2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumHillary Clinton's speech was a powerful, primal first – and it blew me away
Hillary Clinton's speech was a powerful, primal first and it blew me away
Xeni Jardin
I disagree with her on many issues. But the impact of seeing a woman accept the nomination reached a part of me deeply wounded by sexism, and made me weep
Imagine him in the Oval Office: Clinton takes down Trump as she accepts nomination
Sometimes we look to the internet hoping to be seen and heard by the world. Other times, we see in some strangers tweets our own experience. We see ourselves reflected, and it makes us feel less alone, and whole, when we didnt know we were missing anything moments before. On Twitter Thursday night, I saw an image that mirrored my own experience of watching Hillary Clinton accept the DNC nomination for president of the United States. It was a photo of a little girl gazing at a regal woman in a white pantsuit.
For so many women and girls watching, her public, historic speech was a powerful, primal, private first. It was a first for that toddler, and its a first for me. Someone like us is up there. The glass ceilings in our own lives feel thinner today, if not entirely shattered. Todays little girls will grow up knowing they are complete human beings, equal to and possessing the same innate dignity and value as any boy or man. I wasnt prepared to feel all this gratitude, all this grief. Sadness that something so simple had finally happened, after being denied to so many for so long. Im old enough to have followed Clintons career for almost as many decades as shes had one. I never identified myself as a fan or supporter. I disagree with her take on many issues, war and whistleblowers among them. I felt the Bern, and had hoped to cast my vote for Bernie Sanders. I was surprised at how this moment changed me.
. . . . .
And suddenly last night, right there on our screens: we breathed new air. I couldnt know before I witnessed this moment of political theater, in which Clinton even quoted Hamilton, how the presence of a woman on stage would lift up a part of me that has always been downtrodden. Seeing this fellow woman, with whom I share the experience of surviving a culture, a government and an economy that treats women as 70 cents to a mans dollar ... it felt like something broken inside me spontaneously mended.
. . . .
Men, you cant know what its like to always navigate the world knowing that your ability to navigate the world means, in part, charming or pleasing or deferring to or avoiding sexual inappropriateness from men. The countless little invisible slights, the horrible attacks, the 30 cents missing from every earned dollar. We all know about all of that, not that the world cares, but Thursday night a spotlight shone on something so powerful that it was invisible. The understanding that only men are American presidents. Perhaps no longer.
. . . .
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/29/emotion-watching-hillary-clinton-woman-candidate-for-president
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)Hillary hit a grand slam. And there is absolutely NO feeling like seeing this strong competent and compassionate woman officially designated as the Democratic standard-bearer in 2016!
I am SO proud of her ... and of us, for choosing her.
niyad
(113,329 posts)astounded, figured they would completely ignore the whole dnc.
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)and then to have one of the largest conservative "fishwraps" from TX endorse her ... WOW!