In the disloyal act of writing that, I hear seasoned political women’s voices laughing at my “good girl,” politically-disabled mentality. What are you thinking? Did you think she could win without doing these things? Have you studied this for a decade and still are this naïve? I also realize that these concerns are not about policy or about rights—they involve strategy and tactics, and as my friends remind me, we can all disagree on the latter. And, just like Eleanor Clift, I, too, am afraid I am being too hard on her, and that “what makes her a viable contender is her ability to play hardball.”
But that’s when I remember the young, disillusioned woman from Chicago, polled in our study “Pipeline to the Future,” who lamented, “If you have values or morals, you’re not going very far in politics.” I hear our aspiring women leaders across the country, inquiring again about the abandonment of integrity for political gain. And I hear the diverse, talented and seasoned women politicians who answer them with candor at our trainings about how they do it. It’s obvious that they compromise, but they choose how and when, just as I find is needed in any field, if not as publicly.
To be clear, this is not about holding Clinton to a higher standard than her male competitor—and frankly, given the varied and sometimes viciously misogynistic attacks Clinton has suffered through her campaign (Remember those “Iron My Shirt” posters? The Hillary nutcrackers being sold in airports across the country? The inflammatory images all over the internet that depict our first viable female candidate being violated by a donkey?), the tactics being employed by the campaign right now look rather mild. Rather, it is about my wish, on behalf of young women and men alike, that at some point things will be different—that there will be models for them, of whatever gender and whatever party, who will offer resounding encouragement through their example that politics can be a fair and upright foray into changing the world for the better.
Politics—it’s a tough business. There will always be leaders who profess the moral highroad and navigate, if on occasion or with regularity, the pathways which lurk beneath. More often, I hope, there will be those who will learn the art of compromise without losing their authenticity and integrity. I think of the firsts, like Senator Clinton, who will have to be tougher than even I realized to get in. I think of the pipeline of women across the country who are eager to ascend to leadership. And I hope that enough women will run for office, to change the process and well as the product, so that we can sell this business of politics to our daughters.
By Marie Wilson
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