Hillary cracks political glass ceiling

Hillary Clinton has created history. She is the first woman in the history of the US to win the required number of delegates to clinch the nomination of a major party in the presidential election. Eight years ago, she fell short of this achievement and thus lost the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency to Barack Obama. Yet she left behind cracks in the US political glass ceiling. On Tuesday, when she claimed the Democrat nomination, she broke that glass ceiling. The party is yet to officially name Clinton as its presidential candidate. That is likely to be done at the party convention next month. Her main challenger in the Democrat primaries, Bernie Sanders, has indicated interest in forcing a contest at the Democrat convention. The party’s top brass, including Obama, are reported to be urging him to end his campaign for the nomination and back Clinton’s bid for the presidency. It is time that the Democrats close ranks behind their candidate.

The Democrat primaries were fiercely fought and Sanders’ supporters, who comprise youth and the party’s progressive section, are unlikely to back Clinton in the race for the White House unless he endorses her candidature. Clinton’s detractors in the party and outside accuse her of being part of the ‘corrupt establishment,’ someone who benefited enormously from the system and is untrustworthy. Of course, some of the criticism targeting her – that she is over-ambitious and assertive, for instance – are being attributed to sexist prejudice. Still she has qualities that make her a strong candidate. She has enormous political experience, picked up during her time as Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady. In 2008, Democrat progressives stood in the way of her ascent to the presidency by backing Obama. Will they continue to resist her rise? There has been some talk of Clinton appointing Sanders as her running mate. This may win her the presidency but administration thereafter could prove a challenge given their deeply diverging positions.

Clinton will be also eyeing the votes of moderate Republicans and others opposed to Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for the presidential election. Several top Republicans have already indicated that they will be voting for Clinton. Should the race for the White House see Clinton butt heads with Trump, it can be safely predicted that the battle ahead will be a bitter, bruising and nasty one. Trump’s campaign speeches have been littered with offensive remarks against religious and ethnic minorities, immigrants, women and people with disabilities. He can be expected to unleash misogynist slander against Clinton.