Last night my hubby and I were discussing the upcoming primary election. We were discussing the merits of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton--the only two candidates either of us have seriously considered.
And then it hit me.
Our girls could grow up in a world where a woman could become the president. The President of the United States.
I hadn't thought about it that way before. I plan to vote for Hillary because I believe she is the most able to "get the job done." She's the most able to pull it off in Washington. She's smarter than sin, tougher than tough, and has the political intelligence and savvy to make things happen. She's got my vote because she has what it takes.
I hadn't been thinking about the fact that she's a girl. A grown-up girl, now a woman. A girl that was told as a kid that she could do anything she wanted to do. That she could become anything she wanted to become.
When I was a girl, I was told that a girl who worked hard enough could do anything she wanted to do. Anything.
But it isn't true. You can graduate at the top of your class at Yale or Harvard. You can take the best internships, work your tail off, succeed at everything you'd ever done, and still, you'd make 70% of what a man in a similar position would make. That statistic is still true today.
And you certainly couldn't become the President. Not the President of the United States of America. Home of the brave, land of the free. Equality for all and all that B.S.
Let's face reality. Class and race matter. Gender matters. We don't like to believe it, but it does. How many people, underlying it all, don't plan to vote for Hillary because she's, as they claim, a b.i.t.c.h? Because she's assertive, intelligent, and achievement-oriented? Because she's not soft around the edges? Because she's not maternal? Give me a f---ing break. How many presidents have we had that were giving and maternal and soft? Like anyone can do anything of substance in this nation without being assertive, intelligent, and achievement-oriented?
But if we elect Hillary Clinton, our girls, my girls, all of the girls of this nation, can grow up in a country where a woman can be the President. The President. The President of the United States of America.
A woman.
That song and dance we were taught as little girls would be true. We could be anything we wanted to be. We could even be the President.
If that doesn't solidify my choice for President, I don't know what does.
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12 comments:
Not being American, I don't know enough about the candidates other than what I've read in our papers. I have opinions, but they are not well-informed, and I don't want to bore you with them.
However, having a black or a female President of the United States would be an *awesome* thing to behold. Not just for Americans, but for the world in general. What an opportunity!
Heidi
We lived in Washington DC for a few years after we finished college. It made such an impression on me. I loved the time we spent there. My husband worked for a very prominent Senator. I very rarely felt jaded when he came home with stories from his day at work. I think that is somewhat of a myth about Washington, that the people there are jaded. I always felt quite the opposite.
When I picked out names for my girls I chose names that were strong enough to be President (Madeline James and Amelia Lee). I wanted them to be feminine but powerful. I loved some of the softer girl names, but I specifically chose Presidential names, or at least my idea of a female presidential name since there were actually none to pick from yet. I am sure parents of boys have done the same thing before, named their boy children after presidents. I am not sure many girls have had such an honor. I sure hope that will change come next year!
You inspired me with this. Thanks.
I agree, it really is an amazing time.
My husband said something the other day, though, that made me stop and think a moment. We are both on the fence about Hillary vs. Obama. I like them both. For different reasons.
My husband said, it would be Hillary who would win the primary because he thought America was more willing to "endure" a woman president than a black one. That really made me sad, but I think he may be right. Some people in this country are just that messed up.
a really great point. I'm still not sure who had my vote this primary season, but this is a great pespective, particuarly as a mother of a girl myself.
Just Seeking - you commented on Candy's blog so I came over here to answer you rather than hijacking her comments section.
;-) I'd agree with you (electing any man over a woman) except his middle name is "Hussain". Unfortunately, I don't believe either Hillary (who I would LOVE to see in the W.H.) or Barrack are electable in the long run. And we'll never have the opportunity to get Edwards in the WH because he won't win the nomination.
I'm a lifelong (and very fervent) Democrat, but I'm deathly afraid that if we don't get out and vote this time, we don't have a chance. And the smear campaign against any of the Democratic candidates is going to be ugly.
This was a great post - I love the idea too, that we might very well be seeing our first woman President in this next election. BTW, I'm Kellan - nice to meet you.
What a great post. It does give me goose bumps when I think about the potential for this election to bust history right open.
I just tagged you for a meme.
Oh....how lovely politics are....and how lucky we are as Americans to have the right to vote for our leader. I've seen all of the democratic candidates live either during a debate or giving a speech. I wasn't a huge Hillary fan to begin with, but when I saw her I was impressed. I'm still undecided but know that I'd like to see either Hillary, Barack, or Edwards. I do think it would be amazing to tell my little ladies that a woman can be president & mean it. Unfortunately, I think there are enough Hillary haters out there that I don't know how she'd fair. Isn't that sad? Same goes for Barack - not how I feel, but I think there are plenty of people out there with closed minds. It will be interesting...I can't wait to get out there & caucus!
That's one thing I like about Hilary, that she's such a powerful person you don't even notice her gender. Any other female candidate would have to try to work around her femininity, but Hilary has it covered.
Caucuses are very different from voting, but it is such a cool, empowering experience. In our democratic precinct we had 220 people. Every candidate had the option of having someone read either a letter they wrote, or having people speak on behalf of his/her issues. After this, they select different areas of the room for different candidates. You can either choose a candidate at this point, or choose to remain in the middle of the room & wait to see what happens. Based on the number of people that are in the precinct, each candidate has to have a certain number of people in their "corner" to be viable. At our site Dodd, Richardson, & Biden all were not viable. At this point people can either choose to change candidates or not to support anyone. Supporters of the viable candidates can try to sway these voters to come and support their candidate. I noticed that most people already had decided who they would go to at this point, and swaying didn't really happen. They then recount & have someone from each viable campaign help in the final count. The number of people caucusing for each candidate decides how many electors the candidates receive. Now, is this the most modern way to do things? Definitely not. But to me it was so exciting to see that many people all in one place excited and talking about politics. It was great for my kids to see people waiting in line to go into a room to talk about our presidential hopefuls, and understand that all of these people find this to be very important. Being public about it made me think even more about the decision I was making. It is a little archaic, but overall I enjoyed the process immensly and I hope that we continue to hold the first caucus.
Sorry if that was a little long winded. And just to confuse you even more, the Republicans do it all differently.....
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