On Tuesday night, around 10:30, some moms and dads woke up their young daughters to show them a historic moment: a woman accepting the presidential nomination of a major party.
There’s something inspiring, no doubt, about the concrete proof that a woman can hold that position. And because Republicans are nominating an incontinent liberal con artist, that woman will probably become the leader of the free world.
Public service and leadership are worthy enterprises. Smashing barriers is great. But I hope you’ll pardon me if I don’t encourage my daughter, any more than my sons, to follow Hillary Clinton’s footsteps. As I watched her speech Tuesday, my first thought was that I don’t want any of my children to be president of the United States. Instead of being an inspirational story for young girls, Hillary Clinton’s path to her current heights should be seen as a cautionary tale of the corrupting nature of power and ambition.
Totally aside from her ideology, ugly moments and dubious decisions mark her climb to power, which is inseparable from her husband’s climb.
In 1992, for instance, just before the Iowa caucuses, Bill Clinton took a break from the campaign trail to oversee the execution of a mentally disabled black man named Ricky Ray Rector. This was widely seen as a play for votes.
Bill Clinton’s administration conducted a bombing on the eve of an impeachment vote. It abused power and sold pardons. All of these actions were necessary to protect and advance Clinton’s political interests.
Hillary Clinton vocally supported the Iraq War, a move blasted by the Left as a rank political calculation. Compare this episode to another barrier-breaker: Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress. Rankin in 1917 cast one of only 50 votes against U.S. entry into World War I. This was not a popular vote amongst her colleagues or the media, and it was probably what made her into a one-term wonder (although decades later she managed to return).
Look at the cast of characters Hillary’s pursuit of power has arrayed around her throughout the years. Political fixers along the lines of Dick Morris and Sid Blumenthal glom onto any promising politician. The money Clinton has had to raise in her climb to the top has put her in the company of truly shady characters, most of whom have ended up under investigation, indictment, or were convicted of crimes. Terry McAuliffe, Marc Rich, Mikal Watts, Arthur Coia, Rahm Emanuel, Hassan Namazee, Norman Hsu, Johnny Chung, Charlie Trie, Jim McDougal, Mark Middleton, Maria Tsia, Antonio Pan. Do you want your daughter or son running with a crowd like this?
Add onto that all of the cozying up to Wall Street and K Street in order to build her massive war chest.
Public service is noble, and I wouldn’t discourage that for my children. But running for city council as a way of shaping and serving your community is a different thing from running for city council as the first step towards higher office.
Last week I came across a school assignment my older daughter completed in which she made a diary entry dated 90 years in the future. Her 100-year-old self was reflecting on her career as a marine biologist, mostly working with whales.
In most fields, glass-ceilings have needed shattering — Sylvia Earle in 1968 was the first woman scientist to explore the sea in a submersible. She later became the first chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There are no shortage of female role models, whose success and perseverance is just as impressive as Hillary Clinton’s, but who didn’t have to cut every ethical corner, and whose chosen fields are less fraught with temptation and corruption.
I have high hopes for my daughters as I do for my sons. My wife and I teach them to respect authority figures, even ones we disagree with. We pray for the president every night at bedtime.
But on Tuesday night I let my daughters sleep through Hillary’s speech. First thing on Wednesday morning, when my younger daughter climbed into my lap as I sipped coffee, I asked her, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
She smiled: “A princess.”
Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.
Timothy P. Carney, the Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
