Today we offer a heartfelt dedication to Mrs. Hillary Clinton: “I Am Woman,” by Helen Reddy.
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Hillary Clinton stands a good chance to become this country’s first female president. If you think about it, however, people who really want a woman president because of the traditional characteristics women exemplify, their best bet might just be Barack Obama, and not Clinton.
Clinton is hardly the first woman to launch a serious campaign for the presidency. The first was Victoria Woodhull, more than 135 years ago, representing the Equal Rights Party. Margaret Chase Smith was the first to run in one of the major political parties, when she sought the Republican Party nomination in 1964. Shirley Chisholm was the first to win a major primary, capturing the New Jersey Democratic primary in 1972. Geraldine Ferraro made the final ticket as the vice-presidential nominee in 1984, and would have been the first in line to the presidency had she and Walter Mondale won the election. Other notable female candidates include the colorful Bella Abzug, Elizabeth Dole and Carol Mosely Braun.
It can be said, then, that Clinton simply is the one who is taking the inevitable next step, winning substantial votes and possibly capturing the Democratic Party nomination this year.
That’s a good thing, especially since many of her supporters insist that her gender has nothing to do with their belief that she’s the current candidate who would make the best president for at least the next four years.
There are those, however, who have expressed the opinion that any woman would be a better leader than any man; remember Sally Field’s rant during this year’s Emmy Awards that “if mothers ruled the world, there would be no (expletive) wars in the first place”?
Field is by no means the first person to express such a sentiment. Many people, including some candidates themselves (remember Pat Schroeder?) said that women had qualities that, by their very nature, made them better leaders than men.
Those qualities included more rational thinking, more empathy for the people who would be helped or hurt by government policies, better communication skills and an ability to stay calmer and think clearly during a crisis.
Empathy isn’t a word that’s associated with Hillary Clinton, however. In addition, her temper is legendary. Former aides and White House workers during husband Bill’s presidency talked of frequent shouting matches, and the retribution she could bring against the culprit of any slight or crime against her or her husband, whether real or imagined.
Clinton is clearly intelligent, but at times betrays a paranoia that borders on the Nixonian. She frequently plays the victim, most recently accusing the press of being kind to Obama while attacking her at every turn. And we can’t forget the famous 1998 charge that she and Bill were victims of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” that was being perpetrated by the media — that’s the radical left-wing media, don’t you know.
Meanwhile, Obama is the best communicator to come along in a long time. He’s as smooth and eloquent as they come. And we haven’t seen him worked into a swivet over anything yet. He exhibits a calm that some say gives them confidence that he’ll feel their pain, as it were, and offers rational, well-thought-out answers to the questions and issues he’s faced so far.
It would seem, then, that if you’re looking for a candidate who exhibits the best qualities attributed to a woman, those qualities are most likely to be found in Obama. If, on the other hand, you want a Democrat who’s a tough-as-nails, take-no-prisoners kind of leader, then Hillary’s your man.
