A lovely thought Xeni and I agree it’s a symbolic moment. But this woman is not fit for office. Gender does not trump ethics. (sorry to use trump, couldn’t think a better word).
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In my opinion the most important sentence in this excellent post is: “I can’t wait until she’s elected, so I can start fighting her lousy positions and mocking them here on Boing Boing.”
This is the key to getting anywhere in the next four years. Millions of us united to elect Barack Obama, believing he’d champion progressive causes. Within a week of the election our coalition evaporated. It only reappeared after the mid-term election to whine about losing Congress.
When we failed to hold Obama’s feet to the fire the Ship of State gradually drifted to the right. It always will unless there’s constant pressure in the opposite direction. Given a two-party monopoly we know one of two people will be president: Trump or Clinton. We know what sort of chance progressive ideas will have in a Trump administration. With Clinton we have the barest chance of eking out positive change. But only if we _keep at her…_marching, writing, protesting, yelling at the top of our lungs after the election. There’s a lesson to learn from the Republicrazies: get enough people out there hammering, hammering, hammering at the national, state, and local levels, and eventually the people at the top must listen to you.
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It is awesome that a woman will become president.
I still would have preferred it were Michelle Obama, or Connie Rice or Condi if need be, or Elizabeth Warren, or even a resurrected Senator Barbara Jordan.
Well, she loudly claimed that she “believes in science” so maybe she’ll swear on the periodic table of the elements, or a printed copy of Cosmos
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I, for one, welcome our new feminist overlords.
And I look forward to President Clinton’s response to the change.org petition asking Her to designate GamerGate as a terrorist organization.
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Ohmigod please yes!
She’d completely win me over in an instant!
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Yep, American women. And, granted, we Americans do love some hyperbole.
But I’m here to say, when you grow up in a country where the bedrock of political rhetoric from the moment of birth is that “anyone can Horatio Alger the shit out their own bootstraps” and “anyone can be president” – it is really, truly something to see it happen. Overwhelming, even.
Assume crash positions, I’m about to shout. I LOVE YOU.[quote=“William_Holz, post:28, topic:82371”]
I don’t think the fact that she’s a woman is as big a deal except as a symbolic thing.
[/quote]
Read this, then: http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/rpande/files/female_leadership_raises_aspirations_science_2012.pdf
Aw, hell, I love you too. Yes, it might be worthwhile to consider that if the women in your life who you respect and consider intelligent, women who don’t normally cry over politics teared up, that’s worth thinking about your own perspective.
Well, damn, the love just keeps flowing.
NOTE: My post has absolutely nothing to do with her policy positions. I’m on the fence about voting for her or Stein in my own, very red, state. Once in a great while, something happens that transcends politics. This is one of those moments.
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We have the most tolerant and generous young people we’ve ever had.
—Hillary Clinton
240 years later, we still put our faith in each other.
—Hillary Clinton
None of us can raise a family, build a business, heal a community, or lift a country totally alone. America needs every one of us to lend our energy, our talents, our ambition to making our nation better and stronger. I believe that with all my heart. That’s why Stronger Together is not just a lesson from our history—It’s not just a slogan for our campaign. It’s a guiding principle for the country we’ve always been and the country we’re going to build. A country where the economy works for everyone, not just those at the top.
—Hillary Clinton
When any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone. After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit.
—Hillary Clinton
I believe American corporations that have gotten so much from our country should be just as patriotic in return. Many of them are but too many aren’t. It’s wrong to take tax breaks with one hand and give out pink slips with the other. And I believe that Wall Street can never ever be allowed to wreck Main Street again. And I believe in science.
—Hillary Clinton
A four year degree should not be the only path to a good job.
—Hillary Clinton
The speech wasn’t really for me so she said a lot of things I didn’t care for but she gave an amazing speech and I’m pretty enthusiastic.
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Right back 'atcha…
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I want to give a shout out to Geraldine Ferraro, who was Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984, and actually did better in her debate with Bush père than Walter did against Ronnie. Even if it felt like a throwaway move, it still left a hairline fracture on the glass ceiling.
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Like the Moon Landing for American women, perhaps.
You bet.
Sure it’s a good thing, but we’ve had a female prime minister here in Australia. Americans can have very close cultural horizons sometimes.
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It took the USA more than a century to even let women vote. Let’s hope we can squeak “Madam President” in before another full century is up (1920-2020). I want my (as yet hypothetical) granddaughters to grow up in a country without that particular ceiling.
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Came in here to say something similar. It must be surprising for a lot of US citizens that the world is larger than just the USA.
Women as head of government off the top of my head:
recent: Germany, Poland, UK, Norway
former: France, Pakistan (conservative islamic!), India, Brazil, Turkey, Switzerland
5 out of the top 10 economical most powerful countries have/had women as head of government.
Fun Fact: In Switzerland women gained the right to vote in federal election since 1971(federal) (In cantonal elections in Kanton Appenzell-Innerrhoden since 1990 
)
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Never, ever forget the immortal words of Lyndon Baines Johnson:
I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.
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We’ve also had female governors in the US, of states with a larger population than Australia.
No question that many countries are way ahead of the US in getting women to the top of the political pyramid. Australia even beat us to getting an investment banker in as head of government.
The US presidency is a big deal first because of the degree of power the office has, not just by virtue of the national population and size of the economy and military but because of the way the government is structured. Executive and military power is concentrated in the one individual to a very unusual degree; the president is head of government and head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. Moreover, unlike a PM in a parliamentary democracy, the election is by the people (albeit by way of the electoral college) rather than by legislators. No non-MPs outside of Theresa May’s constituency had the opportunity to vote for or against her, every voter in the US will have an opportunity to register a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down for Clinton.
I don’t think we as American citizens have the standing to pat ourselves on the back for being so progressive, given how long it took and the number of female leaders elsewhere, but I also think some of the posters who are downplaying this achievement by bringing up female leaders outside the US are comparing apples and oranges.
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So like the french president?
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Have a look at the Republican Party today and who they’re nominating and electing. Do you really think it’s possible for them to reverse course at this point?
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Yes, if the PM of France and the President of the Republic were the same person.
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Yep we get it, you’re special. There is even a word for it: american exceptionalism
No, we’re different. American exceptionalism is an assertion of superiority, which I am not making.
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