I am officially jumping on the Hillary Clinton bandwagon. In all actuality, I have been on her bandwagon for a while now. I have read her autobiography twice. I rejoiced today when I found a copy of her first book, “It Takes A Village,” at a thrift store. I have even created a Facebook group, so in the event of a Clinton campaign, I will have a number of supporters ready to be mobilized and help get the vote out. But now, I am going to publicly support a Clinton presidential bid in 2008. Hopefully, after reading this, maybe some voters will be encouraged to learn more about her and her voting record.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is qualified to be president. She has more credentials than “Dubya.”
Let’s begin by exploring her past. She received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley in 1969 and her Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School in 1973. She was one of only 27 females in a class of 235 law students.
Now, you could say that most politicians have equally impressive degrees. However, Clinton did not come from old money, like many politicians. She grew up in a working class, Midwestern family. She was admitted to Wellesley and Yale based on her own merit. She had no alumnus connections, and her parents did not buy her way into these schools. Furthermore, she understands the need to increase funding for higher education.
After graduating from Yale, Clinton was selected as one of the brightest young lawyers in the country to work on the Nixon impeachment. She is probably one of the most knowledgeable people employed in government concerning the inter-workings of the impeachment process, which came in handy during her husband’s unjust impeachment proceedings in 1998.
She has an intimate knowledge of the office of the President. She knows what will fly and what is beyond the scope of her constitutional power.
As a lawyer in Arkansas, Clinton became the first woman to make partner at the Rose Law Firm, where she worked on the behalf of women and children. She always had a successful career apart from her duties as First Lady of the state of Arkansas. In both 1988 and 1991, the National Law Journal named her one of the one-hundred most influential lawyers in the country.
As First Lady of the nation, Clinton was incredibly involved in her husband’s policy. Not only did she act as an unofficial advisor, but she also chaired the committee that drafted the bill proposing National Health Care in 1994, which would have assured all United States citizens free health insurance.
For students at Bowling Green State University, this would mean that no one would need to take out extra loans every year in order to buy the school’s mandatory insurance plan. Everyone would already have insurance provided to us by the federal government, much like those lucky kids in Canada and most of Europe who take this basic human right for granted.
Now that I have briefly mentioned a few of the many reasons why Hillary is qualified to be President Rodham Clinton, let’s take a look at where she stands on some of the issues. Like most good feminists, Clinton is pro-choice, but believes that abortion should be kept safe, legal and rare. She favors increasing sex education for teens and funding for contraceptives.
She also favors gay rights and supports allowing gay soldiers in the military, as well as giving gay couples domestic partner benefits.
Clinton is an environmentalist, much like her husband’s vice president Al Gore, and strongly supports researching alternative fuel sources. She favors increasing mass transit in the United States in order to conserve energy.
National Security is likely going to be a defining issue of the 2008 campaign. Most likely, we will not only be occupying Iraq but at war with Iran and maybe even North Korea as well. Clinton favors replacing US troops in Iraq with the presence of the United Nations. I personally believe that this could be a good way to get the U.S. out of the Middle East before we start another World War.
Clinton also voted against increasing military spending. We have not spent this much money on the military since the Cold War, when the weapons of mass destruction were not a fabrication but were actually pointed in our direction. On a related note, Clinton voted against re-authorizing the Patriot Act in 2005, because the bill is a gross violation of our civil liberties.
I am sure that every potential voter has a different issue that matters most to them, be it abortion laws, gay rights or the potential reinstatement of the draft. I encourage you to visit OnTheIssues.org, a nonpartisan site that I use for researching candidates before publicly supporting them. Take a look at Clinton’s voting record, then look at the people who are likely to run against her. Decide for yourself who supports the issues that affect you the most. Question who the candidate might appoint to the Supreme Court or their cabinet. Who embodies the type of America that you would prefer to live in?
For me, Hillary Rodham Clinton is as close to perfect a politician as one can find in these United States. Imagining a Clinton administration gives me hope for America during the dismal last leg of the rein of “Dubya.”
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