Clinton’s nomination is historic but bittersweet
Upon becoming the first woman to have been nominated as US presidential candidate by any major political party, Hillary Clinton has finally cracked the glass ceiling. Whether she will eventually shatter it to become America's 45th President, we'll know by November. For now, let us take a minute to acknowledge the potency of the moment. This is the closest that the world's oldest and most powerful democracy has ever come to putting a woman at the helm. Clinton has already made history even if she doesn't win the top job. For those of us in the sub-continent, the hullabaloo over Clinton may seem odd given that most of the countries here have already had women heads of Government — Sri lanka led the way with Sirimavo Bandarnaike as Prime Minister in 1960; later, her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga would also hold the same office and then go on to become the island nation's first President in 1994. In between, Indira Gandhi would form the Government in New Delhi in 1966, followed by Benazir Bhutto in Islamabad in 1988; In Dhaka, former First lady Khaleda Zia would become Prime Minister in 1991 and then alternate power with Sheikh Hasina. In this context, perhaps the more interesting debate for the subcontinental audience is whether Clinton, a former First lady, should also be considered a ‘dynast'.
Notably, in spite of its history-in-the-making potential, the actual narrative around Candidate Clinton has been rather complicated. Even from the gender point of view, remember that when Clinton ran for office in 2008, she painstankingly underplayed her W-card. And had she won then, it would have been a far bigger win for women's rights and women's equality. This time around, Clinton has revamped her strategy and portrayed herself as the person who will deliver to America its first woman President. Oddly though, Clinton doesn't command as big a share of the woman's vote, as she could have been expected to. Younger women especially favoured Bernie Sanders, the much older white man, over her. So much so that the likes of Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State, actually had to chide these young women in the Democratic camp to get on with the programme and support Clinton. Such rhetoric, unfortunately, undermines the core principles of the feminist movement. Another factor that has possibly cost Clinton some percentage of the women's vote (especially young women) was her response to her husband's infidelity. While Bill Clinton got away with a charming rogue reputation, a sullied White House notwithstanding, Hillary Clinton has been seen as the cold, calculative wife who brushed aside the humiliation and stood by her husband because it made sense for her own professional goals. And then there is the whole host of non-gender issues that plague the Clinton campaign, like her controversial record as Secretary of State, her penchant for secrecy and unaccountability, and being the unofficial establishment candidate.