No More Monopoly For Hillary

Delightful. And long overdue.

Besides, Hillary doesn't even come remotely close to representing me or my political convictions. I wasn't going to vote for her in any case because of that -- and I wasn't going to be swayed by the entire "vote for a woman because I'm a woman" idea. (That argument is, I repeat, sexist.) I wasn't going to vote for her because I did not like her policies. Of course, on a personal level, she failed to "connect" with me, so that didn't help matters. I never identified with her.

On the other hand, if a woman politician has policies I support, then I will vote for her because of her policies and if she is the best candidate (male or female) for the job. In all seriousness, I'm delighted that Sarah Palin's on the national stage now. I'm delighted that there are more women in high politics -- and that there is now a woman VP candidate who more or less represents my political convictions. And that she is successful without turning into the angry, cold harridan that Hillary often seems to be . . . and that Sarah is successful on her own without the extra aid of a famous, politically powerful husband. (Oops! Did I say that out loud?)

In any case, as Anne Applebaum's piece concludes: ". . . the appointment of Palin does bring the Hillary Era to an end – she isn’t the archetypal Female American Politician anymore, she’s just one of many. "

The breaking of the Hillary monopoly is a very GOOD thing for both US politics in general and gender issues too. The entire populace of American women shouldn't have only one public "face." Maybe now folks might actually realize that women are not all one faceless monolithic block. Women do not all think the same, and they/we do not all vote the same. (And woe to the inherently sexist groups who think that women should. And yes, I'm talking to YOU, NOW.)

The ladies of America are all individuals, and all are different! Some women lean to the left, and many of them found their champion in Hillary. But not all women lean that way. Plenty of American ladies lean toward the center-right, and I am delighted that I as one of them have found a face, voice, and VP candidate in Sarah. She's strong, smart, confident, comfortable in her own skin and successful as an individual in her own right, and she does it with losing any warmth, charisma, humor, or sense of self. She's what I want to be someday: a working mom with both career and family. In fact, she's like "Everywoman" in suburbia all over the US, a place full of working moms. (A slow, subversive grin is actually beginning to spread across my face as I type this: Oh, yes, she's not part of the leftist, liberal orthodoxy. She's different. But . . . isn't "diversity" -- oooh, that buzzword -- supposed to be a good thing?)

PS, a half-humorous, rather tongue-in-cheek digression: Plus NO HORRIBLE PANTSUITS with Sarah! I always found Hillary's little suits kind of de-feminizing and just generally "blah." She always seems like she's slightly uncomfortable and trying too hard. (That orange pantsuit at the DNC was an eyesore too. The orange Mao suit, yuck.) I am, as you've noticed, enthusiastic about Sarah's sense of fashion, which seems to say that she's comfortable with herself and her femininity. How's that for some genuine feminism? I really like that; it resonates with me in a personal kind of way. I don't think a girl has to give up being a girl in order to be successful in today's world. Goodness, I'm not going to give up my own femininity in order to be successful in Nerdworld! No blocky, dull, androgynous-looking monochromatic pantsuits for me; you'll remember the scarlet suit and sassy heels from the last Nerdmoot and the outfit dreams for the next one. I'm thinking about pencil skirts and dark red heels . . . I'll enjoy the thought that the effect is that perhaps what you see isn't what you get -- or at least that there's more than meets the eye and that there's an actual personality inside the outfit. It's a decent enough sartorial lesson for any profession, perhaps.

Maybe in a future post I'll write about how the core conservative/libertarian ideas of individual rights, responsibilities, and freedoms, along with free markets and the opportunities of capitalism, are better for women (and, face it, for everybody else too) than the collectivist/socialist approach of the far Left.

RELATED POST: Gender Benders: Do Conservative/Libertarian Women Drive Far-Leftists Crazy? Plus Sexism From the Left