Whether she wants to admit it or not, Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Democratic nomination for the presidency is all but over. And women who have been holding on to the edge of their seat watching in giddy anticipation how the first serious female candidate for the office would fare, are tipping their wine glasses to ease the sting.
I’ve never said women should support Hillary just because she is a woman. On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine why they wouldn’t.
In a world where women struggle to balance career, family, PTO and toilet scrubbing, watching a woman attempt to sail unchartered waters is fascinating.
It’s also frustrating to those who have witnessed the gender card trump Hillary’s ideas, which might have been good for the country.
But who has time to listen, when it’s easier to do a mental eye roll?
Hillary has been made out to be a villainesse by her detractors. A kind of ambitious, career-driven woman who’s been eyeing the presidency since she could toddle.
Little matter that the long list of men elected to America’s top spot probably had their eye on the prize for a good part of their professional careers, as well. You don’t just become president on a whim, but because Hillary is a woman, her ambition was resented.
Jane can’t want success. Tarzan can.
It’s a hard truth for women, who enjoy the challenge of work, while also being crazy in love with their families, to swallow. And the truth of the matter is, Hillary never had a chance.
The woman who might have been president has been vilified by just about everyone.
If she mentions that baking cookies just ain’t her thang, she’s needs a shot of progesterone. (Speaking of which, does anyone have a needle? I don’t bake either.) Stranger still is that Hillary has been portrayed as someone who cares little about being a wife and mother, but when she opted to forgive her straying husband and keep her family together, the public faulted her for not packing her bags and moving into the Hilton. She can’t win for losing.
I remember as a young girl humming the catchy tune to the ancient Enjoli commercials that jingled, “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget you’re a man ‘cause I’m a woman. Enjoli!”
But now that I’m all grown up, I realize it ain’t easy being an Enjoli-kind-of-gal. There are days when I’m too busy to fry up the bacon, much less remind my husband that he’s a man.
It’s Taco Bell and bed by nine. So goes it in the real world. That catchy tune I remember as a kid has been replaced with a frustrating reality (and more expensive perfume).
Whether or not women can or ever will have it “all” remains to be seen, but for the time being at least, my hope of seeing a woman claw her way to Pennsylvania Avenue in the coming months has been dashed.
I guess it’s time for a manicure.
SARA VANDEN BERGE is Managing Editor of the Empire-Tribune. She can be reached at 254-968-2379, ext. 240.