It's a funny thought for me to settle on now, with a huge election test looming on Super Tuesday. But it's the one that has slowly been working it's way up from my sub conscious mind, and now that it's arrived I'm looking at it, and it's looking back at me. Over the last six months I have seen an extraordinary amount of very negative adjectives and names attached to Hillary Clinton on political discussion boards. Down right evil words used to describe her, with "unlikable" firmly lodged at the benign end of the available spectrum. But I am not finding her unlikable at all. I am seeing much to admire about Hillary instead.
It occurred to me, how would it effect me if that type of bitter derision and accusatory hatred was aimed toward me every day? And not just by those who I can understand may have good reason to be my enemy, but also by those whose goals and vision for America I too share. A whole lot worse than it has effected her was my very quick and certain answer for myself. And Hillary has been dealing with this, to greater and lesser extents daily for over 15 years. All because she long ago dedicated her life to making a positive difference in other people's lives.
That is really what this is about for her, I have no real doubt about that. And I know that Hillary Clinton is far from being alone in politics in having made that type of personal commitment. But very few have been attacked as fiercely, as relentlessly, and for as long because of that commitment than Hillary Clinton has. She has incredible inner strength. Many people notice that, but lately I have been seeing the grace in Hillary Clinton also. Though sometimes she flashes angry, it doesn't harden into bitterness. Hillary can take a punch and come back swinging, but she knows when, and how, to take off her boxing gloves when each round is over.
Hillary's words of unity may not sound as inspirational as another famous Democrat whose name pops up a lot nowadays, but she knows how to live those words. She does it so our nation might prosper. Less than three years after the Republican dominated United States Senate tried her husband in public for high crimes and misdemeanors in an attempt to remove him from office, Hillary Clinton entered that chamber as a Senator herself. She went hard to work building the type of connections that were necessary to accomplish goals on behalf of her constituents in a divided chamber under the control of Republicans. And by all reports she succeeded.
On a very personal level Hillary's own house was earlier divided, while people across the globe discussed her husband's semen stain on another womens dress. It pains me to write that, what must it have been like to live it? Not only did Hillary Clinton find the strength to hold her head high and continue to function in public, but she stepped forward on a political level to call out by name "the vast right wing conspiracy" then attempting a quasi legal governmental coup against the elected President - her husband.
And Hillary continued to raise her teen age daughter throughout all of it, somehow shielding Chelsea's spirit from the soul deadening effect of the toxins that swirled around their lives. Hillary Clinton held her family together, Chelsea never lost the love of either parent, and today that young woman is a magnificent human being.
This year I watched in Chicago when Hillary Clinton came to Yearly Kos. She was not in friendly territory. Kossacks were respectful enough but it was clear by and large that their hearts belonged to someone else. Several someone elses in fact. Hillary Clinton was viewed as the establishment by a crowd who saw themselves as an insurgency. But she was there and she sat on that stage through a nearly two hour debate not shying away from positions that were not tailored to win that audience's approval. And Hillary remained in good humor throughout all of it.
That is something I have been thinking about today. I think MoveOn.org's rejection of Hillary as a candidate may have something to do with my thinking along these lines. Hillary Clinton, you may recall, defended MoveOn.org when they were red baited in the U.S. Senate, and she was in a minority of Senators who did so. Hillary never runs against the left no matter how ugly the attacks on her have been. She keeps seeking our support respectfully, whether or not the netroots treat her respectfully in return. That is classy, and, I think, a public reflection of the private grace that her own family is more privy to seeing than we.
I see Hillary forced to banter with people like Chris Mathews and I come away impressed. He could have been knifing her yesterday and Hillary will still embrace him in public while dead panning "I don't know how to handle men who are obsessed with me"; but the truth is she has handled all of them, all of the Hillary hating, double standard setting, sexist talking head media males extremely well. They are the divisive ones, the unlikable ones, not Hillary Clinton.
We all know how hard Hillary can be when she is facing a real fight, but she can be soft too. When she talks to gay and lesbian teens about a deadly plague of suicides and says; "we've gotta do everything we can to send a clear message that we value you, we value you as a person, as a total person, and we want you to feel accepted and respected in your community", that is going beyond mere tolerance. Hillary has been fighting for youth and families for over 20 years. Most voters have little idea how long and deeply she has cared about the health of children in America.
Both Hillary Clinton and her current primary opponent, Barack Obama, carry the weight of history on their shoulders now, moving into political territory no person of their race or gender has traveled in America before. I give them both great credit for that, but this piece is devoted to watching and reflecting on Hillary, the supposedly less likable one according to America's pundits. Throughout what is an obvious ordeal Hillary has never lost her charm. I know she has had to watch each gesture, more so than any white man certainly, as people read her every move, the cut of her dress, the pitch of her voice, the range of her emotional expression, and her ability to convey strength without appearing cold or unfeminine.
Throughout all of it, Hillary Clinton still talks about the issues, about the wrongs in America and the fixes it will take to right them. And she keeps fighting, applying her quick and subtle intelligence and indomitable work ethic to doing exactly that. And I like her. I honestly like Hillary Clinton for all of that and more. This isn't quite the way the Beatles sang it, but the change will do us good. To Hillary then, with love:
Girl, you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight a long time.
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