Reply #17: Spent Hundreds of Hours Defending Clinton, Now Appalled. [View All]

I am a sixty-something white feminist who very much wanted to see a woman elected as president.

Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton has unequivocally demonstrated that she is not the woman I want as president. She believes she is entitled to the women's vote simply because she is a woman. That is not enough for me. I want honesty and integrity too. She has shown that she will do anything and claim anything to get the nomination. Her false claims about Bosnia was the most obvious but not the most egregious. Her attempts to use the Reverend Wright against Obama and, worse, current statements claiming support from "hardworking, White American workers"" to encourage white working class voters to vote for her because she is white show she is using race baiting to destroy Obama's chances for the nomination and the presidency.

Viewing her history closely as a result of this campaign, I see that Clinton served on the board of Directors of Wal-Mart for six years, a company that grossly exploits women workers, depriving them of deserved promotions, refusing them full time hours so they won't have to pay for medical insurance, and actively fighting their efforts at unionization. Indeed, Clinton's chief campaign strategist, Mark Penn, made his money by fighting unionization campaigns. Her wealthy corporate supporters are not known for their concern about American women workers -- they are busy shipping their jobs to third world countries, thanks to Clinton's Free Trade Agreements.

The Clinton administration did very little to help women unionize and positively took food out of their mouths by passing an extremely anti-women, anti-children Welfare Reform Act. This Act took mothers away from their children and placed them in child-care, run by other low-paid women who had to leave their own children when forced to work. Some progress!

Was Clinton appointed to the Board of Wal-Mart because she was such an outstanding lawyer or, far more likely, because her husband was Governor of Arkansas at the time? Was Clinton elected to the Senate because of her outstanding political qualifications or, more likely, because of the massive name recognition she had as wife of the President of the United States?

Undoubtedly she is a bright, hard working woman, but neither her intelligence nor her hard work got her votes in the Democratic primaries, it was her name recognition as the wife of the former President of the United States.

As a feminist, I will vote for an honest woman candidate who has worked to improve the economic status of other women, Hillary Clinton is not that person.

During the impeachment proceedings, I spent many whole days e-mailing representatives and writing letters to the editor in defense of Bill Clinton.

After watching Hillary Clinton's appallingly mis-managed presidential campaign, to say nothing about her loathsome attacks on Barack Obama, I am disgusted with them. They are deliberately working to demolish Barack Obama's -- and the Democratic Party's chances -- at winning the 2008 election. Hillary and her surrogates are spouting statements that are almost identical to those used by segregationist George Wallace in his presidential campaign.

After watching this presidential campaign, I do not want the Clintons serving in any elected position, ever.