Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

EDITORIAL:

Don’t underestimate the importance of Clinton nomination

The nomination by her party of Hillary Clinton for president is the pinnacle breakthrough in the progression of women’s rights and achievements in America. In a country that sends women into combat and into space, to serve on the Supreme Court and as the nation’s chief prosecutor, and into the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the White House has until now remained beyond reach.

It was a matter of the right time and the right candidate. And when it arrived, it was more than just historic. The Democratic Party’s salute to Clinton as its choice for the nation’s commander in chief will spawn now-achievable dreams among young girls. It will not just free them to pursue any job, but empower them with confidence that their gender won’t hold them back.

The acclamation to send Clinton into the general election in November occurred in the most appropriate of places — Philadelphia, where our Constitution was written with wise allowances for adjustments. One of them occurred in 1920, with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, was 1 year old.

Another electoral breakthrough would occur before last week’s milestone: the election of a black man, Barack Obama, in 2008 — the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to win election and re-election not just with the most votes, but an absolute majority. Clinton ran unsuccessfully against Obama in 2008, but emerged as his secretary of state. She was, at the time, at the top of her career, one that began immediately out of law school when she became an advocate for children, especially those who had disabilities or were short-changed in education.

Her passion for children wasn’t some passing whim; as first lady, Clinton shepherded bipartisan support for the largest expansion of public health insurance coverage since Medicaid in 1965, with the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program which has brought insurance to many millions of children.

And Clinton proved her commitment to women’s rights with a daring speech in 1995, pointedly delivered at a world conference of women in Beijing. Here is how The New York Times began its account: “Speaking more forcefully on human rights than any American dignitary has on Chinese soil, Hillary Rodham Clinton catalogued a devastating litany of abuse that has afflicted women around the world today and criticized China for seeking to limit free and open discussion of women’s issues here.”

As Meryl Streep remarked last week about Clinton: She’s got grace — and grit.

That brings us to today, to a world where women still aren’t paid fairly, the government wants to dictate to women about their bodies and the other party’s candidate lobs insults at women and judges them by their appearances. We as a nation will benefit from a woman’s perspective and passion in the Oval Office.

Excitement for that prospect prompted a woman to respond to a friend on Facebook who didn’t understand the importance of a woman being nominated to lead our country. “Maybe you don’t understand because when you were growing up, you didn’t hear people say that a woman could never be president because she’s unstable during ‘that time of month.’ Maybe you don’t understand because you have always had female bosses and pastors and mayors. Maybe you don’t understand because you didn’t have to do the hard work of claiming your worth when everyone around you judged your value by the number of children you bore and the cleanliness of your house.

“Like or dislike Hillary Clinton, please do not underestimate the importance of this moment. You cannot possibly understand me if you can’t understand why I cried during my commute home while listening to the roll call.”