My daughter Anna was born the year Geraldine Ferraro was the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket with Walter Mondale. A friend gave her a teddy bear sporting a Ferraro button and a note saying one day she might be president of the United States.
As a bleeding-edge boomer, the thought sent shivers up my spine — the idea that a woman might lead the country. So why am I so uneasy at the idea of Hillary Clinton as president?
She is smart, qualified, quick on her feet and articulate. She has bumped up against every glass ceiling and broken through — scarred but undeterred. I admire her grit, her ambition, her loyalty to her husband and the way she’s protected her daughter from public scrutiny.
Hillary has waged every battle of my generation — equal rights, women’s liberation, choice, pay equity. She has been the leading advocate for women’s ability to play multiple roles, from nurturing parent to marital partner, from hostess to breadwinner.
She has learned that hard work, attention to detail, and accountability are not enough to propel an ambitious person as far as she wants to go. And she acquired the strategic skills of evasiveness, dissembling and manipulation to advance an agenda of the moment. And I think she believes that the compromises she has made to get where she wants to be are OK because her goals are lofty and motives pure.
I do not fault her for that. It is that kind of focus and drive that propelled many women born between 1946 and 1950-something to be convention-busters, trendsetters, pioneers.
And that is the problem.
I believe the skills, insight and ambitions it will take to lead in this complex world are very different than Hillary Clinton’s formidable talents.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, is not me. Born in 1961, his early years were spent abroad. The ’60s, a decade of turbulence and change, informed my character and values. Civil rights marches, the murder of beloved leaders (Kennedy, King, Kennedy), an unnecessary war that corrupted two presidents, igniting a youth movement unprecedented in its scope and impact, left many of my generation exhilarated.
Many of us who marched or demonstrated truly believed the button we wore: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
We believed we were the solution, had all the answers and knew the way. The result was massive political change, the empowerment of a generation and the gradual liberation of women and minorities.
Obama because did not emerge from those times — those black and white times when you were on one side or the barricade or the other. He demonstrates a flexibility of thought and optimism that Hillary — child of her generation (and mine) lacks.
Born to an African father and a Midwestern, white mother, Obama learned how to negotiate difference. As a community organizer, he understood that change emerges incrementally through communication, transparency, flexibility and the ability to attempt to understand the opposing view.
Barack Obama is smart, accomplished and in possession of a skill set that prepares him for the 21st century — its opportunities and challenges. He got there on the shoulders of people like Hillary Clinton, who was on the front lines of change, progress and hope.
It may be time for us to step aside, leave our baggage at the door and make way for change.
Susan Barnes-Gelt (bs13@qwest.net) served eight years on the Denver City Council and was an aide to former Denver Mayor Federico Peña. Her column appears twice a month.
