I Don't Need Hillary Clinton to Be Perfect (Hillary Group) [View all]
....Hillary Clinton has had a perfection problem for years. She wasn't our idea of a perfect First Lady because she dared to step out of the mold of what voters knew and were comfortable with. She wasn't the picture of perfection as a Senate candidate because what FLOTUS had ever dared to tout her own qualifications to run for national office? She wasn't the perfect wife because she stayed with her straying husband, and she wasn't the perfect wife because many assumed she stayed for reasons of ambition rather than marital loyalty; that didn't sit well with women regardless of whether they were baby boomers, Gen Xers or Millennials. She wasn't perfect because she turned all our expectations on their heads about women politicians. In 2008, she was still a transitional woman trying to navigate the gap between twentieth century stay-at-home First Ladies and the first generation of accomplished feminist women who were going to "have it all," whether voters were ready for that or not.
But why did we project those expectations and visions of American womanhood onto Hillary, while also holding it against her for tenaciously clinging to her own dreams and making personal compromises many of us contend we would never have made in order to achieve them....
As research by the Barbara Lee Family Foundation has found, "While male politicians can attract voters' support by appearing strong and decisive, even when they are not perceived as being particularly likable, women still have to prove to the world they are both qualified for office and likable."
...
So the big question for us in 2016 is whether we can move beyond our collective need for Hillary to be pitch perfect, whatever that means to each one of us. But I don't need Hillary to be perfect to be the president.
What I need from Hillary is for her to be a leader who will listen to her constituents.
What I need from Hillary is for her to show my daughter that it is more than acceptable to be an ambitious woman with your own dreams and aspirations of leadership without being perceived as calculated and power hungry.
What I need from Hillary is for her to break not only the highest glass ceiling; I need her to break the perfection myth, as well.
Imperfection is what we've gotten in all our previous presidents. We've learned that Barack Obama also has his own sharp edges and sharp tongue that often make him not so likable, and he was elected twice with huge margins. Maybe it's time to admit that likability and perceived perfection aren't the best checklist items on which to judge a presidential candidate.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/11/16/i-dont-need-hillary-clinton-to-be-perfect via US News
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