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| Hillary Clinton: whatever happens, she's made history | Hillary Clinton: whatever happens, she's made history |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| It was supposed to be a quiet night, the calm before Tuesday’s storm. | It was supposed to be a quiet night, the calm before Tuesday’s storm. |
| Instead, on Monday night, Hillary Clinton made history when she clinched the Democratic nomination and became the first woman in 240 years of American history to be chosen as the nominee for a major political party. | Instead, on Monday night, Hillary Clinton made history when she clinched the Democratic nomination and became the first woman in 240 years of American history to be chosen as the nominee for a major political party. |
| The call made by the AP is contested, messy and controversial, like Clinton’s own political history – and the march of women’s achievement in America. | The call made by the AP is contested, messy and controversial, like Clinton’s own political history – and the march of women’s achievement in America. |
| It’s a march where progress is often two steps forward, one step back. And so it was that no sooner had the call been made than her Democratic opponent was out disparaging everything from the math to the media, and even team Clinton was hedging. There are still primaries to win in six states on Tuesday, after all. | It’s a march where progress is often two steps forward, one step back. And so it was that no sooner had the call been made than her Democratic opponent was out disparaging everything from the math to the media, and even team Clinton was hedging. There are still primaries to win in six states on Tuesday, after all. |
| And Clinton has reason if not for concern, then for caution. The 2014 election saw the lowest turnout in 70 years and Clinton herself has had a surprisingly hard time getting to where she is. | And Clinton has reason if not for concern, then for caution. The 2014 election saw the lowest turnout in 70 years and Clinton herself has had a surprisingly hard time getting to where she is. |
| This election she was supposed to glide easily into her position as the Democratic nominee months ago; instead it’s been a knock-down, drag-out fight and the threat that the party will remain divided through the convention still looms large. | This election she was supposed to glide easily into her position as the Democratic nominee months ago; instead it’s been a knock-down, drag-out fight and the threat that the party will remain divided through the convention still looms large. |
| Back in 2008 she was initially the party’s favored candidate before a historic young candidate with a talent for oratory and what Clinton herself has described as a greater political talent wrested the nomination away. Her political life before that wasn’t exactly a hayride either. | Back in 2008 she was initially the party’s favored candidate before a historic young candidate with a talent for oratory and what Clinton herself has described as a greater political talent wrested the nomination away. Her political life before that wasn’t exactly a hayride either. |
| Clinton came of age at a time when second-wave feminism was just finding its legs. It was a time when women were announcing to the world that they could have it all and do it all – the career, the marriage, the kids, everything. As a 21-year-old Clinton said in the Wellesley commencement speech that first put her on the political radar, the great challenge of the era was to help make what had been impossible for women, possible. | Clinton came of age at a time when second-wave feminism was just finding its legs. It was a time when women were announcing to the world that they could have it all and do it all – the career, the marriage, the kids, everything. As a 21-year-old Clinton said in the Wellesley commencement speech that first put her on the political radar, the great challenge of the era was to help make what had been impossible for women, possible. |
| “Fear is always with us but we just don’t have time for it. Not now,” a young Clinton told her classmates. | “Fear is always with us but we just don’t have time for it. Not now,” a young Clinton told her classmates. |
| Clinton wouldn’t let herself indulge in being afraid of taking on the world, then or ever. But she hasn’t exactly had a glamorous go of it. As Karen Tumulty put it: “She is determined to make history, and she has; what she will never do is make it look easy.” | Clinton wouldn’t let herself indulge in being afraid of taking on the world, then or ever. But she hasn’t exactly had a glamorous go of it. As Karen Tumulty put it: “She is determined to make history, and she has; what she will never do is make it look easy.” |
| It hasn’t been easy for the women coming up behind her and alongside her, either. | It hasn’t been easy for the women coming up behind her and alongside her, either. |
| We forget that women couldn’t even vote in the US until 1920, and that even in the decades after the hard-fought victory of women’s suffrage, the few women who did manage to serve in the Senate mostly did so as seat-warmers, filling in for one deceased husband or another. When Margaret Smith of Maine was elected to the upper-chamber in 1949 she was the only woman there for years at a time. When she retired in 1973 there was not a single woman left. | We forget that women couldn’t even vote in the US until 1920, and that even in the decades after the hard-fought victory of women’s suffrage, the few women who did manage to serve in the Senate mostly did so as seat-warmers, filling in for one deceased husband or another. When Margaret Smith of Maine was elected to the upper-chamber in 1949 she was the only woman there for years at a time. When she retired in 1973 there was not a single woman left. |
| Even now, the Senate is just 20% female; the pay gap persists; and the grand total of times a woman has clinched the presidency or even the nomination of a major party as Clinton just did is, well, zero. | Even now, the Senate is just 20% female; the pay gap persists; and the grand total of times a woman has clinched the presidency or even the nomination of a major party as Clinton just did is, well, zero. |
| The stakes for women this election season could hardly be higher, with misogynist Donald Trump – who has called women “disgusting animals” and “fat pigs” – on the Republican ticket. And this time Clinton’s not shying away from the historic nature of her candidacy. | The stakes for women this election season could hardly be higher, with misogynist Donald Trump – who has called women “disgusting animals” and “fat pigs” – on the Republican ticket. And this time Clinton’s not shying away from the historic nature of her candidacy. |
| We caught a glimpse of this back in 2008 when, in conceding defeat, she finally found her voice: “If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House”. What moved those listening at the time, like Rebecca Traister, was the realization of just how far away that “someday” might be. | We caught a glimpse of this back in 2008 when, in conceding defeat, she finally found her voice: “If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House”. What moved those listening at the time, like Rebecca Traister, was the realization of just how far away that “someday” might be. |
| The eighth anniversary of Clinton’s glass-ceiling speech is, fittingly, today. But the more important milestone happened Monday night. | The eighth anniversary of Clinton’s glass-ceiling speech is, fittingly, today. But the more important milestone happened Monday night. |
| Because that was the night that Clinton has been working her whole life for, and the moment that feminists and suffragists before her worked to make even imaginable. It’s a moment that no convoluted argument about the finer points of process will take away. | Because that was the night that Clinton has been working her whole life for, and the moment that feminists and suffragists before her worked to make even imaginable. It’s a moment that no convoluted argument about the finer points of process will take away. |
| And as incredible as it sounds, Americans are just beginning to understand how historic Clinton’s candidacy really is. We are only now starting to think about the significance of a woman disrupting more than two centuries of American patriarchy. We are finally starting to read the political science that says yes, identity politics matter, and specifically, that having a woman in power has a demonstrable effect on policy priorities. | |
| Americans are waking up to the reality that a Clinton presidency would lift the boats of all women. | Americans are waking up to the reality that a Clinton presidency would lift the boats of all women. |
| Tuesday was supposed to be a day of counting and electoral calculation, and it still will be for some. But for most of us, it will be the day when the feminist movement that’s been remaking American culture – and more slowly still, its politics – put a crack in the highest, hardest ceiling of all. | Tuesday was supposed to be a day of counting and electoral calculation, and it still will be for some. But for most of us, it will be the day when the feminist movement that’s been remaking American culture – and more slowly still, its politics – put a crack in the highest, hardest ceiling of all. |
| In November, we’ll look for shattered glass. | In November, we’ll look for shattered glass. |