This started out as a comment, but morphed into a post. Last night I was asked a question on the DNC Convention post, “Was Bill Clinton’s speech sexist?”
No.
Oh, you want more? Ok.
Here are my thoughts on Bill’s speech. I disagree with Maddow. It wasn’t sexist, but it was a fascinating gender role reversal. Bill Clinton was the first man to give the traditional First Lady speech.
The role of the First Lady speech is to share personal stories of her and the candidate’s life together, to show what a good and loving parent the candidate is, to remind everyone of their spouses accomplishments, their strengths, etc.. Basically, the First Lady speech is an reminder and introduction to the candidate by the person who knows them best.
Bill did just that.
He begins with how they met, stressing the fact that, not only did she introduce herself to him, but that she turned down his marriage proposal two times. The stories he shared were deeply personal; The visuals he drew powerful. By the end of these stories we see why he wanted to build a life with her as a partner. See? First Lady speech.
That part was interesting when you consider how it was flipped. We’re very familiar with the other side of the story: The man asked her three times to marry him – which shows his determination, that he works for his goals and is focused. Bill Clinton showed us the other side – not of a woman “playing hard to get” but of a women who had her own dreams and career and how, together, they forged their future.
I’m probably going to get my next points out of order, so I’ll just label them by topic.
Her early career. First, wow. I wasn’t aware of everything she had done. Calling out segregated schools. Putting counselors in elementary schools. Pre-K. Helping children with special needs and disabilities. Giving low income parents the tools they need to help their children – talk about speaking my language.
She has a ton of accomplishments – most of which people (especially young people) have no idea about. That was/is one of the most frustrating things about this election season. Reducing Hillary to a caricature was not only unfair, it was completely dishonest. It also shut down any sort of discussion. Disagreeing with certain policies is fine, painting her as the most horrible person ever is not.
Let me say this, in my lifetime I can’t remember a Presidential candidate who has had such an amazing resume outside of their holding office. Carter’s post Presidency works springs to mind. To me, that’s admirable. Hillary accomplished so many things without holding office. She actually did the hard work, the ground work, the work that doesn’t get acknowledged by simply casting a vote or signing a bill into law. Bill highlighting these achievements mattered and resonated with me. Bill flipped the old (and tired) saying “behind every great man there’s a great woman” on its head. No where in this speech did Bill place her behind him, she was at his side, and in many instances, ahead of him working on her own things.
Parenting. This subject is always tricky for women. If you have a successful career it’s way too often assumed that you must have dropped the ball on parenting. Green candidate, Jill Stein, showed us how this is done by tweeting about Hillary Clinton on Mother’s Day:
I agree w/ Hillary, it’s time to elect a woman for President. But I want that President to reflect the values of being a mother. #MothersDay
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) May 8, 2016
That tweet reveals far more about Jill Stein than Hillary Clinton. Stein isn’t even original in her sexism, just nasty. It isn’t as if mothers everywhere haven’t had to defend their decisions, career, etc. to justify their life choices and demonstrate that they “reflect the values of being a mother.”
The “being a good mother” (aka superwoman) is a classic sexist attack. Don’t believe me? Okay, then tell me when was the last time you heard anyone wonder if a male politician is a good enough dad? Or how they’d balance raising children and a career.
And here’s an FYI and completely off topic: Many people have no idea how tired “I’m all for a woman (POC, and other minorities) President (or any other position), just not this woman (POC, and other minorities)” is. Maybe it’s because they have no idea how often women, POC, and other minorities hear this line. Not kidding, we hear it all the time.
Back to the speech…
Basically Bill Clinton’s speech was about Hillary – who she is, her accomplishments, etc.. One of his most powerful points (and one she’s made many times herself) is that while you may not support her, she will support you. Just look at her resume. She’s done the hard, non-glamorous, out of the limelight work. If you weren’t aware of that (and you really should have been aware of a lot of it) then the First Man spelled it out – just like every First Lady before him.