Will History Remember Hillary Clinton?
America still owes her a serious apology
Of course it will. But will history remember her correctly?
This is a question I’ve mulled over the past 16 months as I’ve watched an administration fraught with unprecedented scandal, corruption, dishonesty and chaos continue to shock the nation with its disregard for norms and institutions, and its inability to protect the U.S. from its adversaries at the most basic level. With each new Mueller indictment, the concerns posited by Hillary’s campaign nearly two years ago gain more and more credence, and I can’t help but imagine Hillary watching the news each day while enjoying a glass of wine and murmuring under her breath: I told you so.
Mueller’s team has just scratched the surface of the depth and breadth of Russian meddling in our 2016 election (something that should concern everyone as we enter another election year) and a disinformation machine that included social media posts, targeted online ads and even rallies. Mueller’s indictment spells it out as clear as day: the Internet Research Agency, a Russian propaganda group, “primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton… and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.”
So as much as everyone would like to continue to focus on what a “weak candidate” Hillary was—and how she really should’ve campaigned in Wisconsin — the fact is she was fighting a nearly impossible fight: against the Russians (from both the right and the far left), against a candidate immune from the standards of decency demanded of everyone else and against a media that felt her emails were tantamount to the myriad of Trump scandals that broke on a near-daily basis (oh, and sexism).
Painting Hillary as a hopelessly terrible candidate ignores the conditions that made the 2016 election so historic, conditions that remain the focus of debate and investigation nearly two years later. Hillary Clinton wasn’t the perfect candidate with the perfect message. Nobody is. But attributing her Electoral College defeat strictly to the flaws of her campaign rather than a larger breakdown of American systems, is ridiculous. It also conveniently ignores her overwhelming popular vote margin of victory.
Contrary to what one may suppose from the New York Times opinion section, the majority of Americans voted for, supported and even admired Hillary Clinton. The 2016 election ultimately came down to some 70,000 votes in three swing states. While that’s not nothing, it’s not everything either.
The mainstream media still ignores Hillary voters (though props to Kaz Weida for her excellent profile on the “Not-So-Silent Majority”) but those of us who warned of Russian interference, misogyny and disinformation among Bernie supporters, unfair media coverage and the unique dangers posed by then-candidate Trump, are finally starting to feel some vindication.
The Women’s March became the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history, the #MeToo movement emerged and a record number of women are running for office. Hillary may not deserve all the credit, but it’s hard to imagine any of these movements would have manifested with such force were it not for the least-qualified man in the world defeating the most-qualified woman to become president of the United States.
I’ve written in the past about what Hillary’s legacy means to young women like me, but my view of her as a pioneer for women in leadership has only been emboldened with time. Despite the insistence of some that she should shut up and take up knitting, Hillary has continued to make her voice heard on the issues that matter most, and I look forward to see what’s next for her as a public figure and advocate.
Hillary Clinton was a First Lady, a Senator, a Secretary of State and a presidential candidate. Her legacy should be remembered as one of firsts for women: the first Wellesley College student to deliver a commencement address, the first woman to be made partner at the Rose Law Firm, the first woman appointed to the board of Walmart, the first First Lady to have an office in the West Wing and march in a gay pride parade and the first female candidate of a major political party.
Decades of negative coverage have tainted the public’s perception of Hillary as an exemplary figure (though she has retained her title as Gallup’s Most Admired Woman for 16 years in a row), but historians ought to be sure Hillary is remembered as the both complex and commendable woman that she is.
Hillary will probably never get the apology she deserves, and it may take decades for her legacy to be fully understood, but as we celebrate Women’s History Month each year, I will be sure to recognize her contributions, her sacrifices and her resilience.
Happy Women’s History Month Hillary. I hope you’re remembered correctly.
Savannah L. Barker is a writer and journalist based in New York City. She is currently the Politics Editor at The Tylt. Learn more at savannahlb.com
Follow her on Twitter or contact her directly here.
