Would you mind telling me what it is about HRC that you like so much. I like her and am delighted that she had the nom and I'm really really hoping she wins. But I'd just really like to hear your thoughts on her in more detail. If you don't mind.
HILLARY. Â GOD I LOVE HER SO THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE CHANCE TO TALK ABOUT HER. Â
I must confess that some of my love for Hillary Clinton is borne out of a feeling of protectiveness, because she gets so much shit for stuff that is either a) untrue or b) so blatantly rooted in misogyny itâs amazing people think itâs okay to say out loud.
But before I get into why I love her, I want to take a minute to address the common criticisms thrown her way.
1) Sheâs too conservative.
Well, first of all, when she was a senator she voted with tumblrâs beloved Bernie 93% of the time. Second of all, when she was First Lady she spearheaded an attempt to pass Universal Healthcare, something that is still seen as a progressive dream in the US over two decades later.  In fact, the main criticism of her as a First Lady was that she was *too liberal* and *too idealistic.*  She took an absolutely brutal beating from all sides in her eight years as First Lady, so when she ran for public office she recalibrated (only slightly, because again, her differences with Sanders are pretty negligible) and having learned her lesson from the backlash to her attempt at healthcare reform, she moved towards more incremental policies.  She still supports raising the minimum wage, criminal justice reform, gun control, paid family leave, and the right for all women to decide when (or if) they want to have children.
Considering the fact that the Republican Party wants to dismantle banking regulations, overturn the legalization of gay marriage, ban abortion, and keep âconversion therapyâ legal, I think sheâs got a long, long, long way to go before sheâs anything resembling conservative.
2) She gave speeches at Goldman Sachs and therefore must be incredibly corrupt.
Except giving these sorts of speeches is very common amongst the political elite and the fact that she spoke to Goldman Sachs does not mean sheâs somehow beholden to them any more than the fact that her speech the American Association of Travel Agents means she will ban price comparison websites for travel. She got paidâ very wellâ because that is how you make money when youâve reached her level of politics.  You donât have to like it, but itâs how things work right now.  Acting like this is a unique flaw for Clinton is disingenuous at best.Â
3) Thereâs just something about herâ sheâs untrustworthy. Â She has to be hiding something.
This one is the most infuriating, because Hillary has been in the public eye on a national level since 1992.  Republicans have spent thousands upon thousands of hours investigating her for various supposed wrong doings, and they have discoveredâŚthat her husband had an affair with an intern and she had a slightly-shady email account.
Thatâs it. Â Whitewater, Benghazi, all of itâ itâs a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Â If she really was the criminal that the Republicans (and some Bernie Bros) imagine, sheâs a goddamn supervillian because her life has been under a fucking microscope for a quarter of a century. Â The âHillary is untrustworthyâ narrative arose out of the GOPâs completely unhinged need to hate her for everything, so every time a liberal repeats that disproven canard remember that you just made Rush Limbaugh smile. Â (And if you do, I hope you can live with yourself).
In fact, Politifact rated her public statements as true, mostly true, or half true (she is a politician, after all) 72% of the time.  For comparison, Barack Obama is at 75%, and tumblrâs darling Grandpa Bernie comes in at a whoppingâŚ72%.  And her percentage of statements rated straight out true is 23%, while Bernieâs percentage of true statements stands at all of 13%. Â
Thatâs right, motherfuckers: she tells the straight out truth more often than Bernie, but yet people cling to this âsheâs a liarâ narrative because it gives them an excuse to dislike her. Â
And why do they dislike her?  Well, consider the fact that her approval ratings go down whenever she runs for office, only to rise again once she has the job. Oddly enough, the American people like her when she is doing her job, only to turn on her rather violently when she dares to reveal even the tiniest sliver of ambition.  Go ahead, look at that and tell me that this need to dislike her is not rooted in an ingrained bias against women with ambition.  I dare you.
But now letâs move onto why I like her.
I like her because Hillary is fucking smart. Â
Her policy proposals are interconnected, because she understands that raising the minimum wage will help single mothers, and that tackling substance abuse in the US cannot be done without criminal justice reform. She knows that racial issues in the United States are a symptom of a larger problem that penalizes people of color and is committed to multifaceted solution that takes into account the fact that poverty and racism are interconnected and you canât fix one problem without addressing the other.
I like her because Hillary is tough.
I donât mean âtoughâ in the macho sense of the word.  I mean she has been a walking target for the GOP for twenty five fucking years, and she hasnât folded.  Every single thing she wears, haircut she gets, and food she eats gets scrutinized and more often than not, mocked.  I personally wilt under moderately-severe criticism and I am in awe of her ability to face down people who think she should be hung for treason with hardly a wince.
 I like her because Hillary gets shit done.
Sheâs a dedicated public servant who took a bruising primary loss in 2008 in stride and accepted a position in Obamaâs cabinet, and her approval ratings as Secretary of State were almost unbelievably high. And hereâs where my protectiveness of her comes in: Â Hillary has proven herself over and over again to be qualified, competent, and dedicated. Â People who have met her consistently describe her as a kind, thoughtful person, and as someone who has heard her speak in person I can say that she is an engaging, inspiring speaker. Â And yet people keep complaining that sheâs boring, or awkward, or lacking an element of charisma that canât be defined.Â
You know what I think? I think Hillary is the proverbial hall monitor running for student body president. Â She knows the principal and all the teachers, she knows exactly what policy changes are possible and how to go about getting them made. Sheâs done her homework, researched her positions, and diligently laid out her case for why she deserves the position.
And then the fun stoner from the art department walks up to the podium, announces that he will make the cafeteria serve pizza every day, and walks away to thunderous applause.  Never mind the fact that lunch menus are dictated by federal policy and there is absolutely no way for one student to change that.  Never mind the fact that itâs only one half thought out policy that wonât really, truly change the way the school is run.  It sounds good, so people start looking for reasons to dislike her and justify why they wonât vote for her.  They know sheâd be great at the job, butâŚshe wants it too much.  And when the stoner is legitimately defeated, some of his worst supporters decide to vote for the racist jackass who punches kids with disabilities and drives a pick up truck with Confederate flags all over it instead (or write in something clever, like Seymour Buttz) because they really, truly canât handle the fact that a woman might not just be qualified for a powerful position, but that she actually has the audacity to want it.
Did that last paragraph sound a little personal to you? Â Good. It should. Â I was that hall monitor (and eventually student body president, although there was no stoner opponent and while my high school had itâs fair share of racist jackasses, none of them bothered with student government). Â I know, on a very tiny scale, the garbage truck of crap that comes with being a woman who takes a leadership role. Â Navigating that is difficult, but Hillary has been doing it for decades without breaking a sweat.
I am also a woman who has agonized over every goddamn word in this response because I know that by being a woman with an opinion on the internet, Iâm running the risk of getting an absolute avalanche of shit dumped on me. Â So I carefully chose every link to support my argument because if thereâs even one tiny flaw in my logic, every single thing I said will be entirely discounted. Â Women donât ever get to be good enoughâ we have to be perfect, or thereâs no point in trying.
And thereâs no doubt about itâ Hillary is not a perfect candidate.  She has positions I disagree with, but then again, so does Obama.  Thereâs plenty of legitimate criticism out there, but so much of it is wrapped in this misogynistic bullshit that boils down to âsheâs not behaving the way I want a woman to behaveâ that itâs nigh impossible to separate the two.
But honestly, if someone reading this still isnât convinced:
You donât have to like her, you just have to vote for her.  Chances are, youâre never going to actually meet her, and if you do, itâll be a handshake on a rope line and nothing else.  Sheâs not your mom, your cranky aunt, or your mean fifth grade teacher.  Sheâs not going to be your boss or your neighbor.  Sheâs running for President of the fucking United States. And the alternativeâ and make no mistake, my friends, thereâs only one alternative outcome hereâ is a misogynistic, racist windbag who brags about his desire to bar entry to this country based on ethnicity and religion.  He openly idolizes brutal dictators and lashes out like a toddler up past his bedtime when heâs challenged even the slightest bit.  He is an unhinged maniac who should not be in charge of running a gas station, much less the country, but those are your choices.
A competent, smart, thoughtful, dedicated public servant.
janainaart
blakekathryn
turnnoffyourmind
annaxmalina
areudirty
romaincrisis
