Why This Socialist Feminist Is For Hillary

[Stuckinthebush]

http://www.thenation.com/article/why-this-socialist-feminist-is-for-hillary/

 For those of us on the left, the pressure to join the Bernie Express is intense. Friends and colleagues, casual Facebook acquaintances and lifelong political allies alike, all throw up their hands in despair or sneer in disgust if you don’t pledge allegiance to the candidate whose strength and broad appeal in the primary has been both surprising and energizing to progressives used to “holding our noses” and voting for the lesser of two evils. Never mind that I will gladly vote and work for Bernie if he is the nominee, and I applaud the way he has pushed Hillary to the left. For refusing to back Bernie in the primary, I’m a dupe and a traitor; I’m a tool of (take your pick) imperialist, war-mongering, militaristic, in-the-pocket-of-Wall-Street corporate hacks.

So why do I support Hillary—and in the fairly resolute manner that I do? (Because, at the very least, serious leftists and feminists are supposed to carry our support with heavy hearts, wishing she were more like Elizabeth Warren and less like Margaret Thatcher.) Yes, I’ve read most of the critiques of her, and, yes, I’m aware of her record and her complex, often vexing history. But I am no more ambivalent about her than I am about any American politician who will inevitably be found wanting in any number of crucial ways.

 Here’s why: I want a woman president—and, no, not any woman president. Hillary is not, as her detractors would have it, Margaret Thatcher or Carly Fiorina—or Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann, or some other female candidate whose platform rests on antipathy to any feminist concerns. Like most in the Democratic Party, she is a centrist. In her political orientation, deep intelligence, and policy wonkishness, she is similar to Obama—and not as dissimilar to Bernie as one might imagine. Still, I support her less for her specific political positions (some of which I agree with, many of which I do not—all of which are far superior to the racist/sexist/xenophobic sideshow that is the Republican primary field) than for the iconic value of electing the first woman president of the United States.

...

 Hillary may not be the radical, intersectional feminist that activists—myself included—fantasize about seeing in power. But she’s some kind of a feminist for sure, and her election would no doubt foreground the centrality of gender equity to social justice in ways we have not yet seen at a national level. And visibility matters: It’s substantively different to have a woman president advocating for gender equality as opposed to having a man do so, just as it is to have a black president advocating for racial justice—because gender and racial difference live in and through our marked bodies. This is why, for example, the struggles for affirmative action and diversity remain so pertinent to all aspects of social, political, and educational life. It’s unlikely that Bernie’s redistributive economic policies, admirable as they are, would ever make their way through Congress. How is a leftist agenda that remains little more than a vision better for women than actually having a woman (who has, don’t forget, an agenda that shares much in common with this vision)—after all these years—in the Oval Office?

Hillary as president will not usher in a profound realignment of US priorities and politics. No electable mainstream candidate will do that—see Obama’s legacy if you have any doubts. But she just might help us remember that “feminist” isn’t an epithet; it’s a badge of honor.

[pandr32]

1. Awesome!

What so many don't recognize is that Sec. Clinton has been a feminist for decades. Her winning the presidency shatters the highest glass ceiling there is. She would lead with her hand extended to others to help them up. She wins--we all win. Equality will help all of us. It is a lofty goal, but only she is qualified and dedicated enough to get us there.

[Stuckinthebush]

2. "he wins--we all win. Equality will help all of us."

Well said!!!!