General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Clinton: 'That was my last race' [View all]athena
(4,187 posts)Everything you say would apply much better to Gore than to Rodham Clinton, who has already made history as the first female nominee of a major party, as the first female candidate to win the popular vote, and as the candidate who has won more votes than anyone except President Obama in 2008.
The same criticism that was levelled at Hillary in 2016 was levelled at Gore in 2000. The equivalent of today's Bernie supporters were Naderites back then, with the difference that the Naderites were much quicker to realize the gravity of the mistake they had made. The attacks against Gore ended with the 2000 election, whereas Hillary haters can't seem to contain their hate even now, almost half a year since the election. Those who will look particularly ugly in the eyes of history are Hillary haters, who are no better than those who resisted the civil rights movement. Hillary haters may claim they are not sexist and would have been happy to vote for Elizabeth Warren, but history reveals such claims to be exactly what they are: lies, denial, and hypocrisy.
Look how popular Gore is now. Gore goes against your claim that history is unkind to those who lose. History does not seem to consider winning the popular vote but losing the electoral vote as losing. What is ironic is that some Bernie supporters on DU, who hate Hillary with a passion, are now suggesting that Gore run for president in 2020! They have such a short political memory, or must be so young, that they don't realize Gore was painted as being no less corporate-friendly and lesser-of-two-evils than Hillary was. Indeed, Gore ran a very centrist and cautious campaign compared to Hillary. The fact that Hillary ran the most progressive campaign in history is now being credited to Bernie, but that, too, will be revealed by history as the sexist lie it is.
My prediction is that twenty years from now, Hillary Rodham Clinton will be many times more admired and popular than Al Gore is today. Hillary has paved the way for the woman who will eventually be the first female president of the United States. Thanks to Hillary's campaign, we are now more aware of the depth of our society's misogyny. The next female candidate's campaign will be made a little easier by that new self-awareness. And that is how Hillary will go down in history: as the woman who sacrificed so much to further the cause of women's equality.