One of the things about Hillary Clinton that annoys me, aside from the fact that she might beat my choice for president Barak Obama, is that she keeps talking about how she’s the safe option because of her 35 years of executive experience. Yet she doesn’t have 35 years of executive experience. She has 7 years of senatorial experience (which isn’t really executive) and 20 years experience of being the wife of a governor and president. How is being married to somebody that has a difficult job the same as having a difficult job?
Did she have to stand for election? Was her name on the ballot? Did she have the final say on what legislation to adopt? Was her name on any treaties? Sure she gave advice and suchlike, but there’s a world of difference between giving advice and taking it, the internet is full of people who give political advice. And even if you look at advisers to presidents, which is basically what she was, they don’t have to take full responsibility for how things turn out. If being adviser to somebody who accomplished something was the same as doing it yourself there’d be an awful lot of people in Washington who could run for president.
What’s really galling is that she is also standing (albeit quietly) as the feminist candidate. And while it would certainly be a nice change to have a female president, especially after the testosterone overload of the last 8 years, I don’t see what’s feminist about claiming your husbands achievements as your own. Isn’t this a throwback to the days when women were referred to by their husbands names? Vote for Mrs Bill Clinton, the experienced candidate. There are plenty of women in politics who have achieved a lot of success by doing things for themselves, and I’m sure that one of them will become president sooner or later. In Washington state we currently have a female governor and 2 female senators, and I don’t even know if they have husbands let alone what they do for a living.
I’m surprised the other candidates haven’t tried to call her on this, because at the moment she’s having it both ways. Vote for Mrs Bill Clinton for 4 more years of good ol’ Billy boy. Vote for Hillary Clinton for a strong female president. And they can’t both be true.
The Implied Observer 