you in a heartbeat if the deem it necessary.

I can't wait til she fails.



Again.

[SFnomad]

14. The desperation of the BS cheerleaders is showing n/t

[polly7]

15. Rights for women in Iraq and Libya have been set back decades.

Millions have seen their children killed, maimed - lost husbands, been imprisoned themselves and tortured/raped, left homeless, are trying to flee with their families and dying at sea.

THEIRS is the desperation. What part of all this is so unimportant for you?

[ContinentalOp]

22. What about Afghanistan?

You might have a point if your candidate were a pacifist, but he's not.

[polly7]

23. He's not my candidate.

Clinton not only voted for the lying invasion of Iraq, she publicly spoke for it. Sanders spoke against it.

Clinton pushed Obama in destroying Libya, a sovereign nation. Sanders was against it.

9/11 - Afghanistan - her ya go: http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-afghanistan/

[oberliner]

25. Women had a big role in the movement to oust Qaddafi

Women: The Libyan Rebellion's Secret Weapon

Excerpt:

Even so, until the war broke out, women generally were forced to keep a low profile. Married women who pursued careers were frowned upon. And Qaddafi’s own predatory nature kept the ambitions of some in check. Amel Jerary had aspired to a political career during the Qaddafi years. But the risks, she says, were too great. “I just could not get involved in the government, because of the sexual corruption. The higher up you got, the more exposed you were to [Qaddafi], and the greater the fear.” According to Asma Gargoum, who worked as director of foreign sales for a ceramic tile company near Misrata before the war, “If Qaddafi and his people saw a woman he liked, they might kidnap her, so we tried to stay in the shadows.”

Now, having been denied a political voice in Libya’s conservative, male-dominated society, the female veterans are determined to leverage their wartime activism and sacrifices into greater clout. They’re forming private aid agencies, agitating for a role in the country’s nascent political system and voicing demands in the newly liberated press. “Women want what is due to them,” says Radio Libya’s Ghandour.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/women-the-libyan-rebellions-secret-weapon-124986532/#d6d5T6XZSU8fK5T9.99

[sus453]

37. Thanks for sharing this link. Her judgment and her lack of remorse seem like that of a sociopath.

Where was her concern for the women and children of Iraq during and before the war (all those who died because the us blockaded medical supplies)? Where was her concern for those who have suffered in Libya ("We came, we saw, he died&quot . Qaddafi was not the without some serious issues, but to joke about the death of another human being? There's something wrong with her.

[Autumn]

5. Any woman president would be historic.

Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman. They are all women. One would be no more historic than the others.

[Baobab]

73. Elizabeth Warren would be a great President

She and Bernie are tied for my 1st choice.

I could live with either. And yes, any woman becoming President would be absolutely historic on one level but I think we all would have problems with some of them. certainly, Hillary is a Democrat and Sarah palin is a Republican but both make me uncomfortable for essentially a very similar reason.

[Skwmom]

7. A woman getting elected on one hand versus endless wars, feeding the industrial prison pipeline,

sending more jobs overseas, ceding U.S. sovereignty, no focusing on the plight of the urban and rural poor until their votes are needed again, a militarized police system that is killing and terrorizing innocent people, students being burdened with lifelong debt to feed the for profit college industry and the banksters make $$$ off of student loans, the middle class disappearing, the poor getting poorer, etc.......

No thanks. I will pass on getting a woman elected.

[winter is coming]

9. I'd rather the first woman President be someone I can respect. n/t

[Skwmom]

28. That is a HUGE sentiment with woman which is why it will be hammered home in the general election.

[artislife]

50. There will be two women candidates on the ballot

Who do we all know will be the more progressive? Oh yeah.

[insta8er]

8. Let me get this straight, when hillsquad brings up gender...it is ok. But when others do

it is not? it is time you guys stop using it as a weapon.

[polly7]

11. Libyan women had equal opportunity once - in the work force, equal pay, the right to divorce,

own their homes, etc.

No more! The Lying Libya fiasco pushed by Clinton fixed that. These things are considered perversions by the 'friendly rebels/radical leaders' left in charge. Women now cover up their faces.

Why are western women so much more important to Clinton - in particular - herself?

[loyalsister]

54. I think there are women in the US who would dispute the idea

Particularly those who were trying to raise families as more and more financial providers were thrown in prison leaving them without even a child support check. Welfare reform topped it off and left so many women and children in poverty even while employed.

[polly7]

56. Yes, that's true also.

I've read so much on this since seeing it here first ................ it's heartbreaking what so many families have been left to struggle with because of those things. Just unbelievably cruel, imho.

[loyalsister]

65. It's sickens me that neither she nor Bill has made any real effort to atone for it

I think W should personally be paying reparations to Iraq veterans and their families, and the Clinton's should be paying them to people who have been unjustly incarcerated due to the policies resulting from the crime bill.

[oldandhappy]

17. if she is the right one

she seems 'right' enough, giggle.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

18. Unfortunately, it would be historic for the women of Syria. n/t

[Kalidurga]

21. I would rather have the first non-Xian as President

It's just as historic as the first female president. And if you have to push the gender meme when most people would like to have a woman president, then you have a fatally flawed candidate and no amount of gender card playing is gonna fix that.

[larkrake]

24. It could leave a real bad taste if she stays corporate,trade or wallstreet- like a Thatcher disaster

I know she will

[reformist2]

29. This is so dumb. The US will have a woman prez, everyone is fine with this. It need not be Hillary.

[2pooped2pop]

32. yep, I'm all for a woman president

I'm totally against it being Hillary.

[2pooped2pop]

30. her immediate impeachment will ensure that another woman does not get

to be Potus for decades. Thanks Hillary for fucking that up too.

[ebayfool]

89. That. Right there. n/t

[snot]

31. I'm a die-hard, 2nd-3rd-4th-wave feminist, & totally unthrilled.

But you probably knew that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

34. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman PM in England.

Of course, they've had queens for centuries but Thatcher was the first elected head of government. Britain is still trying to recover.

I could be excited about the first woman president if that was someone other than Hillary.

[pdsimdars]

35. It's not about gender, it's about ANOTHER NEO CON Republican lite.

Can't you people get past gender?

[beedle]

79. Sorry, can't so that, breaking voters into groups

is the only way the Clinton team has of pitting one group against the other.

Watched three (four?) Clinton supporters today on the show Joy Reid was hosting, They were ostensibly discussing "the Poor®" but without once mentioning poverty. To them "The Poor®" were a voting group that somehow mysteriously while they should have been for Bernie, surprisingly couldn't be bothered to either register at the proper time to be Democrats, or were just too uninterested in Bernie's message to bother voting at all.

Not for a second did they discuss the issues of poverty and how having your number 1, 2, 3, & 4 daily priorities being simply to survive the day, feed and protect your children, might come into play when it comes to voting in a primary.

"The Poor®" are just another group that gets exploited by Establishment Democrats when they need a group to pit against some other group.

Bernie talks about poverty, how the 1% are stealing all the productively created from working PEOPLE working 2 or 3 jobs for starvation wages, and he is criticized for failing to mention 'minorities®', "women®", "The Poor®", until as a result of their constant negative spin, he does, then all of a sudden Bernie is being "racist®", "sexist®", or trying to start a "class war®" depending upon the needs of the establishment Democrats to spin anything positive into a big streaming pile of Hillary horse shit.

[LaurenG]

40. She doesn't deserve the honor. She lies a lot.

Elizabeth Warren would make us all proud. I'm not settling if I can get the real deal from another human being this time around.

[RiverLover]

55. [phone]!

[JoePhilly]

41. Mentioning this simple fact makes the haters very upset.

[fluffyclouds]

42. Its really a shame

That anyone would vote based on someones gender. And Im a woman but I would not want Hillary being the first female president. She is not the right person for the job so her gender is not even a consideration to me.

[azmom]

43. I'm so over identity politics. Hillary could be a

Latina lesbian and I would still never ever vote for her.

[hellofromreddit]

44. Electing Obama didn't help race relations. Electing Hillary won't help gender relations.

It apparently requires far harder work than merely electing a symbol.

[99Forever]

46. Yep.

She would be the most openly corrupt person ever to be elected POTUS in the history of the nation.



What a shining example for the youth of this nation.

[Lil Missy]

51. and regardless of what the haters say - hillary has certainly earned it. n/t

[elleng]

52. Yes, it would be historic for women.

I would rather not be saddled with this, throughout history, and I would hope others would agree:

How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk

Throughout her career she has displayed instincts
on foreign policy that are more aggressive than
those of President Obama — and most Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magazine/how-hillary-clinton-became-a-hawk.html?

[loyalsister]

59. During the 2008 election....

I was struck by the differences in style between Hillary and Obama. He has more reserved, nonconfrontational negotiation style while hers is aggressive. "We came, we saw, he died" also sounds like a woman trying to impress men. Then there were the fantasies about being under sniper fire. She has not done anything to indicate to me that she would govern any differently from her white male predecessors who had imperialistic tendencies.

[elleng]

70. I agree.

[highprincipleswork]

53. Without drastic Climate Change Action Now, there will be no women, nor any men.

The "planet" will be fine, and get along nicely, without people.

[Marrah_G]

57. It is not about gender or race.

It is about who will do the right thing when in office.

FFS would you vote for Caribou Barbie just because it would be "historic"?

[leftinportland]

58. We'd be electing a

Good ol' boy with a vagina! I'm female over 60 and it actually makes me sad that she could be the first woman president.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

78. I agree. I'm not voting for "historic"

I voted for the "historic" first black man, and although he's been a good president in many ways, his ties to Wall Street have been a disappointment.


Hillary's ties to Wall Street would be a disaster for us.

[IdaBriggs]

60. 1st Nominee under FBI investigation -- a national embarrassment. nt

[Lizzie Poppet]

66. No more historic than a Socialist.

And far less harmful to the nation that another corporatist puppet in the office...

Moreover, that vacuous article's entire premise pretty much boils down to: "vote for Hilary because vagina."

[HeiressofBickworth]

67. Ms. Clinton should be held to the same standards

we expect from male candidates. The equipment between their legs is not relevant to the selection of the leader of the free world. That standard is this: does she represent the best interests of world peace? Does she represent the best interests of the country? Does she put forth policies that will help the least fortunate of our citizens? Does she propose forward-thinking and innovative ideas to curtail the corporate excesses damaging to our citizens?

For me, she does not. I've been an admirer of Sen. Sanders for a long time. I hope he wins, but in the event he does not and Ms. Clinton is the nominee, I will vote for her because despite my reservations about her, she is still better than any GOP candidate.

What mystifies and disgusts me is the vitriol supporters of one candidate shower on the supporters of another candidate. It's perfectly appropriate to discuss differences in candidates, but the anger I've seen on DU this election season doesn't put DU in the best light and seems to have driven some of our members away.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

71. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. Lord Acton

[B Calm]

72. So were suppose to vote for her because of her sex, got it. .

[Ed Suspicious]

77. Gender should be a qualifier in exactly the same proportion it is a disqualifier.

[Nanjeanne]

80. Same old same old corporatist politicians is historic? Nope not in my lifetime.

[lumberjack_jeff]

82. ... as the President who sent 20,000 of their sons off to die in Syria. n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

85. Well at least SOMEONE is honest.

[Nye Bevan]

90. It would certainly be historic in a way that electing yet another elderly white male would not be.

My daughters are excited about history being made!

[slipslidingaway]

92. As a caller told me from Pa. they would like to see a woman, but Hillary is not that woman ...

what else besides her gender excites your daughters?

Just being a woman is, sorry to say, a rather shallow reason to vote for the leader of our country. Do they believe we should invade other countries and overthrow their leaders without foresight as to the consequences of the people?

My 30 year old daughter, 200K + in debt from med school might vote for her, although she voted for Sanders in the primary, but she is not inspired to vote for Clinton just because she is woman.

I just do not understand the entire 'vote for me, I am woman mentality.' What other issues inspire your daughters to vote for her?

[slipslidingaway]

91. If anything and as a woman over 60, GENDER is not a reason to hire or not hire someone for a job ...

if someone told me I had the job 40 years ago I would be offended just as I was told 40 years ago when I was not hired for the job, with a lot of jumbled words in between.

But I did get my next job, partly I believe because I was a woman, and was also controlled into firing others and told I could be let go because my eyes were blue.

SO, we have a choice to make, do we let outward projections of ourselves including gender and race play a larger role or should we look at past experiences to guide our vote.

You can look at my posts about Obama, race never played a role.

This is insulting to assume that we should consider someone's gender, race or sexual orientation when voting.

[2banon]

93. I'm sorry, but you're quite wrong, it wouldn't be historic whatsoever.

do a simple google/wikipedia search and you'll find scores of women formerly heads of state, (not referring to Monarchs) going back the past century.

Maybe you're too young to remember Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher? And currently there are a number of women holding the highest office of their respected countries.

So no, not historic whatsoever.

My sincerest regret currently is to see the first Women elected POTUS who is just much as a WAR HAWK as their Neo Conservative counterparts.

Antithetical to everything we struggled to achieve by getting women elected to office in the first place.