Mail Call: Debating Hillary

Readers of our March 17 cover story on Hillary Clinton's historic campaign were divided. One wrote, "I got choked up reading your essays." Another asked, "What's with all these love letters?" A third said, "At 18, I had voted for Hillary. Later, I beseeched her to oppose the Iraq War … she did the opposite."

Hillary and America ' s Women
I'm a 38-year-old female executive who is embarrassed to admit that I cannot remember the last time I voted ("What Women Want," March 17). Recently, I've been eagerly anticipating primary results, feeling a surge of solidarity when watching Tina Fey on "Saturday Night Live" and getting choked up while reading your essays about Hillary Clinton, especially the one titled "Just Leave Your Mother Out of It." Perhaps our historical voter lethargy was due more to the lack of a personal connection than disgust with the political status quo. Regardless of the outcome of this Democratic primary season, I hope this mini-revolution continues to inspire our nation to stay involved.
Careen Yapp
Woodland Hills, California

What is with all the love letters to Hillary? I should be a part of her natural constituency, as I am white, 56, struggling to make $40,000 a year and a feminist. It is not an antiwoman backlash that has cost Senator Clinton; it's the sleazy nature of her campaign. Not a week goes by that I'm not appalled by its tenor: her spokesman essentially says, "We won't bring up Sen. Barack Obama's drug use but the Republicans will"; Bill Clinton makes not-so-subtle racist remarks in South Carolina; Hillary says that Obama might be qualified to be her vice president. And then there are Geraldine Ferraro's statements. I'm an alternate delegate to the Colorado state convention for Barack Obama, and if Hillary Clinton receives the nomination, I will not actively support her.
Karen Johnson
Aurora, Colorado

In "What Women Want," Tina Brown states, "What saddens boomer women who love Hillary is that their twentysomething daughters don't share their view of her heroic role. Instead they've been swept up by that new Barack magic. It's not their fault and it's not Hillary's either." As one of the many twentysomething females who support Obama, I take exception to this reasoning—that I do not support Hillary is indeed her own fault. At the age of 18, I helped vote her into the Senate and then two years later wrote to her, beseeching her to oppose the Iraq War Resolution and to support the Levin Amendment. She did the opposite. Obama spoke out against the Iraq War and has offered to end our cold- war-like policy of isolation against Iran as a genuine step toward repairing U.S. foreign relations. Brown's assumption that my motivation for being an "Obama girl" is founded sheerly on his magic and not on the candidates' differing records exhibits an all-too-familiar condescension toward my generation that cements my distrust of the Hillary boomers.
Emily Sullivan Sanford
Berlin, Germany

I dutifully read every word of the 14 essays in "What Women Want," even though I am a white male Democrat. I found them disturbing. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are terrific and I intend to contribute to, work for and vote for whomever wins the nomination. My position is not the stance of the "Femocrats" supporting Clinton. They have forgotten that this is a primary and that the object is to win the election.
Lew Baker
Salt Lake City, Utah

Your articles on how women view the Democrats' Clinton-Obama conundrum highlight the double standard permeating contemporary politics: African-Americans can vote for Obama as a manifestation of black pride, and women can vote for Clinton, and many think that's "hear me roar" wonderful. But suppose white males voted for McCain simply because he is a white man. They would be labeled David Duke clones or worse. I think the world probably would be a better place if all heads of state were women. And I look forward to the day when we elect a woman president, though I hope it's not this November. I am, however, against applying a double standard to one segment of the population but not to others.
Andrew Fine
Concord, California