Madeleine Albright stated today on the campaign trail that:
“People are talking about revolution. What kind of a revolution would it be to have the first woman president of the United States?”
That was met with a chant of “Madam President! Madam President!”
“Not only that,” said Albright. “But she’s just the best!”
Albright was the first woman to be secretary of state and served during the presidency of Clinton’s husband, Bill. She closed her New Hampshire speech with an allusion to the ongoing struggle with Republicans over abortion rights.
“Young women have to support Hillary Clinton. The story is not over!” she said. “They’re going to want to push us back. Appointments to the supreme court make all the difference.
“It’s not done and you have to help. Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember, there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”
(Bolding mine.)
I’ve seen many comment threads here dismissing the Secretary’s remarks as just an “over enthusiastic endorsement”, claiming that, because she surely would not endorse say, Sarah Palin, or even Carly Fiorina, her comments should just be considered that, an enthusiastic (if not over-enthusiastic) endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
I disagree. I believe the Secretary’s remarks, however unintentional, were, at their heart, anti-feminist and damaging to women. If I could choose one word to sum up the women’s movement it would have to be choice. Whether talking about a woman’s right to vote, to own property, to control her own body, to equal pay; each of these rights involves a woman’s right to choose for herself her own destiny, the same as any man is free to choose his. What Secretary Albright is basically saying is that, in this case, women, we do not have a choice. We must vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. How is that different from only having the option to vote for men for so many years because only men could run? It is in the choice that we are free. That freedom was hard-won by women I feel must have been a lot stronger than I. The least I can do is not surrender it so easily.
I will agree with Secretary Albright that the “story” is not over. More accurately, the fight is not over. Conservatives fight to erode our reproductive rights every day. Women are paid less than men for equal work. And, women are under-represented in positions of power and authority. That is all the more reason not to just give our vote to someone based on age or gender or religion. It is incumbent upon us, because of the struggles our foremothers went through to secure the rights we do have today, to look carefully at every candidate running for office. We need to examine their respective platforms, and look at what they have done in the past, and we need to choose. We need to make a choice that will honor those that came before us, while looking to the very real needs of our future. Because, choice is what it is all about.