The 2008
elections were a historical landmark in American history as many new thresholds
were crossed, particularly regarding the political candidates for office.
Though not the first time a woman had run for the Presidential nomination, this
election saw Hillary Clinton rise in the primaries and nearly attain the
nomination for president from the Democratic Party. Though she may seem too
obvious a choice for discussing female politicians, I chose to analyze her
campaign because she has achieved many firsts for American female politicians and
her experiences best exemplify the plight of female candidacy for office in the
US. Hillary’s campaign efforts were fierce and it was clear from the get go
that she was serious about running for president and just as capable as her
male counterparts to do so. Her campaign, though not successful in getting the
nomination from her party, was successful in dually portraying her as a
fighting, strong, no monkey business leader, as well as a woman with compassion
and passion for stamping out gender
inequality and sexism.
Hillary served
as the First Lady to the US while her husband Bill Clinton served as president
from 1994-2000, as Senator of New York from 2000-2009, and is currently serving
as US Secretary of State. She is the first woman to represent the state of New
York in the US Senate, as well as the first American First Lady to run for public
office and to serve in the President’s cabinet. Hillary won more primaries and
delegates than any other female candidate in American history and has arguably
gotten the closest of any woman to sitting in the oval office.
Hillary’s
campaign was somewhat of a roller coaster ride. Her campaign is known for being
very determined and strong-willed (to match the powerhouse of a woman running
for office) but is criticized for lacking clear lines of authority (Sheehy).
Hillary’s team shifted around a bit and both her campaign manager and
strategist changed in early 2008. Only one of the “Big Five” (the main leaders
of her campaign) had ever run a national presidential campaign before, however,
most of the people on Hillary’s team had been with her for a long time and they
all respected and supported her (Sheehy). Her original strategist Mark Penn (in
addition to her husband Bill) pushed Hillary to not run as a woman and
portrayed her as tougher than any man. Some of her loyalists perpetuated this
image by questioning Obama’s manhood and proclaiming Hillary as “the only
candidate with the testicular fortitude to be president” (Sheehy). However, four
of the Big Five thought that Hillary’s warmer, compassionate side needed to be
displayed as well. The American people were already familiar with Hillary’s
tough, fighting character from her experiences as First Lady and had already
experienced plenty of “Hillary Hate” before even announcing that she wanted to
run for president (Campbell). But were they familiar with her more personable
side? And thus Hillary was kind of caught in a continuous battle of image—to
present herself as tough enough to compete alongside men for the oval office,
but still appeal to people who were looking for human qualities in her that
they could relate with. In addition, Hillary could easily rack up a huge
support system from female voters, if she played her cards right. Hillary has
always been a huge advocate for the underdog, particularly for women. Playing
up her plight against women’s inequality and using the prevalent sexism she
encountered on the campaign trail would prove to be one of her biggest advantages
in gaining voter support (Carlin).
One of most
interesting things about this campaign was the decision to do the campaigning
using her first name instead of her last name. Take a brief look at the
campaigns of other candidates—Obama, McCain, Huckabee, Edwards, Palin,
Biden—they all go by their last name. None of her male competitors campaigned
using their first name, nor did the other significant female figure in the
race. No one would know whom you’re talking about if you say, “vote for John.”
And yet Hillary forsook her last name in her campaign and went by her first
instead. It’s possible that the presentation of herself as “Hillary” rather
than as “Clinton” was done as a way to separate herself from the former
presidency of her husband, and to emphasize that it her candidacy for
president, not his. Considering the confusion that could potentially arise,
this makes logical sense. (When someone says the name “Clinton,” who is first
to pop into your head, Bill or Hillary?) Or it could have been that this was a
strategy to boost her feminine side. The name “Hillary” sounds much more
feminine and draws direct attention to the fact that yes, she is a woman, and
she is running for president. This subtle appeal to her femininity helped to
balance out her strong, masculine personality and make her more appealing to
the population of voters that is still intimidated by the idea of a
strong-willed female president (Carroll).
If you look at
Hillary’s campaign in terms of electoral outcome, then her campaign was not a
success. She did not get the bid from her party to run as the Democratic
nominee for president. However, there is much more to be taken into
consideration than just getting elected. Hillary now serves as the Secretary of
State for the US on President Obama’s cabinet, which in itself is a huge
success, and a huge task. Some consider Hillary’s campaign to be a feminist
reawakening in America, drawing attention to the huge amount of sexism in
politics and the media (Fortini). In the end, Hillary’s campaign showed America
that women have what it takes to compete with men for the Oval Office. It
showed that sexism is alive and well in our country. It planted the idea of a
woman as our commander in chief into the minds of Americans. And the consideration
of that idea is what is setting the stage for the US to elect a woman as
president sometime in the near future.
Sources:
Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs. 1998. “The
Discursive Performance of Femininity: Hating Hillary.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs. Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-20.
Carlin, Diana B. and Kelly L. Winfrey.
2009. “Have you come a long way baby? Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Sexism
in 2008 Campaign Coverage.” Communication
Studies, Vol. 60, No. 4, pp. 326-343.
Carroll, Susan J. 2009. “Reflections on
Gender and Hillary Clinton’s Political Campaign: The Good, the Bad, and the
Misogynistic.” Politics & Gender,
Vol. 5, pp. 1-20.
Fortini, Amanda. 2008. “The Feminist
Reawakening.” New York Magazine.
http://nymag.com/news/features/46011/
Sheehy, Gail. 2008. “Hillaryland at War.” Vanity Fair.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/clinton200808
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