My Case for Senator Clinton

A well thought out post, for the most part.

However, it appears Hillary's gender has caused you to give her a pass when making this comment:

"I want a President who has a realistic view of life’s risks and who doesn’t have an agenda kept alive by fear".

If her "Who would you want answering the red phone at 3 am" comment doesn't meet the walking, talking definition of 'keeping an agenda alive by fear'...then nothing will.

The fact that she also recently got caught embellishing the 'truth' about dodging gunfire while at the airport overseas proves that she is not only not-truthful, but clearly has an agenda...winning the presidency - by hook or by crook.

Now's not the time for social experimentation in these perilous times we live in. Tha's why I'll vote for McCain, but I agree with you...none of them are perfect.

His life and leadership experience best positions him to clean up a lot of this mess we're in.

I would argue that this is exactly the time for "social experimentation", not that I agree with your terminology. Change and hope have become the watchwords of the day. The status quo is not acceptable. I don't believe that these times are any more perilous than times we've already lived through, or that a man because of his gender is more capable of handling crisis situations than a woman.

All of the candidates are doing what they feel they must do to win so that they can get on with the business of leading the country. While I personally don't like most of the ads I see and hear in the media, some voters must respond to them. On this, I'll give her a pass recognizing that no candidate will be my ideal.

Very thoughtful post. I like your wish list, and I have to wonder if it isn't the wish list of most every American.
I'm wondering if you need to re-read your list of things you want, and then reconsider McCain. He seems to fit the bill better than either of the Democrats running. While I would like to see a woman in the office of President, I'm just not sure that H. Clinton is the woman for the job. I would have loved to see Elizabeth Dole in that role. Not to defend the press, who are beyond defence if you ask me, I wonder if they refer to H. Clinton as Hillary so as not to confuse her with Bill. Maybe not.
One small thing I take issue with is your comment about young women taking for granted the freedoms earlier generations have won. Isn't that the point? Women fought for rights that women today take for granted, signalling the previous generations success. We don't have to linger on those things today, freeing us to fight other battles. Equal pay would be lovely. Would Hillary be paid the same as a man in the position of President? I imagine so. But I'll bet she's still expected to take care of the household as well.

McCain is a fine man. Where we part company is his stand on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the economy (he has admitted it is not his strong suite.) I believe the problems with our economy may be a much bigger threat to the American way of life than terrorists.

On the issue of women: the rights that young women take for granted can only be appreciated in the context of knowing where they've come from and how to recognize that we're not done. I don't want to be the one young women look to when history repeats itself and they ask "why didn't you tell me this could happen?" Knowledge is power and young women can only go forward by acknowledging those who came before them and set the stage for further progress.

This is also true of other issues such as the environment. I've been an environmentalist for 40 years and the country is just now ready to make real progress. That wouldn't have happened without those who came before my generation, people such as Rachel Carson and Rodale.

History tells us that we are doomed to repeat the past if we don't study the past.

It seems to me that the way we know we've conquered a problem is when the very idea of it is so foreign that it would never occur to rational people to think that way. "Pay you less to do this job just because you're a woman? Why would I do that?" or "Hire you because you're black? You're black? I just thought you'd do a good job." We make race and gender issues such big issues that they have no chance of going away. How can we be color blind when we are being so careful about not offending your race? How can gender issues go away when use them as a measuring stick for progress?

Auntie D, you have done a good job convinging me of why YOU want to vote for Hillary, but you haven't yet convinced ME to want to vote for her. She seems to fit your wish list well, and your right she is a product of the feminist movement. She would even probably make a holiday honoring Cady Stanton. But that doesn't address anything I'M concerned about. I could care less about a holiday in honor of Ms. Stanton, especially when our president should be working on way bigger problems, like all the illigal immigrants pouring across our southern border, our steadily tanking economy, and the way big capitolism has resulted in a Corporate Elite that benifits from the continuation of a war that is supposed to be about humanitarian reasons. And your telling me to vote for Hillary so she spend my tax dollars creating ANOTHER federal holiday?!?! We keep talking about honoring progress and not letting us whipper-snappers forget what came before us, well what we see coming before us is a messy, hundred year war that our middle class boys from backhome Alabama die for while politicians get richer and richer. Don't talk to me about race or sex, lets talk about class because that is the issue facing us, me, my generation in the future.
Post Statement: its fair to call her Hillary because she has her support signs and banners and bumper stickers printed up with that on it.

hwalker, My purpose in writing my post was not to convince others to vote for Senator Clinton, rather to clarify clarify my own reasons for choosing to vote for her in this primary season. I cannot tell you why you should vote for any candidate as voting is a very personal act. Even if we agreed on the same issues (and I think we do), we would care about the issues for different reasons. We are in different life stages so we naturally see the world from different perspectives. Different isn't a judgment (good or bad), it's just different.

I hope that whoever is elected President will work feverishly to present long term solutions to the many problems our country is facing. I'm concerned that the public is falling for the many short sighted solutions being presented and won't be wise enough to recognize that we are going to have to experience many hardships before we are once again a global leader with a strong economy who is not at war.

I hope your next post will address those issues of class. Should be an interesting discussion. AuntieD

The oxcart that goes first is the teacher of the oxcarts that follow - Taiwanese saying

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. Pearl Buck

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African Proverb

History is herstory, too. ~Author Unknown

History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided. ~Konrad Adenauer

History is a vast early warning system. ~Norman Cousins

Bound as our lives are to the tyranny of time, it is through what we know of history that we are delivered from our bonds and escape - into time. ~A.L. Rowse, The Use of History

The Present is the living sum-total of the whole Past. ~Thomas Carlyle, Characteristics

Men have need of history because, without it, the past threatens to overwhelm them. ~Guy Fregault, La guerre de la conquête

P.S. Congress enacts federal holidays.

Auntie D, your last post made me laugh! We are a group of intelligent, strong headed women, and our posts reflect that. No wonder we like each other so.
If we are supposed to be active for our particular sets of interests, and feel we have a sway over our countries politics, shouldn't we be trying to persuade each other to vote for whom we support? Vote McCain!
OK, you're right. We need to appreciate our history of activism and the women who have won freedoms and rights for us. Without them we would just be noisy birds, without the power to make a difference.

I agree with mommer. What is the point of talking about it and getting motivated to actually be affective in our political system if we aren't trying to rally others around our ideals?? But, you have convinced me of the importance of honoring history and those who have sacraficed for us. You say your intention in posting was not to argue the reader over to your side; i think it was, though you ended up arguing for the importance of remembering our past; why else would post so many quotes from so many smart people echoing your opinion?

"The key problem for Hillary's campaign is that normal people reel back in horror at her association with the Clinton administration. (Which is why, as her supporter, I refer to her as simply "Hillary.")"
-Ann Coulter