The first thing I need to say is that I had previously voiced my opposition to Hillary being Obama's VP. I take that back. Her speech today was gracious and I think Obama could benefit from having such a strong competitor by his side.
That being said, I think that Hillary could accomplish more without being VP. I would like to see her follow Al Gore's example. In the past seven years he has accomplished more and earned more respect around the world than Bush even without the title "President of The United States of America." From his Oscar winning film, to the Nobel Peace Prize he has worked tirelessly to promote awareness about global warming and our need to do something about it. The problem might not be solved yet, but I feel a lot more confident that something is going to be done about it than I did seven years ago when Bush was pulling out of Kyoto. Gore has also been an independent voice which had the freedom to speak out against the war and other Bush policies when others were frightened to do so.
I would love to see Hillary follow a similar path. I had a lot of respect for her when she and Bill first came into the White House. I loved the way she basically told everyone with traditional views on gender roles to shove it because she wasn't just going to sit around and bake cookies. I thought the way she was treated was unfair, and hated watching the way she changed in order to deal with it. One of the reasons that I chose to support Obama in my primary was because I felt like she traded some of her core values for possible political capital in some of her votes in the senate (I know many disagree, but that's my opinion).
What I hope is that Hillary will follow her own path in the same way that Al Gore did after 2000. I would love to see what she could accomplish by following her own compass without considering the public opinion polls that presidential candidates unfortunately need to heed. She could use her position in the senate to craft the health care legislation that she promoted during her candidacy, and could use her voice to draw attention to women's issues in the same way that Gore did for the environment. Although she may not have won the presidency, she won even more respect and attention during this primary season than she had as first lady. She is correct in that she has millions of supporters. I would venture to say that there are very few people in the world today who have the ability to draw attention quite like she does. She could very easily capitalize on that support to create a movement which is larger than her candidacy. She could encourage her supporters to stay connected and have them lobby congress and donate to organizations in support of important issues.
Although I would much prefer having him in the White House than Bush right now, not being tied down to a political office has allowed Al Gore to follow his passion. I would love to see Hillary do the same in the next few years. There are no limits to what she could accomplish without being burdened by the political pressure foisted on presidents and presidential contenders by the punditry. We haven't really seen her operate without that pressure on the national level, I hope that she uses this loss as an opportunity to shine.
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