Anna Bartels

Documented Essay
Meg Johnson, English 250
05/01/15

Out With the Old And In With the New

The 2016 presidential election is near and candidates are beginning to announce
their running, Hillary Clinton being one of them. After she announced her running,
questions began to stir up. Are presidential elections turning into a who can be the first
contest? Is Clinton all about electing a woman? Did Obama win in the past because he
was the first African American president? These are questions many citizens ask
themselves when considering who they will be voting on. Some believe voters turned to
voting for inherited traits of candidates instead of policies and actions, but others believe
the complete opposite.
It all began when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and became the first
African American president in our countrys history. Many people know and will
remember him because of that characteristic. To put that in perspective we all
remember our first president George Washington, or even Abraham Lincoln the tallest
president, so odds are we will also remember the first African American president. It
shows how far the United States has come since the early 1600s, from owning African
American slaves to the present day of having an African American president.
Since the woman's rights movement began in the mid-1800s, women have been
climbing the ladder to success. Women are recognized for their amazing achievements
in the United States, and being treated equally. But whats next for them? Are women
going to stick by each other in order to have the first female as president in the United

States? We will uncover that as Hillary Clinton is running for office once again, but this
time with a different campaign.
Tamara Keith a writer for NPR wrote the article Hillary Clinton Is Ready To 'Stand
Out' As A Female Candidate, to prove that her campaign strategy has changed
directions since 2008. As the article states, Clinton has given a number of speeches to
women's groups, pointing to a likely shift in tone from 2008 to 2016(Keith 3), this
proves she has put her focus on women to win their votes, because a vote for Clinton is
a vote for women right? With that in mind Clinton is also taking a huge risk because
some of her campaign advisors believe it will come off as her alienating men. While
Clinton did not win the election in 2008, and for that she blames campaign message.
She realized that she has something that other candidates don't, her feminism. In 2008,
Clinton said "I am not running as a woman. I am running, because I believe I am the
best qualified and experienced person (Keith 3). Though, things have changed since
then. Clinton recently asked, "Don't you someday want to see a woman president of the
United States of America (Keith 3)? Clinton is using her feminism to her advantage to
run for president and win over votes, is this becoming the new trend in society?
Ever since Hillary Clinton announced her running, controversy began about
where citizens hearts lie. Weather its a vote for women, or a vote for her ability to be a
good president. Jennifer Lawless, a writer for CNN, said that if Clinton wins it will be a
step forward for woman, even with 80% of elected officials throughout the country being
men. Although, if she loses it shows that women have to be twice as good to get half as
far. Lawless believes women will begin to realize that if Clinton cant succeed how can
they. While reading the comments of how people viewed this statement, debate
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occurred between viewers. One opinion stated, It's time to give a woman a chance;
Obama knocked it out of the park. I think the GOP is scared that she will be just as good
as Barack Obama. Select voters believe in Clinton because its something new and
something new either has a chance to be great or a chance to be terrible. On the other
hand, there are voters tend to resist change. As a counter argument people would argue
with the previous statement using Obamas statistics while in office as well as being
against nominating a woman because of her gender. One viewer said the rest of us are
looking at whether the nominee has the smarts, experience and character to be
president. In the end Lawless asked the readers whether they believe in what these
candidates stand for or what they can do to better this country.
We must look at Obamas past two terms in office in order to know how he was
viewed as a president to the society. Was he someone who bettered the United States?
Or someone who is an image of something our country worked so hard to achieve?
Toure is a writer for Time magazine who focused on the same scenario as Clinton is
working on now. When Obama was first running in 2008 Toure wrote Viewpoint: Will
Blacks Vote for Obama Because Hes Black?, to determine why Obama had a
standing chance in this election. He focused on two different sides of the situation, the
first being voting for the color of his skin. A quote from his essay that supports him most
is Instead, the idea that blacks support Obama just because hes black is itself racist
because it suggests a lack of political sophistication and brain power, as if blacks would
vote for anyone who shares their skin color (Toure 2). This shows the side that if you
are voting for Obamas color and not his political knowledge and strength to run this
country, it is degrading the voter as a human. Yes, Obama is African American and he is
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the first to become president, but is that the reason you want him as president?
Because if so, is that considered saying the voters have a lack of brain power. On the
other hand 95% of African Americans voted for Obama, and people call that racist.
Consider an alternate scenario where 95% of whites voted for Mitt Romney, would that
be considered racist as well? That leads to Toures next point in voting for Obama
because of what he has to offer for the United States. Yes Obamas [ethnicity] is part
of why many blacks support him. Another reason is Obamas policies: saving Detroit,
supporting universal health care, and fighting to protect the social [security] safety net,
and a womans right to choose will win lots of black votes (Toure 2). He explained that
even though 95% of African Americans voted for Obama, it doesnt necessarily have to
do with his skin color, but due to the fact he created many policies to help greater this
country. People voted for Obama for either the two different reasons together or one of
the two and that seems to follow a pattern with Clinton.
Throughout Toures article he brings up the point that the question itself is racist
(Toure 1), so does that make the question for Clinton sexist? Just as if women are
voting for women because they have the same gender, is the same reason African
Americans voted for Obama. Everybody loves something new, and something new is
even better when it sends a message to the world. But one may not be a great
president even with the positive message of change. So which is the country going for?
Vicki Haddock addressed this situation in her article Are we ready for a woman
president? / U.S. lags rest of world in putting women in positions of real political power.
According to the article most people view women as a kinder more gentle gender
compared to men, which is considered sexist. But in reality, it is different for some

women who are given a stiff backbone. The United States has made little progress
when it comes to having women in office while other countries are advancing with
having female leaders. Haddock cannot help but ask So why has it taken the United
States this long even to seriously consider doing it? (2) According to a poll for the
question are Americans ready to elect a female president? 60 percent said yes. The
United States is moving forward in the perspective of how we view women by seeing
them equal to men. Even though 60 percent is not as big as many would like to see, it is
a step in the right direction. Some may not be willing to change their mind about having
a female figure as President and they have their reasons. As Farida Jalalzai explains, I
think we do still suffer from the notion that women are not as good as men -- that they
aren't as rational (3). He believes that even though we are at 60 percent saying yes for
a woman President, what about the group of voters who keep their opinion private. This
proves that the United States is behind about how they feel about women in office while
other countries are moving at a much faster rate; 35 of 51 women who have served as
the top leaders in their countries shares power in some fashion (Haddock 4). Other
countries have been there already, using Queen Elizabeth as the first example. Women
are advancing and having a bigger role in the United States, but there are still those
who doubt the strength in women to carry this country.
It all comes down to whether voters believe in who the candidates are or what
their platform is. For Barack Obama, some agree all African Americans voted for him
because they share a common skin color. Comparing that to the idea that women would
vote for Hillary Clinton because they are also women wanting to see a change in the
world. There are also those who look for what they can do to better the United States;

not caring about who they are or where they came from, but what they can do and what
their ideas for the future are. It all comes to the person you are and what you strongly
believe in. Some people want the change, as for others who believe in more traditional
politics. In the end, our next president, no matter their gender or race, their success in
office will be decided by their policies and actions, not their innate traits.

Work Cited
Toure. "Viewpoint: Will Blacks Vote for Obama "Because He's Black"?" Time. N.p., 19 Oct.
2012. Web. 03 May 2015.
Lawless, Jennifer L. "Is a Vote for Hillary Clinton a Vote for Women? - CNN.com." CNN. Cable
News Network, 12 Apr. 2015. Web. 03 May 2015.
Keith, Tamara. "Hillary Clinton Is Ready To 'Stand Out' As A Female Candidate." NPR. NPR, 23
Mar. 2015. Web. 03 May 2015.
Haddock, Vicki. "Are We Ready for a Woman President? / U.S. Lags Rest of World in Putting
Women in Positions of Real Political Power." SFGate. N.p., 29 Apr. 2007. Web. 03 May 2015.