Yesterday, in her speech to the students at Temple, which was also a speech to the 70 million 18 to 30-year-olds in the country, Hillary demonstrated her campaign’s ability to listen to the concerns of millennials—oy, that word—by adopting the voice of a librarian during story time and telling the students what they think and feel.
“You see how much needs fixing in our country,” she said. “From the soaring cost of college to the scourge of systemic racism to the threat from climate change. But you also know the only way we can meet those challenges is if we meet them together…You want something to vote for, not just against.” She later added, “You know that all these challenges are intersecting, and we must take them on together.”
Hear that vocabulary? Intersectionality. Systemic racism. College. Clinton gets us.
To support these claims she cited her journey from being an activist “during the Vietnam War” to becoming, essentially, a career politician. She talked about the youths who have influenced her decisions, including a girl named Sophia, a 17-year-old basketball captain who convinced Clinton to run for the Senate by whispering the words “dare to compete” in her ear. She also mentioned relevant policy proposals, especially the ones she worked on with Bernie—free in-state college tuition for households that make up to $125,000, the ability to pay back student loans as a percentage of income (which…we can already do that), and offering tax incentives to companies who pay for vocational training. She received the most claps and woos when she slammed Trump.
Her policies are better than Trump’s. They’re better than Gary Johnson’s. They’re more feasible than Jill Stein’s. It’s 49 days before the election and Hillary has the best shot at defeating Trump. Voting for her is a no-brainer. But in terms of my feeeeeeeeeeelings? My precious millennial feeeeeelings?
Paula S. Fass, professor emerita of history over at Berkeley, outlined the thing I feeeeeeeeeel about Hillary’s attempts to connect with millennial voters on the Berkeley Blog back in April.
To briefly summarize, Fass argues that Hillary struggles to feel millennial pain. The bulk of Clinton’s advocacy involves fighting hard for “kids and young people and families,” which she doesn’t let anyone forget. But a lot of us don’t have children and families because we’re fucking broke denizens of a destabilizing global economy. She might as well say she’s been fighting her whole life to put a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. Technology + globalization isn’t just costing the U.S. jobs in the manufacturing sector, Fass goes on to say, it’s threatening jobs in the professional worlds of medicine, law, and teaching, too. Clinton’s’ debt-free college line is good, but it’s not the whole story. On the stump, she’s not addressing the anxiety about how to enter the workforce after college, and how to maintain a work/life balance if we do manage to find a job.
And she says she “gets” that millennials who are totally against Trump still have some questions about her, but at no point in the speech does she explain her “cozy” relationship with Wall Street, or her hawkishness, or any of the other actual beefs many millennials have with her.
But then I imagine myself in Hillary’s shoes. Here I am, a 68-year-old hard-ass woman staring into the still-budding faces of 18-24 year-olds. I’ve held grudges longer than they’ve been alive. I’ve endured daily sexist nonsense longer than they’ve been alive. I’ve been running for president longer than they’ve been alive. I’m running against a proudly racist, xenophobic, egomaniac and they’re talking about voting for Jill Stein, who has never been elected to anything in her life. They’re talking about voting for Gary Johnson? Didn’t these people hear about Brexit? They do know that it’s a close race, don’t they? They do know that it’s a close race between me and a fucking racist rhinoceros, don’t they? They do know that even if I were Mitt Fucking Romney they should be voting for me over Donald Fucking Trump, don’t they? And they’re prepared to threaten this country with a Trump presidency to get a few more campaign promises out of me? I guess one thing you can say about this generation is that they’re not afraid to take risks!
I hear all of that frustration bubbling up in little moments in her speeches. When she says, “Not voting is not an option. That just plays into Trump’s hands. It really does,” the urgency in her voice when she says “it really does” sounds so real. And when she sounds real, I feel as if I’m talking to a real person. And when I feel like a real person is talking to me, or when I’ve been properly tricked into thinking a real person is talking to me, then I don’t feel condescended to.
As she says, she’s fine with never being the showman her opponent is. But, if she wants to “earn” our vote, it couldn’t hurt her to speak to our anxieties. And the least she could do is stop accidentally dropping Chumbawamba references. If she doesn’t, the next 49 days will feel a lot like this:
She’s not running to be your friend. She’s running to be your President. I’m 48 years old and I’ve never understood the whole “..havin’ a beer with / speaks to me / makes me feel all the feels…” stuff. Honestly, unless you are planning to have regular meals with her, WHO CARES HOW SHE MAKES YOU OR I FEEL?
Just don’t squander your vote because of your FEELINGS. Write in Sanders — hell, vote for Trump; I’d have more respect for you actually casting a vote as opposed to “choosing to not make a choice” because of your FEELINGS.
AND GET OFF MY LAWN.
Hillary is a friend of Hillary. Period. She couldn’t care less about the country, you, or anything you care about. All that matters to Hillary is money and power in that order.
As a middle aged single woman, I want a President, not a friend. A leader, one who is not a flailing racist blowhard, not an inexperienced doctor, and not an anti social security and medicare fend-for-yourselves ex-governor. We each need to look at where they stand on issues, and vote the closest to that. Because this President will last at least 4 years, but their Supreme Court choices spend their lives on the bench. They can roll back on racial, voters, and/or women’s reproductive rights. If you really don’t care how you will feel about that, by all means, vote for Trump, Stein, or Johnson. Or do not vote out of protest. But I am not willing to take that risk and I believe Sanders will hold things to task, and believe in his long term plan to push the Democratic party toward a more progressive path.
Feelings and moods change. A President will last longer than a moment or a few month’s worth of indecision. Please take that into account.
@3: As a millennial, I want a President, not a friend as well. And I know how Hillary stands on the issues that are important to me. I want a President who has not flip flopped on every liberal issue over the past two decades. I want a President who has fought for organized labor, not sat on the board at Wal-Mart and stood by as they waged a war on unions. And someone who will keep us out of the forever war in the Middle East, not one who voted for the Iraq War and now wants to create an overlapping and dangerous no fly zone in Syria to provoke Russia. Finally, someone who will fight income inequality, not get paid to give speeches by the same banks that perpetuate it.
You’re correct that feelings and moods change, but so do Hillary’s positions. There’s a reason millennials didn’t go for Clinton in ‘08 or ’16. A majority of us rightly believe she won’t fight for progressive causes and her past flip flops/triangulation tendencies prove so. The only reason she is pandering to us is because this election is starting to get very close. Last month when she was up in the polls, she was wooing dissatisfied conservatives to try and run up the score.
Of course, those of us who can’t afford to attend her $27,000 a ticket fundraisers will be an afterthought once she is elected. Living in a city where the median rent is now $1,400/month and wages haven’t kept up, the status quo isn’t working. We need more than progressive lip service during election years, and that’s all Hillary provides us. Please take that into account.
@4: So who are you going to vote for on the Presidential ballot who provides all of those things in this election cycle?
I want a billion dollars and a pony. That doesn’t really get me anywhere in terms of my vote come November, so I’ll vote for the best option, which is Hillary.
Hillary Clinton has been on the receiving end of a 25-year political smear job. (See http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/fea… )
It was bad enough when it was the right, but when alleged progressives jumped onto the dogpile, it was proof that, for many people, marketing can bend reality.
This is the most progressive Presidential candidate in generations, maybe ever. Has she compromised at times? Yes. But those who hate her for it are living in a political fantasyland where you get everything you want and everyone else simply concedes to your wishes. That’s simply not how the world works.
Clinton works with everybody. She gets things done and creates real, lasting change that impacts real people for the better.
That is, quite simply, the best option you will ever have when voting for a President.
@5 and @6: Thank you both for perfectly demonstrating the beginning and end of the Kübler-Ross model or five stages of grief Democrats have to go through to support Hillary. FlavioSuave is already at stage 5 or acceptance with “Hillary is our only choice, so you better vote for her!”. While Euphonius is at stage 1 or denial with “Clinton works with everybody. She gets things done and creates real, lasting change that impacts real people for the better” (those who were affected by her Iraq War vote, her support to cut welfare, and support of the harsh 90’s crime bill/mass incarceration might disagree).
While it’s painful to watch Democrats go against their few good political positions to support Hillary (https://theintercept.com/2016/04/14/to-p…), I am glad that millennials (and independents of all ages) are able to see through this two party bullshit that has done nothing but exacerbate income inequality and send Americans off to die in pointless wars.
@ThrillHouse: When you get past “dishonesty,” let’s talk. Until then, you’re not competent to psychoanalyze me or anybody else.
@Euphonious: How am I being dishonest? The Iraq War was a disaster and we are still fighting it. The welfare reform bill has actually increased poverty in this country. The 90’s crime bill disproportionately affected minority communities. These are facts. And these are things Hillary has supported.
If you’re arguing that it is dishonest to say that, you are wrong.You are also proving my earlier point about what stage you’re in.