Charlie_Brennan's Blog

This has been a long time in coming.

My rant, that is – not New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s last major speech prior to her opponent removing the “presumptive” modifier to the label of Democratic presidential nominee.

Her speech was gracious and forceful as we knew it would be, and in saying “The time is now to unite as a single party, with a single purpose. We are on the same team,” she erased any ambiguity about her support for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

No, this need not be a rant; although, it has been simmering on my mental front burner for so long that a rant is a real danger.

It is simply this; Clinton did not lose because her gender proved too big a hurdle for too many voters. I really don’t believe that. The same Democratic, independent and left-tilting Republicans who can accommodate an African-American at the top of the ticket can, for the most part, also accept a woman in the Oval Office.

The hurdle for many Democrats was that it would be a woman named Clinton. A woman who, most importantly, is married to a former president by the name of William Jefferson Clinton. I know you’ve heard of him. He was in the house Tuesday night, and will be addressing the convention Wednesday night.

The 42nd President of the United States held office for eight years, eight years that saw America make significant strides, particularly on the economic front, but also gave us the tortuous Monica Lewinsky scandal and Clinton’s impeachment. Perhaps you feel that impeachment was a severe or disproportionate response to his misdeeds. Maybe you think it wasn’t enough. What most everyone would agree with is that it was a highly unpleasant chapter in the long and illustrious history of the executive office.

I live in Boulder County, where it is not too much of a chore to find a Democrat. Of course, it’s hard to find anything but. And, many whom I know are supporting Obama, and many of them are women. They are not rejecting Hillary Clinton’s gender as unsuitable for leadership. They are saying20no thank you to a return to the psychodrama of the 1990s that saw the Clintons in the not always graceful roles of leading man and lady.

This is not to suggest that the two have lingering unresolved issues – although that’s possible, too. A continuing narrative to Hillary’s long battle with Obama was that Hillary still cannot always control Bill – or at least rein in some of his more impolitic instincts. If it’s a well-worn path the country has already traveled, with mixed results, did America really need to travel it once again, and hope against hope for different results? Many Democrats I talk to thought that was an easy call. And that, I believe, has more to do with Hillary being forced Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center to officially and finally step aside.

A side note to the perils of putting Bill and Hill back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; would you want to be the vice president in that White House? Can you imagine serving as the potential Commander in Chief in waiting with a former Commander in Chief in the wings, watching over our shoulder? A perverse part of me was half-hoping to see Hillary Clinton win, just to see what kind of political cipher would be willing to take that post and immediately become the least significant Vice President in history -- and our recent history has offered a few.

I remember the heckler at a Clinton campaign appearance who yelled “Iron my shirt.” I remember the McCain supporter who asked the Arizona senator at a campaign stop “How are we going to beat “ the you-know-what.

Yes, there are sexist Neanderthals who would not consider a woman for President. Although I don’t believe those voters would be that charmed by a minority, either. Yes, the press was at times harsh. The New York Times’ own ombudsman concluded that the paper’s popular Op-ed-page scold Maureen Dowd had been a bit over the top in some of her caustic commentary on Hillary Clinton. But I don’t accept that Clinton's gender, or American voters’ comfort or discomfort with a female running the country, was a critical issue with those who rejected her candidacy.

It was who this woman was married to, the fact that many voters were way too familiar with their story, and didn’t want to live it again. They wanted something new.

They wanted, dare I say it, change.