A Shout-Out for My Neighbor, Hillary

In this time of hope, permit a look back and a shout-out.

This past Tuesday morning Hillary and Bill voted at the Grafflin school in nearby Chappaqua. As usual they schmoozed with the locals and hung around after. He's become the squire of this suburban town, and likes to slide next to both women and men sitting in the diner booths. Most of us have met them and proudly display our framed photos on our walls and end tables (I've posted about this here).

My friend Marji, who was at my election/celebration party, voted at the same time the Clintons did. She came in with a bunch of photos of both of them taken that morning, and we compared ones of Bill smiling with her to Bill smiling with me. Mine is from when they first moved to Chappaqua. He's held up better than I have.

On election night as we proudly watched our new president-elect we wondered what Hillary felt as she watched in her Dutch Colonial down the road. How many times did she think: "That could have been me"? "That should have been me'"? Was she bitter or sad, or had she moved on, sitting in front of the TV eating pizza like the rest of us?

I know, Huffpost is not the best place for complimenting Hillary Clinton. But it is time to step back a bit and get united, not just Repubs and Dems. I am utterly thrilled that Barack Obama will be our next president. However, I'd like to thank Hillary just one more time, for among other things:

-- Those millions of cracks in the glass ceiling, even though the ceiling remains

-- Speaking up early for universal health care, and sticking with it -- it takes balls

-- Caring about working women and children and the forgotten

-- Toughening up Obama during the primary and making him a better candidate

-- Showing that a woman can be strong and smart and a fighter, and a credible presidential candidate (and that she can take the slings and arrows of Matthews, Olbermann and MoDo)

-- Helping us to realize even more that Armani can't hide an empty suit who thinks Africa is equivalent to Belize

-- Rousing the convention with her speech endorsing Obama

-- Appearing 70 plus times on behalf of Obama

-- Accepting defeat graciously

-- And for giving it her all -- both good and bad -- with loads of heart.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election

Comments

[Greytdog]

I would like to see Hillary be included in the crafting of Universal Healthcare. I would like to see Hillary become Senate Majority Leader, I would like Hillary to be recognized for herself and not as "billary". I would like HuffPo to understand that women like Hillary paved the pathway so that women like Rachel Maddow and Arianna Huffington would be taken as credible in their chosen fields.

[JeanneB]

I want to agree with you, and thank you for putting that sentiment into words Hillary is a class act.