Madam President

six women ran for the democratic presidential nominee.

two old white men are left.

not only white but pushing 80.

around the world, women have held the highest position.

why not here? why not now?


in 1865, the 13th amendment allowed african american men to vote. it took 55 more years before women were given that privilege... and not without a fight

women were supposed to be beautiful wives, mothers and daughters. ugly, smart women were an aberration 

i came into my womanhood in the seventies. thankfully, my daughters grew into theirs at a better time.

i totally accepted mick jagger's under my thumb and even sang along. i was not alone.

i am not a pretty girl

that is not what i do

i ain't no damsel in distress

i don't need to be rescued

ani difranco

hillary rodham came into adulthood seeking to broaden her mind, not to get her m.r.s.  she, like me, was an ms. all the way.

my students would always ask me if i was divorced because i went by ms. capps. if you're married, why don't you use mrs. i told them i didn't want to be defined by whether or not i had a man.

they looked blankly back at me

when hillary decided to marry bill clinton, her life changed forever. i don't know that she realized that at the time. she just fell in love with this charismatic, flawed man.

even for the most enlightened woman, it's something we do.

i'm not even saying it's wrong. love always requires sacrifice.

the people of arkansas did not know what to think of hillary. she was like no governor's wife ever.

oddly, for those who didn't grow up in the conservative south of that time, their biggest beef was that she kept her name.

bill probably knew it hurt his campaign when he lost his reelection, but to his credit, i believe he never asked her to take his name.

in the recent documentary, bill tells someone that this (whatever the issue was) involves my wife, too. You have to go talk to her. the man was floored and said afterward. "she's not my wife"

that says it in a nutshell.

she was not a person. she was a wife

hillary not only had to take his name; she had to "dress up". if a woman wanted to play, there were certain rules she had to follow.

a woman of my age completely understands that

a woman never stops being judged by her looks

she did a lot of good in arkansas. she helped them get out of their "thank god for mississppi" education, and she did it by being a policy nerd and being a coalition builder. she could do that because she didn't hold political office.

washington would not allow her to do the same.

if hillary wasn't married to bill, she was fully qualified for him to appoint her to head a cabinet or even a supreme court judge. but she was expected to be a typical first lady. that's not what either of them wanted. why waste her many talents? both had a passion to create a national healthcare program. he put her in charge.

and then she made the comment about baking cookies.

i knew at the time that people were going to crucify her for that and hate her forever.

i was not wrong.

hillary fought like a tiger throughout all the ugliness that was thrown at her. the hillary hate was unreasonable and petty and downright cruel... and it was deeply rooted in misogyny. 
even in the women. sadly, too many women support misogyny

i can hear the bernie bros protesting and they are right. bernie's criticism was policy not gender. but he was mostly an exception.

enter donald trump

trump is a master at manipulating people's negative emotions and fears.


racism, misogyny, xenophobia . this is his bread and butter.

people worry about biden's skeletons, but trump was so brazen with his sexual harassment as if it was his right as a rich man, i don't see how he can throw stones... but we know he will.

i worked for a politician in the 70's. it was an understanding that they would be promiscuous as a perk of their office.

didn't expect that term, did you? that's reserved for women.

this isn't an attempt to say hillary should have won or lost.

this is to say hillary, and all women, have had to be so incredibly resilient to achieve equal status with men.

what we have learned is that you take what you can get and keep fighting.

i want hillary to be to young girls what obama was to young black boys... a sign of hope... a yes you can....

no matter how much hate they throw at you