You go, girl. (Salon print page).
“Would you ever ask a man that question?” Hillary Clinton gave that reply two years ago, when an interviewer in Kyrgyzstan innocently asked the secretary of state, “Which designers do you prefer?” But when the Boston Review posted the exchange on its site Wednesday, it became a viral sensation — and just the newest example of how much kicking butt and taking names Ms. Clinton is doing lately.
For 20 years now, Clinton has been one of the most divisive figures in American politics – reviled and adored, mocked and idolized. That hasn’t changed. But what has changed is the woman herself. Because now Clinton, much like the Honey Badger, just doesn’t give a crap.
That terse exchange over her wardrobe caught fire this week because it exemplifies everything that endears Clinton to her supporters – and everything that exasperates so many of us about the current state of womanhood. You can be the secretary of state, even a former presidential contender, and it still comes down to how you look. And what’s fabulous about Hillary is that Hillary isn’t having it.
It’s not that she can’t be frivolous. In fact, lately Hillary Clinton seems to be having a ball. She’s knocking back a beer straight from the bottle in Colombia; she’s dropping it like it’s hot in South Africa; she’s submitting her own entries to Texts From Hillary. You only wish you were having as much fun as Hillary Clinton is right now.
Now, at age 64, Clinton continues to get heat for being, gasp, a 64-year-old political leader instead of Megan Fox. In May, after she’d dared to allegedly appear without makeup (and by the way, she was obviously wearing lipstick and she was only busy promoting democracy in Bangladesh, but whatever), Fox News couldn’t wait to call her “tired and withdrawn” looking. And in June, author Ed Klein took to the airwaves to dismiss Clinton’s chances of running for the White House in 2016 by saying, “She’ll be 69 years old. And as you know — and I don’t want to sound anti-feminist here — but she’s not looking good these days. She’s looking overweight, and she’s looking very tired.” Because you can’t run a country if you’re not under 35 and skinny. Also, if you have a vagina.
What’s righteous about Clinton is how thoroughly emancipated from all the BS she seems to be lately. Hillary is too busy laughing it up with Angela Merkel about their shared love of pantsuits to care what Matt Drudge has to say about her face."
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