On a shelf in my office sits a dusty white baseball cap, which says "Hats Off to Hillary!" in bright red letters. I have a growing pile of Obama momentos, but for over ten years I have held onto that hat, and what it symbolizes. I acquired it some time during the second Clinton Administration - I believe it was an event honoring Hillary Clinton's publication of It Takes A Village. I was thrilled to be there and hear her speak, and to take home the hat.
Hillary Clinton has run an incredible race, and shown that women can and should compete at the highest level of politics. She likely has much of a long and successful political career still ahead of her. Although I have supported her primary opponent since the beginning, I have always tried to frame my advocacy in ways that did not come at her expense.
And I always knew she would do the right thing, in the end. Hats off to Hillary.
I have watched this race unfold with a complex set of emotions. Although I declared myself an Obama partisan early, that didn't mean it was easy. After 40 years on this planet, growing up carrying the legacy of my mother's generation of second wave feminists, the phrase "the first woman President" means something profound to me.
And Hillary Clinton's list of achievements is long - her early work in politics, her role as a tireless advocate for children's welfare, her service to the women of this nation and of the world as First Lady, her smart and successful campaign for the Senate, and her clear ownership of frontrunner status competing for the highest office in the land. She has become a powerful Senator, frequently mentioned as possible Majority Leader. Or Supreme Court Justice. Very few people ever reach that stratosphere.
It is a small thing, but I have to mention the pantsuits. If you are a woman who entered professional life post 2000, you have no idea how much things changed in a short period of time. Skirt, stockings and heels required, or you weren't taken seriously as a professional, especially in the field of law. But thanks in part to her famous adoption of the pants suit uniform, it isn't even a question. I wear pantsuits to court without a second thought and I mentally thank her when I do it.
Indeed, if Barack Obama weren't running, I would very likely have been campaigning for, and rooting for, Senator Clinton. I've defended her here before, and I recognize the real ways that sexism has been a potential barrier for her to surmount in this campaign. There is just no excuse for the absurd commentary on her looks, or her voice, or the misogynist labels that prominent members of the media have attached to her campaign. Despite all of this, she has run a serious race that very nearly has gotten her to the White House. For that achievement she will always be recognized.
No woman has ever come even close to her success in this arena. And she left six male Democrats in the dust, besting all but one member of the strongest, deepest field the Democrats have put forward in recent memory. In any other year, against any other competitor, this race would have long ago been over.
Last night, a Clinton supporter came to our volunteer meeting. He talked, with great emotion, about how he and the others he has worked with for so many months to elect Clinton feel. "We were going to win. You won." One Deaniac in the audience said he knew how it felt. We all talked about the need to find ways to work together.
Some of my friends and fellow supporters feel the need to qualify their praise right now. Yes, she is endorsing, great, but it took too long. Or "I could acknowledge her accomplishments or her concerns about sexism if she would acknowledge . . ." It's over, folks. We can afford to be very, very gracious. Today, Senator Clinton was very, very gracious. Get over it and move on - we have an election to win.
Hillary Clinton is going to help Barack Obama win in November, help the Democrats take back the White House and help build a long term Democratic majority. Good. She's a formidable campaigner and I am glad she's got our back. Hats off to Hillary.
Update: Great stuff in the comments, thanks everyone - I'm off now to enjoy the Saturday with my kids. And feel good about the world they are growing up in.
Second Update:
h/t to BlackBox, who writes:
Fem add a link to the Obama site--they have a feature that allows his supporters to send a note of encourage to Hillary Clinton
Thank You Hillary Clinton
Done. Great suggestion.
Disclaimer: I am a volunteer with the Obama campaign in California, but when I write here I speak for myself and not for the campaign. The campaign has no input of any kind on my diaries - the ideas and all the words in them are my own.