Reader Posts
« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Tell your daughters that anything is possible....as long as you're willing to do anything?
I thought one of the most endearing images of the campaign is the photo of Hillary and Bill registering voters in Texas for McGovern in 1972. I think many of us think that was and is a part of us: idealistic and optimistic. Hillary quoted a mother saying that she wants her daughters to see that anything is possible. My daughter, a sophmore at the Univ. of Iowa, who has never discussed politics, called me last summer just bubbling after she heard Barack speak on campus. The mother in the letter dreams of this call from her daughters. What happens if Barack loses to a Karl-Rovian-style battering. Do I tell my daughter this is just politics and I'm going to vote for Hillary anyway in the general? Clinton just doesn't get it. This is the change these students want; and the change that this old college grad and that young couple in the photo believed in so many, many years and elections ago.
Comments (6)
I don't understand your reasoning. Obama has suggested Hillary is less than honest, he has said she would do anything to win, he is whining about (supposedly) having to run agains both Clintons, he belittles her experience. When I hear Hillary criticizing him, it is about his inexperience, his lack of understanding of the world stage and his tendency to get so lofty and esoteric sometimes, I don't think he even understands what he is saying. I'm thinking Obama is the one going negative. He is the one making personal attacks. What you are saying is typical of what I contantly hear from the Obama camp. They accuse other people of exactly what they are doing themselves. I'm beginning to believe it is a cult and you would believe the sky is green if he said so. I'm all for hope, but reality carries a lot of weight with me too. I'm voting Hillary.
March 5, 2008 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary has an inspiring message for your daughter: If she marries an ambitious man, puts up with his infidelities, claims his successes as her own, and is willing to stoop to Rovian-style gutter politics in order to destroy anyone who gets in her way, she may just be able to achieve something great.
March 5, 2008 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Try to open your daughters eyes. Explain to her that politicians are not leaders but employees and we, the citizens, are the employers. Show her how all the candidates have pandered or behaved less then ethically as well as done good. See if you can get her to understand that these politicians are human beings with the beauty and fraility we all possess. They, like us, are a mixture of idealism and selfishness. Encourage her to stay involved. Remind her that if she cares about her country, her future, her children's future, and in fact the world its important for her to be supportive of those politicians she likes but to also maintain a critical supervision of them. Clarity and objectivity if most important. Encourage these politicians to do good, critique them when the stray from the path and try not to be too disappointed when they fail to meet our expectations since they are only human. That's what I would tell her.
March 5, 2008 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
And after you're done doing that for your daughter, can you do it for many of the bloggers on this site? :-)
March 5, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
At the moment I'm just trying to live up to that standard myself.
March 5, 2008 11:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's see, so far, the female candidate for POTUS:
a) cried when under pressure to win sympathy
b) played victim card (with the press) to win sympathy
c) displayed the moral equivalent of having a tantrum ("Shame on you" speech) to garner support
Yes, these are all examples (apparently) of what a woman needs to do to get ahead in this world.
March 5, 2008 9:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment