AAVR Magazine

Don’t Stop Believin’

I’d like to preface by saying that I am not necessarily a Hillary Clinton supporter. I’m certainly not a hater of the Hill, but I also don’t feel inclined to beat her down. In fact, I’ll fully confess that while I am generally politically interested and involved, I abstained from voting in my New York Democratic Primary, because I did not feel strongly about either candidate at that point.

I do feel the need to come to her defense about one thing. I was listening to the radio on the way into work this week, and I heard countless calls for Hillary to step down. “She’s out of Money,” “she needs to bow out gracefully,” “she’s got less of a chance of being the choice in the general election,” “She should be doing what’s best for her party.” Throughout the day, these calls for resignation were echoed on television, newspapers, blogs and other media outlets. I’ll be the first to admit that Hillary’s chances aren’t great at the moment, and sure, it’s costing money, time, and energy that could better serve building munitions for the upcoming battle with the Republican Nominee. Also, comparing herself to a teabag in this day and age was probably not a good idea, since anyone under 30 probably snickers when they hear the word “teabag”.

But the truth is, she has every right to continue.

This constant hammering that she gets from all sides has to stop. Do we want the kind of people running for our presidency who are going to bow out? Someone who is going to say, “the odds are stacked pretty high against me, gee, I think I should just quit”? I know I don’t. I want someone crazy. Like Ron Paul. Someone who is so convinced that they have something to say that needs to be heard that they don’t care if the world thinks they are crazier than a loon. I want someone who will stare into the camera, brow furrowed, head cocked with the crazy eyes when you ask them about dropping out.

To me, a “never say die” spirit represents some of the ideals attributed to our great nation as much as a smooth-talking optimist (no, I’m not talking about myself, I’m referring to Obama) does. We live in a world of instant gratification where anything not had easy isn’t worth having, and this continued insistence that Hillary just give up is a perfect indicator of that. If I had the slightest snowball’s chance of being the leader of the free world, do you think I would give it up? Never. I would fight with every thread of my being at that slender chance of getting the nomination. Selfish? Get used to it. We are human beings. We are self-interested. Manners are a social contract and an evolutionary adaptation that allow us to not kill one another. But that applies to little things like splitting the last cookie or allowing someone to cut you off so you don’t cause a 40-car pile up and die. This is the presidency, folks. Anyone who has a chance to win all the marbles, has it all on the line, is millions in debt and drops out right before a contest she is bound to win (WV) is stupid.

At the very least, if Hillary drops out now, she’s got some dignity after a recent win in West Virginia. Personally, I’ve never left West Virginia with any dignity, but that’s because I’m fond of canoing down rivers while I’m there (cue banjo solo).

But anyway, the point is, people need to get off of Hillary’s back. I think she’s a shameful, pandering politician, but at the same time, I think there’s a good chance that Obama’s like that guy with the guitar at the college party — you know the one, pretending he’s all sensitive and introverted while he has 2 pending date rape convictions? No, I’m not saying he’s a sex pervert, only that I’m guessing he’s not as dreamy and idealistic as we think he is. If she wants to continue to mire herself in debt to accomplish a pretty lofty goal, that’s her prerogative.

We have a short time on this planet to make a big impression, and Hillary is in the latter half of that trip. If the presidency was within your reach — maybe unlikely, but palpable — wouldn’t you go all in to try and make it happen? Seriously sit and think for a minute. Would you be the selfless one who gave up being the first female president because everyone told you to roll over for Senator McDreamy?

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