hillary clinton and identity politics

so, hillary clinton has finally come clean on the worst kept secret in american politics- she’s running for president. there is of course the small matter of winning the democratic nomination but, her religious adherence to consensus and political orthodoxy means she is unlikely to be threatened from either the centre or the left. she will thus stroll through the process in a fashion which does not exactly live up to the name of her proud old party.

following this announcement i expect there to be an outpouring of empty rhetoric, lauding clinton’s feminist credentials. we would do well to remember mrs clinton's behaviour towards her fellow women during the presidency of her husband, bill. mrs clinton conducted a state funded defamation campaign against women who had the audacity to come forward and accuse the most powerful man on earth of sexual harassment and  rape. now, we have no real way of knowing if these women were telling the truth, but when you consider the proven behaviour of the then president it does not seem particularly far fetched. regardless of whether the claims are true or not, what is important is the apparent willingness of a presidential candidate, who is i’m told ‘good on women’s issues’ to engage in a smear campaign against alleged victims of sexual abuse. 

more woman in politics is undoubtably a good thing, but we should always pay more attention to behaviour rather than identity when determining a candidates credentials.