| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, June 16 2003 |
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| By now, most people in the United States know that the much-anticipated book written by Sen. Hillary Clinton has hit the shelves. It's 576 pages of history and controversy that became a best seller overnight. I have not read the book. I have not even bought it, although I plan to. This is not meant to be a book review or a critique of its content. This is meant to be an open declaration of why I am a Hillary fan and why I don't think all of the criticism against her is particularly justified.
She has been called the most powerful and the most divisive woman in America. That's hard to dispute. She certainly is powerful. Powerful enough to have been elected in a state where she had no roots. Powerful enough to command the kind of attention she has garnered from the media with her book release. And powerful enough to have Democratic presidential hopefuls breathing a sigh of relief that she is not planning on running for her party's nomination in 2004.
Hillary Clinton is also divisive. You either love her or hate her. You either admire her or despise her. Most polls show that the country is divided between those who have a positive opinion of her and those who are turned off by her. Half of the country wishes she would never run for president, and the other half would love to see her return to the White House as the boss.
I personally see Hillary as a bright woman with strong convictions about the issues that are important to her -- and she's willing to fight for them. I admire her self-confidence. She is focused and does not let anything get in the way of her goals. It was a bold move to become the first woman to run for the Senate after being first lady, and she has surprised even her staunchest critics who thought she would go in there expecting the star treatment. Instead, she has conducted herself in a dignified, professional manner.
Her critics, of course, have much different ways to describe her. To them, she is shamelessly ambitious; a power-hungry, controlling opportunist; an "uppity" woman. But since when is ambition a bad thing? Isn't ambition how people get ahead in life -- by aspiring to do more, and working hard to achieve it? In my opinion, an opportunist is someone who takes advantage of a situation for his or her own benefit. Don't men involved in politics, business and other professions do that on a daily basis?
Hillary was harshly criticized for not divorcing Bill after the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Many people, including myself, thought she should have dumped him. But it's certainly a very personal decision to leave a cheating husband, or to choose to stay and work on saving the marriage. Who are we to decide which option was best for the Clintons?
It's one thing to be opposed to her political views, which is perfectly understandable and acceptable. But no matter what Hillary Clinton does, there will always be someone there to criticize her persona. She writes a book and is accused of trying to clean up her husband's image as well as her own. What's wrong with that? She is accused of setting herself up for a future presidential campaign. Is there a law that prohibits qualified women, senators or former first ladies from aspiring to the presidency?
Whatever you think of Hillary Clinton, there is no doubt that she has made an impact, and it could very well be just the beginning of her role in U.S. political history. One of my co-
workers summed it up perfectly when I asked him what he thought of Hillary Clinton. He said, "She is a bit of an opportunist, but with the lemons she got, she made a hell of a lemonade." |
