In Hillary Clinton's America, there's room for equality, diversity and pick-up trucks
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Version 0 of 1. Hillary Clinton has represented many things to many people over the years, including feminism supposedly run amok. Between now and 575 days from now, though, she represents one big thing: the best chance to elect a woman to the highest political office in the world. As such, Clinton has galvanized not only the people who voted and worked for her in 2008 but also – and importantly – more than a few who broke for Barack Obama way back then. Is being a symbol enough to win in 2016? Related: Male politicians always play up gender in their races. Hillary Clinton can, too | Jessica Valenti Because, whether she wants to be or not, Clinton is as much a symbol as she is a politician: all complaints to the contrary about Sunday’s campaign announcement video, which featured more speaking time by “everyday Americans” than the candidate herself, Clinton has already run on her biography, her record, her policy positions and what kind of president she’d like to be. But what she originally lacked during the 2008 campaign (and realized too late, led astray by a male-dominated campaign team that thought she had to show toughness) was the acknowledgment of that one thing: what she was doing, and what she represented, was also historic because she is a woman, and plenty of voters liked that. She still is; they still do. So Clinton is letting herself be a symbol (for now, at least), which is a start (finally). Now what? Her video provides an important clue: instead of 3am phone calls, the Hillaryland of 2016 is full of sunshine, fresh paint, demographically-important representative voters, Clinton fans and pick-up trucks. (She’s already on a road trip.) She’ll get to substance soon enough – according to the early campaign agenda, we’re in for quite a few detail-focused speeches on topics like clean energy, even if details puts voters to sleep faster than all-American symbolism. Still, the nominally issue-free video wasn’t as fluffy as it appears at first glance: it was replete with the symbols of the “everyday Americans” whom President Obama once said “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them”, even as it openly attempted to redefine everyday Americans as more diverse, and unremarkable in their diversity. It’s hard to miss the symbolism of an announcement video that features two Latino brothers speaking Spanish, a Latina mom and daughter or a soon-to-be-wed gay couple – especially as the Republicans are running on anti-immigrant and anti-marriage equality platforms. But squint, and you’d also see some more subliminal imagery, which viewers are likely meant to feel rather than notice – unless they’re from early primary states: And those are just the video’s subtle references to Americana (pick-up trucks, Ford and flags), and God, and US manufacturing, and rebuilding, and early primary states and “strong women” – and all the other dichotomies with which women are too often asked to contend. The video paints other parts of Hillaryland in more obvious strokes: that Latino mom (who has to move so her daughter can get a better education), the brothers opening their own restaurant and the gay couple are the most striking. But there’s also baby boomer women – one planting tomatoes, the other a soon-to-be retiree – who are excited to see themselves reflected in Clinton; the African-American yuppie couple expecting their first child; and the interracial couple in the midst of home removations whose biggest problem is that their naughty dog eats trash. And none of that is to forget the appearances by: an Iowa woman who works in a factory; smiling children of all varieties, most of whom are apparently into fish; an Iowa barista; the mother heading back into the work force after five years because she wants to, not because she has to; or the white blue-collar worker who’s “started a new career” with a family-owned company. Yes, you can, Clinton’s video seems to say: it’s Morning in America, but not everyone is white, no one’s wearing a suit in New York City and, yes, we all can just get along. Clinton, it says, stands for an optimistic, future-focused America (just look at all those kids!) and a racially representative America in which women are happy to work, raise kids, grow tomatoes, retire and then reinvent themselves in their retirement years (much like Clinton herself has). She’s not a bitch; she’s you. So maybe it’s finally OK that she’s “likeable enough”. Maybe she doesn’t need to “live down” her Tracy Flick reputation if there’s no Paul Metzler in dad-jeans next to her on stage. It’s undoubtedly scary being a symbol, but maybe it’s a little easier to be a receptacle for so many people’s hopes and dreams than to try to prove that she’s the opposite of whatever insult people are hurling at her this week. Let Rand Paul talk about tax rates on corporate profits earned abroad and Ted Cruz imagine that school vouchers “are the civil rights issue of the next generation” and Marco Rubio talk about student debt securitization or whatever. Hillary Clinton’s going to be getting coffee (possibly from the beardy barista in Iowa, who appears in her video, too) and running to be the first woman president of the United States. It’s kind of a bigger thing. |