Hillary Joins the Women in U.S. Politics

I went through a long of angst and....hmmm...hard to describe. Maybe nightmares of memories. This was the day prior to the night New Hampshire vote counting in the Dem primary. (Btw, Hillary is my candidate of choice.)

So, that afternoon I was complaining to my lunch companion that, because Hillary’s eyes welled up with tears and she choked back some words, there will be a deathly cry of “Oh, no! We can’t have an emotional president! That’s what women do!” And just then, I realized that we’re not living in the 21st century. America hasn’t changed. And I was morose.

I remember when Geraldine Ferraro was a vice-president candidate, Walter Mondale's running mate, but went down in bloody flames (to surging Ronald Reagan), especially when her husband turned out to be not a media darling (for good reason). And whatever happened to Geri, clearly one of the most erudite women in American politics? Dark memories of those days flashed in my mind yesterday as well. And I also remember Shirley Chisholm, who was so proud, so well-spoken, and who happened to be black. She was the first African American woman elected to Congress (1968, representing New York's 12th district for 7 terms). On January 23, 1972, she became the first major party African American candidate for President of the United States. She was mostly ignored in the white male media, but she won 162 delegates.

So I’m pretty happy today. Change is around the corner for sure. God….have you never heard the word “change” used so much in your life? I remember when “The Change” was codeword for menopause….but maybe that’s a sign of age. Apparently “Change” is the 2008 political word. And apparently they don’t mean menopause.

But the emotional scene actually changed a few people's minds in New Hampshire. They thought she seemed more human. Whodathunkit. And the pollsters were so wrong in that state. Just goes to show you that this campaign race is going to be ultra hard to predict. Just as people are hard to predict.

An African-American being taken seriously for President. A woman being taken seriously for President. They told me Change is gonna come in the ‘60’s, and I believed them. I just didn’t think it would take so long.