6/7/08

A consecutive date. Only possible in the beginning of the century. Today Hillary Clinton suspends her campaign for the democratic nomination and concedes to Barak Obama. Yes, Hillary is not my personal favorite woman in the country. Certainly not the woman I’d select as the first woman president. Far too conservative for me and I’m not a Clinton bandwagonite. But she has made a powerful statement in history. Just forty years ago, when we lost Kennedy and King, the very idea of a woman even running for president was laughable. Even if we dislike the Clintons, we have seen her crumble that notion. It is often left to those most unlikely to take on the tasks the advocates move most passionately. Only Nixon could go to China. Only Begin could make peace with only Sadat. Only a republican Governor could commute all death sentences and clear Illinois’ death row. And only the intensely loved and intensely hated Hillary Clinton could become the first serious female candidate for highest office. In my working life, I experienced the trailing end of gender discrimination. And even as it began to slither to its death it was a powerful element in all our lives, defining so many things about what we were permitted to do, think, be, and become. It’s not gone yet. But Hillary has brought us another few feet toward the road’s convergence. And for that, we must all be grateful – like her or not.