“I was losing interest in politics…”
“I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.” - Abraham Lincoln
June 17, 2008 — Tuesday and my first politically themed blog. Forgive me not.
I have stayed away from politics at family gatherings and on the blogs, but silently and suddenly a new type of candidate has, in Lincoln’s words, “aroused me again.”
I used to be a bit of a political activist, but I have been losing it over the last few years. I joined the ranks of the politically exhausted. I have pretty much been resolved to poor leadership, thinking my job was in the trenches improving systems & processes.
This year I have been embarrassed to even say how much I did not care about the presidential race, but all of that surprisingly and quietly came to an end last week when Hillary Clinton stepped away from the podium.
I was becoming a typical Gen-X’er … disinterested and apathetic. And I thought Clinton, despite challenges, would be ushered into The White House. It was clear that she had a powerful political machine growing around her for decades, so how could she lose? But when she did lose, state by state, primary by primary, it surprised me.
I absolutely appreciate HC’s dedication to our country. She does not have to do what she does — and she always has had the very best intentions. I like that she put it all on the line, and beat down barriers for women, but this country (sadly) is not prepared for a woman president…YES I really think that and it deserves more explanation, so I’ll explain:
It was never okay for HC to be power driven. That was deemed a negative, and because she was a woman she needed to justify why she was seeking such a powerful leadership position. Why wouldn’t she just want to stay at home, or relax, or adopt children? Those are the qualities we value in women, and they’re great, but they’re also misdirected. Leaders are leaders, male or female. Homemakers are homemakers, male or female. We need each other to get through life. That’s the catch. As more women enter the ranks of “leader” we all have feared losing the stability of the home, but that doesn’t have to happen. There are plenty more men who would love to be homemakers, just like there are plenty more women who would love to be leaders. That’s all I have to say about that issue for now, but it’s so true. I hope in my lifetime we can begin to support people to do what they want to do, instead of prescribing lives based on gender.
Back to HC’s race…Clinton was not able to show her true self in her campaign. For too long she (and the rest of us women) have been holding onto a picture of a woman from the past. Women are more like men, and men are more like women, than we want to admit. Women leaders are just as power driven as any man, and men that stay at home with the kids are just as interested in the carpool gossip and the class bully as any woman at home would be.
My point is that Clinton had all the INSIDE support to become president that any man could ever want, and it actually worked against her because political INSIDERS are way out of fashion this season. She should have known that, and she probably did, on a gut level. At that point when she realized that she should start kicking people out of the kitchen, and whip up her own dish, she didn’t or maybe she couldn’t. Maybe she had surrounded herself with too many cooks for too long. I think she wasn’t sure what she should do, and that’s okay, except when you’re running for president.
It would have had to have been a very quick and seemingly irrational decision to say good-bye to those that had loved her for so long. Not even a man would have been able to reason with the momentum and the money that was behind Clinton.
I have watched nervously as Clinton journeyed where no woman had ever gone before. I have admired her commitment from far off, and I felt like she was holding back. I think this new journey she’s on will be an exciting one. I want to see Clinton with the gloves off, and outside the political machine. Maybe now that the pressure is off she can bring it!
I have to admit that even Barrack, who has been rewriting history in every primary, was not bringing me out of my political slump as quickly as I had expected. I did make a very early $25 contribution, when a close friend sent me an email request, but at the time it felt more like buying a lottery ticket. I could remember thinking “what are the chances!”
Now that it’s happening and the world may once again enjoy eloquence, passion, and commitment coming out of that big white house, it’s beginning to sink in. Barrack is no insider. He does not have a powerful political machine, he has my close friends and allies who send emails and wake people up to the idea that politics could be fun again. Now that we can actually think about rethinking foreign and domestic policy, and improving the economy with a new deal for the working class, we are beginning to resemble the America that Gen-X’ers actually adore!!!