Tonight at the Democratic
National Convention, Hillary Clinton will take the stage to accept her party’s
nomination as their candidate for President of the United States. All around
the country, women young and old will cheer—or at least smile—to know that a
chick is finally busting into a previously male-dominated arena and kicking
some serious ass. Yay. Good on you, Mrs. Clinton, Madam-President-to-be. Personally,
I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter, and I voted for him (yes, even as an avowed
feminist, I picked the man over the woman) in the California primary, but I’m
still happy that a woman has made this advancement on the part of all women who
feel they should be able to attain the same goals as do men in this country. By
the way, this does not make us special or progressive as a nation. Around the
globe currently there are twenty-two women serving as leaders of their
countries, most of them elected (a couple of them appointed). Yep, as sophisticated
as we believe we are, we are still kind of backwards in some social settings.
(Huh. That reminds me of someone else who is running for President.)
So that’s all good news. Yay
us! Yay women! Yay USA! I’m a proud patriot, so any time we get something
right, I am figuratively yet fervently waving my flag.
But know what puts the damper
on my enthusiasm for all this history-in-the-making with Hillary? It’s the fact
that she’s about to be attacked and vilified for months. And that won’t stop
once she’s in office. I don’t mean the same type of political attacks and
posturing that occurs in all election cycles. I mean the ugly, name calling,
hate and fear mongering crap that started with the election of The First Black
President of the United States. When Barack Obama announced his intention to
run for President, I was over-the-moon happy. I had wished it for him four
years prior when he gave his amazing address to the Democratic Convention of
2004. But now that he has served two terms, I regret wishing it for him. I
think, having been subjected to the absolute worst manifestations of our
country’s ugliness, he must be emerging from the office a changed man. I know I
would be. If he’s not, he’s a better person than I am, by far. It wasn’t just
the constant reminders from Republicans that they absolutely hated him and
would never let him come near accomplishing all that he wanted to do (although
he did get quite a bit done in spite of them), there were also the constant
horrible racist postings about him on social media, to say nothing of the death
threats.
Hillary will face this. Just
as there were those who believed no Black man should ever be President, there
are those who believe no woman should ever be in a position of power and
authority. So, just as Barack Obama was throughout his time in office, Hillary
Clinton will be threatened and targeted and criticized and maligned. But damn,
the lady has some huge… well, she has courage and fortitude. So yay her! And
really, all things considered, yay us again! For as much hate and ugliness as
we’ve seen in the past few months, there has been a lot of love. And as Hillary
Clinton supporters have demonstrated, love trumps hate.
