When This Blows Over

No doubt many people would prefer a candidate less steeped in
what Nick Clegg was once able to call “the old politics”. But
sometimes you have to concede that monopolies are hard to break
and that compromise is needed if you hope to do so.
The US has got to start somewhere in addressing its historic
problem with male hegemony.
I’m troubled myself by all the issues I have listed above. I’ve never
been a big Hillary fan. I don’t expect her to be the best president
ever. In my book, anything more than competence would be a
bonus. But who knows how many times really wonderful
presidential minds have remained entirely unrecognized because
the bodies that contained them also contained some ovaries? Men
and women must feel equally able to enter public life because it
doubles the possibility that splendid leaders will emerge. That’s
not feminism. That’s probability.
Gender bias – any identity bias – is a wanton waste of human
potential. The US has got to start somewhere in addressing its
historic problem with male hegemony and Clinton is the one
appointment that could kickstart the change most quickly and
strongly. That’s why the symbolic power of her appointment
transcends all else. Anyone who doesn’t understand that, in this
one respect, Clinton is an absolutely perfect presidential choice, is
simply refusing to acknowledge reality.
There is no perfect female candidate and there’s no more time to
wait for one. God knows, anyway, that the US has long enough
been happy to overlook its propensity for anointing imperfect
males. There is no choice between a woman laden with baggage
and a woman unencumbered with it. But there is an opportunity to
signal to all women, everywhere, that “anyone” can mean them.
Hillary Clinton is still standing after all these years. And that is
good enough.