Dancing Backwards in High Heels

After all, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.

 Ann Richards 

It is well known that the Republican Conservatives believe that Hillary Rodham Clinton is a "left wing insurgent"*. It is also know from the end of this Democratic primary run that the Left Wing Progressives believe that Hillary is a Republican fox in Democratic sheep's clothing "who is a shill for Wall Street".* How can this be describing the same person? Easy y'all, it's called successful vilification. 

The Republicans are frankly thrilled that some of the progressives believe the Donald when he describes Hillary Clinton as "Crooked Hillary." I have never heard a worse case of projection in my life and I was a psychotherapist for over thirty years. [Projection is when you ascribe to another person what you really believe about yourself.] This description is from the man who created "Trump University" and bilked people out of thousands of dollars for nothing, who claimed bankruptcy four times leaving many people and businesses in the financial lurch and who brags about not paying his taxes. Who exactly is crooked? Welcome to Crooked Donald.

Another accusation by the right and far left is that Hillary is dishonest. But check if you will with Politifact. Hillary has gotten better ratings on truth telling than any other candidate and is in fact more honest than most politicians. Jill Abramson who followed Hillary as a reporter for thirty years said, "Hillary is fundamentally honest and trustworthy."

It will be women who'll save the world.                          Jane M. Ricketts [on a discussion of the world's condition]

However something else is at play here with the vilification. Hillary happens to be a successful, powerful woman. The Seattle City Council recently turned down vacating a section of a Sodo street in Seattle for the purpose of building an arena near a maritime industrial center. The proponent wants to build a professional sports arena.  But the street vacation would adversely affect Seattle’s maritime industrial area and a lot of well paying jobs.  The vote to deny was 5 to 4.  Because the five who voted against the arena were all women, and the four in favor were all men, what ensued was a Twitter firestorm of vituperative, misogynistic, threatening comments, largely from young white males who want a professional basketball team in Seattle.  The female council members got no respect for their thoughtful reasons for voting no. They were given no credit for the hard work that they do.  Happily, there was a swift reply from the Seattle Times and scores of citizens.  They condemned the blatant sexism.


Doesn't this sound familiar? It should if you've been paying attention even minimaly to politics. Sure, Donald Trump is nasty and misogynistic and we all have come to expect it. But surprise, so were the Bernie Bros. in reference to Hillary Clinton and threatening the life of Barbara Boxer. Where is the outrage, the apologies, the defense of these women after all the vitriol? Bernie himself has been, and to my knowledge still is silent.

Many Democrats, me included, are grateful to Bernie Sanders for pushing the Democratic Party and Hillary in a more progressive direction.  However, as it became increasingly clear that Bernie would not win the elected delegates (forget the super delegates) his supporters became increasingly angry.  Many of them now say they will vote for the Green Party or they will not vote rather than vote for a capable, hard working woman who has adopted many of Bernie's positions.  What does that mean?  Apparently it means that they’re willing to risk a Trump presidency.  Yet, their candidate stands for everything that Trump is not.

Imagine if Bernie was Bernice. Bernice is a 74 year old with wild white hair, and she's a socialist to boot. Do you believe for one minute that Bernice would get a pass? Would she even be listened to? 

"American loves women like Hillary---as long as they are not asking for a promotion." Sady Dillon

A sad note in our society and many other nations is that women who insist on fair, equal treatment are called 'pushy' at best or _________________________ fill in the sexist comment yourself.

Interestingly Hillary has always been cleared of wrong doing even though there is a "permanent multimillion dollar cottage industry devoted to attacking her," said Hanna Rosin in an article called "Among the Hillary Haters."

Supposedly Hillary is in bed with Wall Street because of the speaking fees of $200,000. This, by the way is the minimum fee for in demand speakers. Rudi Guilani and Bloomberg regularly make $270,000 a speech and Jeb Bush made millions in speaking fees, why oh why is no body howling about that? "Hillary made 100 paid speeches and eight of those were to Wall Street. She also spoke to Canada 2020, so do they own her too?"

Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily this is not that difficult.   Charlotte Whitton 

This woman, Hillary Clinton is a generous, complicated, intelligent, gracious, loving mother and grandmother. She has been Secretary of State for our country and improved our reputation after the Bush/Cheney administration nearly ruined it. She has a long history of fighting for women, children and minorities. She helped save many hospitals in New York by working with them to specialize and cooperate with other nearby hospitals. She championed Universal Health care as early as 1992. Jonathan Bernstein of the New York Times said  Hillary "is probably the best qualified presidential candidate ever."

Here's what is at stake: The Supreme Court Appointment; the rights of women; the rights of LGBTQ Americans; the rights of minorities; the attention to the children of this country. She is a good Democrat. The Democratic party is inclusive and supportive, loving and interested in the rights of all citizens. Hillary is tempermentally suited to hold the office of the Presidency and she will continue to maintain good global relationships. 

Added to all that she is not a narcissistic nut case who is a business failure, a hypocritical money grubber and a sexistist blowhard.

Hillary will be a good President and make us all proud to be Americans.

*Any quotes with no acknowledgement are taken from an article by Michael Arnovitz published in Daily Kos in May 2016

susansmagicfeather copyright 2016 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved