You know who Michelle Obama reminds me of?

Bucky

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Sat Mar-08-08 02:33 PM
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You know who Michelle Obama reminds me of?

Edited on Sat Mar-08-08 02:44 PM by Bucky

She's not a little bit like Hillary Clinton in 1992... with maybe an early Mary Richards hairdo thrown in.

She's a strong woman with a successful career that complements (and at times has surpassed, by some measures) that of her husband's. She's his life partner; she eggs him on, keeps him in check, shares a mutual respect with him, shares a life's mission with him. She frequently presents a harsher, more negative assessment of the American system than her husband does. She's sharper than a tack yet has a surprisingly charming presentation in person. She also has a talent for making the occasional sharp turn of phrase. This will doubtlessly be used against her.

But part of what's surprising is that it hasn't been used against her up till now. By December of 1991, Governor Clinton's wife was already the target of vicious smear and whisper campaigns. Mrs Obama has made a couple of statements already that, while appropriate enough in context, could all too easily be distorted for a personal attack campaign on her similar to what an idealistic 40-something Mrs Clinton went through 16 years ago. Remember how little attention, what scant condemnation, First Lady Barbara Bush recieved for calling Hillary a bitch?

And yet this hasn't happened. What's different about now, compared to where we were in 1992? What has happened since then to give Michelle Obama an easier entrance onto the national stage? The answer is simple: Hillary Clinton happened.

Women today simply get less flak for being independent, get fewer whispers than women did two decades ago, for having careers as equally important as their husbands. Women of my daughter's generation won't even be able to comprehend the resistance to strong, forceful opinions coming from the wives of male politicians. Even in the early 90s the attacks on Clinton seemed retro, out of step with modern times. But 16 years is a whole half a generation away. It may have been commonplace in what we now call "Blue America" to accept a woman as a fully equal partner in a marriage--but that wasn't where the anti-Hillary attacks came from.

Today, in "Red America," the values of gender equality have sunk in that much deeper. Such a smear campaign wouldn't work against Michelle Obama. They'll hit her with something, don't you fret, but the "bitch who doesn't know her place" malarkey simply will not fly anymore. Conservatives as readily accept female senators, female governors, delusional female rightwing media attack dogs as they accept men in these roles today. They have changed, if only their stripes; they have changed. More specifically, Hillary changed the world in that way.

She took the slings and arrows; she took the missiles and missives; she took the flame throwers. She never quit standing up. And then she got elected to the Senate. She killed the meme and the Republicans started nominating women in droves.

Oh, there's still the occasional morons who attack Clinton for being a woman (Jane Fonda calling her "a ventriloquist {sic} with a vagina" springs to mind). But these are old people, people from a generation that hadn't quite fully adapted to the notions of equality of the sexes. The only people under the age of 50 of either sex who still use gender or sex-based words to go after women they disagree with politically are people with pretty obvious sexual hang ups and deeply seeded emotional insecurities. If they weren't on the internet, you'd dismiss such people as antisocial freaks.

I'm not supporting Hillary Clinton this year (unless she's nominated, God forbid). I don't care for her style of politics. When she equated the stunningly mild criticism she's gotten from the Obama campaign to the blood vendetta Ken Starr masterminded against her, it came painfully clear that she still carries scars from all the wars unleashed on her family by the most hateful elements of our society. When she greenlights the self-defeating cheap shots against Obama with disregard for how it will affect party unity in the summer, or in November, it tells me she isn't keeping her eye on the big picture--which is sort of crucial to me in a president.

But I won't dismiss the contributions she's made to this country, to our culture, to the opportunties available to my daughter because Hillary Clinton stood up to the bullies and made them scatter. I have deep respect for Sen. Clinton and if she beats out my preferred candidate, I won't begrudge her my support or my vote. All Americans owe her a debt of gratitude for taking the hits that, ultimately, were directed against all women--from Michelle Obama to my own family. I will harp endlessly about her hiding her tax returns from the party faithful and her bad judgment on Iraq, but I will respect my opponent. She may not deserve to be president, but she more than deserves all our respect.