Saw this well written diary and was impressed by it.
Here is the link for it -
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/8/13/201625/192Hillary Clinton: Brilliance in a small package
Today Hillary Clinton unveiled her first TV ad, and it happens to touch on some of the issues that are most important to me when I looked at the candidate I was going to support for the nomination. Here it is:
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The ad puts into active pictures what I expect Clinton to strive for as our president: Tirelessly work for all of us, so that as a nation we thrive and move forward, leaving nobody behind.
Let me introduce myself. I am 45 years of age, a web designer, computer programmer and network specialist. If I had to choose a 'class' categorization, I would say that my family unit belongs to the middle class, neither "lower," nor "upper," just middle. Politically I consider myself rather progressive, with at times almost socialistic tendencies. Mind you, the Euro-liberalism that is known as a form of socialism, but has brought with it efficient single-payer health care, a strong social net, very little poverty and a considerably high standard of living for a broad spectrum of citizens.
My entire universe is shown here:
My personal world consists of my wonderful wife and my two daughters, 10 and 2 years of age.
As you can see, I am surrounded by women, and I have become very conscious of how gender politics affect our lives. Women still earn 25% less than men, for no good reason. The conservative Supreme Court is in the midst of a campaign to defray our rights, including abortion rights, which could well at some point in their lives affect one of my daughters. For all the importance women have in our society, the power in sheer numbers, women are largely underrepresented in our country when it comes to the decision-making process at the highest level.
We now have the opportunity to put up for the Democratic nomination one of the brilliant minds of our time, who also happens to be a woman, a win-win situation in my opinion. I have come to view women as better decision makers and stronger advocates for what it is they believe in than men. I see it in my personal life on a daily basis, and there are also many historical precedents. It is my firm belief that as a nation we would benefit greatly from a woman president to give us a representative from the gender that has been shortchanged for over 200 years in this country.
I would like to discuss social issues with this diary, as that is my focus this week and ties into what I want my daughters to look at when they see Hillary: A competent steward of our futures, a caring president who thinks of each person as an important part of our society, a life to be cherished, saved, and celebrated.
More after the flip...
The social advocacy issues I identify Hillary Clinton with and consider her a champion on all hit close to home for me:
1. A strong advocacy for children:
Clinton's life work on children issues is well documented. She is one of the creators of S-CHIP, the universal health care for children initiative, which is becoming the model for universal health care for all. It does indeed "take a village to raise a child." We are all asked to chip in to insure that our children grow up in a safe and healthy environment.
2. Women advocacy issues:
She was heavily involved in passing the "Family and Medical Leave Act," and since then has championed equal pay laws, the "Prevention First Act," which expands access to family planning services for low-income women, requires health insurance companies to cover contraception, and provides a dedicated funding stream for age-appropriate, medically accurate, comprehensive sex education. She is a tireless defender of Women's Right to choose and can be counted on to fight for that vital basic right to be preserved.
3. Civil rights:
Clinton has strongly championed minority rights, gay rights, but realizes that a lot of work still remains to be done. We would gain a strong advocate for minorities with her.
4. Immigration:
She has taken a leading role in the Immigration debate. Almost everybody agrees that we need to change the current system. While the other side wants to criminalize all illegal immigration, Clinton champions a humanitarian solution: Allow for a path to citizenship for the immigrants already living here amongst us, and assure that families are not separated by Immigration, instead preserved as a unit.
5. Education:
Her recent initiative to provide and guarantee high-quality education early on, from pre-school age through college, is one of her educational pillars, as is her initiative to provide student aid help.
Clinton has championed many issues in her life's work, but none more than the 5 mentioned above.
Clinton has been called "brilliant" and "amazing" by well-known bloggers like Matt Stoller and Markos Moulitsas for good reason. Standing at only 5 foot 6", Clinton is brilliance in a small package, and I am very happy that my daughters (especially my 10-year old, who is a huge Hillary fan) get to experience the process of seeing the first serious woman candidate for the Democratic nomination in action.
Next week I will delve a little deeper into the nuts and bolts issues of the campaigns. I am working on a diary called "The top 30 reasons why Clinton should be the Democratic nominee" and should have it completed by next week. :-)
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