The “Hillary Divide”
It’s lonely at the top. Especially if you are the only female vying for the opportunity to become the first female president. This topic has been debated from all angles but the one I find most interesting is that of the women either for or against Hillary Clinton becoming president. So what’s all the fuss? Shouldn’t women just be happy that a woman is even in the running? Not quite.
The two halves of the debate stem from a number of factors that go beyond just liking her because she is female. The majority of women who have taken a stand on either side do so based on their politics. In today’s society, it is no longer enough to represent all women. You must also represent their individual values and political views. The problem with that mindset is, how can one woman represent the values of all the women in America? Indeed, one is the lonliest number.
The magazine, The Nation, addresses these topics. The first issue causing the divide is her vote on the Iraq war. It is debatable whether it would be so important an issue if she had been a man. At one point in the article it was stated that as a women, “you expect more of a woman.” This type of statement raises the question as to whether Hillary is held to a different standard than the other candidates because she is supposed to be representative of all women. Unfortunately, the views of many on the opposing side of the “Hillary divide” show that many women don’t just want a women president, they want a woman that will that is the complete opposite of any other candidate. As one woman stated, “The fantasy was that the first woman President would be someone who would turn the whole lousy system inside out and upside down. Instead the first significant woman contender is someone who seems to have the system down to a fine art.”
So what of those on the other side of the divide. The statistics speak for themselves, “Hillary Clinton was the number-one choice of 42 percent of likely Democratic primary women voters in a recent Zogby survey, compared with 19 percent for Barack Obama and 15 percent for John Edwards. And her favorable rating among independent women is a whopping twenty-one points higher than among independent men.” Such “mainstream moderate women’s organizations such as NOW and EMILY’s List, facing off against more radical progressive feminists” are also in favor of Hillary and a showing their support.
It seems that being the only female candidate has placed Hillary in a difficult spot. Trying to please women across the board, from the moderate to the radical, is inevitably going to cause a tug-o-war that can’t easily be solved. I say, let Hillary stand for what she stands for. It is almost as though women feel this is their only real chance to have a female president and so much is riding on this election. But fortunately, chances are there will be many more female candidates in the future. Hillary’s candidacy, whether you like her or not, is opening the door for the future and that cannot be denied. So I say, treat her as any other politician and vote because of politics and not because of gender.
women, president, election, 2008, Hillary Clinton, politics, feminism, moderate
