I’m Voting for Hillary Because of My Daughter

[Stuckinthebush]

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/02/im-voting-for-hillary-because-of-my-daughter.html

...

I was surprised to see Bernie Sanders emerge not simply as a viable candidate, but a truly exciting one. Bernie, I said to myself, is an unapologetic wealth-redistributor, a socialist, a true radical in many ways, just like me. He is pushing Hillary Clinton further to the left than she ever wanted to be, and in their debates they are actually engaging each other on topics that matter to the people of this country. Sanders was a candidate who seemed made for me. He believed in all of the things I believed in, and he said them bluntly, in a language I understood and liked. I liked him. A lot.

But it was in the last debate that I had my awakening: the moment when I realized — after several months of thinking, Well, I think I’ll probably vote for Bernie Sanders — that I am going to support and vote for Hillary, and that it is important for me to say this aloud to my friends and family. I’m going to vote for Hillary Clinton, because she is a woman. This is even more important to say aloud now, I think, in light of her defeat in New Hampshire, where it is clear that she lost many women's votes to Sanders.

You see, I watched these debates and I recognized something in Hillary’s eyes. There is something in her face sometimes, just a glimpse or a whisper of a reaction — she’s trained herself, she knows every blink is going to be scrutinized, and she’s had years to practice. Once or twice, watching her stand on that stage, I thought I saw her feel something I have felt many times in my adult life as a woman, and the best way I can describe it is to say that she looked like she was going to laugh maniacally, explode, cry, and throw up all at the same time. It’s possible — maybe even likely — that this is just me reading into her the way that everyone else does, but it’s enough for me to have made up my mind.

In that reading I carry the endless discussions of her appearance, her inability to laugh or remember a joke, her speaking too loudly, even her bathroom trip during a debate that made headlines. And watching these debates, sitting there at night after my 2-year-old daughter went to sleep, I felt like I wanted to throw up, too. I felt for the first time, an incredible, overwhelming empathy for this woman standing onstage. A career politician, one of the most powerful women in the world. I wanted to fold her into my arms and say, “I know.”

I know exactly that feeling, Hillary. I’ve felt the same way, and though I can’t even be sure you are feeling what I think you are, I’m not sure it matters. In that moment, where you blinked very hard as if to stop tears of rage when someone asked a stupid question of you, I saw for the first time the thing we have in common: We are both women. And that was enough, because I have never seen that look in Bernie Sanders eyes, because Bernie Sanders is not a woman.

Sometimes the fact that I’m a woman isn’t the most important thing about me. But sometimes, it is.

In that moment, too, I extrapolated this feeling from myself to my daughter. Entering politics necessarily means you are in for an endless road of nitpicking and scrutiny, your every move dissected and hot-taked. That’s just how it is, and nobody knows that better than Hillary Clinton. But it seems to me that there is a certain tone to the critiques of her that is different. It’s implied, not usually stated outright, but it’s there, and millions of little girls in this country know it when they see it. Children are smart — they don’t need to be told — and girls still begin to learn very young that how they say things often matters more than what they say. It was, in that moment, unbearable to me, to think that my daughter would ever feel that way. It is unacceptable to me, and it has to change. And the only way to change that is to elect women to political office.

I grew up in a world that was life-changingly different from my mother’s: I had access to birth control, and abortion was legal. I was educated to understand what these things were and I cannot imagine my own daughter growing up without them, just as I cannot imagine her growing up in a world where marriage equality does not exist as a legal reality. So I can’t help but think, when I read a tweet about Hillary’s “screech” (and the hundreds of vicious, gleeful responses) in her New Hampshire speech, Voting for Hillary is the bare minimum I can do for women.

I like Bernie Sanders, and a few weeks ago, I would have told you I was going to vote for him. But I’ve had a change of heart, I’ve moved back to where I was almost ten years ago. I think it’s more important than ever for me to say, “I’m voting for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman,” because the kind of equality that feminists have fought for for generations is not a foregone conclusion, and it’s not something I can take for granted for my daughter.

[yallerdawg]

1. "Voting for Hillary is the bare minimum I can do for women."

Damn straight!

And plenty good enough reason!

For my mother, my wife, my daughter.

[mgmaggiemg]

6. agree

[Nonhlanhla]

2. Yes, this

In 2008 I supported Barack Obama. I don't regret that support, since he is pretty awesome, and in him we've not only had a brilliant president, but someone who represented the breaking of a barrier that has existed for as long as this country has existed.

In 2009 I gave birth to my one and only child, a daughter. For her sake (and for other reason), I support Hillary Clinton this time around. I showed my daughter pictures of president Obama and of the then-3 Democratic candidates recently and told her a bit about the election (she's in first grade and they've started learning about stuff like that). When she saw Hillary, her eyes widened and she said, "a girl? Girls can be president?"

That's why. Not only do I think that Hillary will make an excellent president, but she represents the breaking of a barrier that has existed for as long as this country has existed.

[asjr]

3. From another woman--Thank you!

[LAS14]

4. Thank you! This is powerful.

My husband and I met Hillary when she was at Wellesley, president of the senior class. We didn't keep up, but having gotten to know her moral framework by working with her on racial issues then, we recognize the same firm groundedness now, and have throughout her public career.

I, however, was not comfortable when, early in the campaign, it became clear that she would explicitly "play the woman card." I don't answer Emily's list calls. I want to get rid of barriers, but not by putting women into office based on their sex.

But, you're right, Hillary has endured so much because of her gender! I continually marvel at how she's trained herself not to relax, because of the headlines it will make. You expressed it really well. I'm voting for Hillary because she's got the right ideas and because she's got the right temperament, forged by fire. But I'm grateful for your eloquent depiction of what's really going on on those stages. Thanks!

LAS

[mgmaggiemg]

5. re voting for HRC because she's a woman....

HELL YA!... you know what the competition reminds me of ...when Billie Jean King goes out on the court to play what's his face....and the men feel so entitled to win...and there is no way she's going to let that happen...just because they feel so entitled...the Bernie Camp to me are the ones acting entitled and whining and throwing 2yr old temper tantrums...just makes the win all that more satisfying...

[Cha]

7. Yes, Hillary Clinton is a woman but she's this extraordinary woman who has decades of dedication

of helping other women and children and yes, men, too.

Thank you, Stuck.. very moving. Glad she changed her mind.. she'll be even more glad as time goes on, imv.

[Gothmog]

8. Being the father of two daughters plays a role in my support of Hillary Clinton

[Stuckinthebush]

9. Three daughters here..

I concur