by: Marceline Donaldson
Not long ago, I wrote a blog which held up Hillary and talked about her many contributions to the equality of everyone, especially women.
What I said in that blog was true and laudable, however, when I saw the interview Hillary just gave which absolved Bill Clinton from any responsibility in the Monica Lewinsky history, my Hillary Clinton statue sitting way up high in my interior house came crashing down with loud noises and bits and pieces flying all over the place until it all crashed to the ground.
You can’t have it all Hillary. There are times when hard stances have to be taken and to admit the failings of your husband is one of those hard stances.
Either you are a feminist or you are a politician who can lie to absolve someone you love. When you and Bill met and became involved in a relationship which led to marriage, it was apparently a relationship between equals. Bill Clinton, however, showed you who he was when he went on to other relationships, while keeping you as his “main fling”. Those were not equal relationships, they were liaisons which were formed out of unequal positions and totally reflected the unequal power of women in this society in which he used women for his own male superiority needs. Clearly he is conflicted and while he has tried hard to work for the equality of all of us he still has vestiges of male superiority which he has either not worked to eliminate or can’t.
When you absolve him and you tell the world there was nothing he did wrong in that relationship with Monical Lewinsky – that he did not take advantage of the power differences to move on Lewinsky taking advantage of her needs, known or unknown to her, he was the adult in the room and he showed himself ready, willing, able and moving to use his power to compromise women for his own needs with no consideration for the women.
Not only did he show that tendency with Lewinsky, but he used his growing power to subjugate other women – clearly shown by the affairs he had while still married to you.
I don’t want to abrogate everything Bill Clinton has done in this society. He has made substantial contributions, but while making those contributions he was not able to control or subdue his male superiority needs – his misogyny.
You also had a choice. Follow and act out of your beliefs or stop espousing them and keep quiet. You can’t have it both ways. You have claimed a feminist stand, but when it really counted you were among those on the other side. Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton were not equals. Bill Clinton, as president of the United States took advantage of a 22 year old intern working in and around his offices and society condemned the young woman because of its misogyny. If you can’t admit that – your feminism is a game you play when convenient.
I had no idea that is where you stood on the Lewinsky affair until I heard and saw you in that interview. Clearly, you knew better. Your demeanor, your face, your expressions and your answer showed that. I am so sorry that one of my idols has fallen. I guess that is why my religion does not allow idols made of clay – they fall and break. Does that make a lie of your life? No! You have achieved much and you have done much for the equality of women. But it does make a lie of much that you have espoused. When put to the test you came up among the missing. That is what’s wrong with our political system. We need to be able to distinguish the Hillary Clinton’s from the Heidi Heitcamp’s. And, even while I make that comparison, I am sure one day Heidi will come up missing. I will pray she is strong enough to continue to stand for what she believes, but I will know our humanity always overcomes.
We sacrifice, as you have done, our own moral and ethical standards to support someone who claims to believe what we believe. That is what is happening around this country with people supporting Donald Trump. They claim his ethics and character don’t matter as long as he supports their issues. The immorality of that is blatant and we are all now paying the price for electing someone with that excuse. That is an extreme example of what you did supporting Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky affair, but in the end isn’t that the fatal flaw in our republic?
Looking at your life and actions, so sure and so strong, I thought you were one of those people who lived her beliefs and I was wrong.
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Tags: #meToo, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Bill Clinton, Feminism, Hillary Clinton, politics, Sexism
