RUTHFULLY YOURS

Hillary Clinton appeals to women on the myth that she will shatter a “glass ceiling” that impedes women from high office.  But that glass ceiling has already been shattered by women more talented and more courageous, who have fought political battles in male-dominated tribal nations where women are derided.

Hillary is no Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is president of Liberia.  An economist by profession, she was educated in the United States and returned to Liberia to serve in the ill-fated administration of William Tolbert, who was killed in a coup in 1980.  For the next 25 years, she lived in exile while Nigeria was ruled by Samuel Doe and subsequently by Charles Taylor, a brutal dictator and warlord convicted of war crimes.  In 2006, after opposition to Taylor, she won election.  Her presidency has been focused on fostering human rights and reconciliation and modernizing Liberia’s economy.  In 2011, Sirleaf was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Hillary Clinton is no Margaret Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady,” led Great Britain’s economic renewal and regained stature as a world leader during the Cold War.  She shepherded Great Britain with principles of “Thatcherism” – economic freedom and individual liberty, personal responsibility and hard work.  She broke the power of the labor unions and forced the Labour Party to abandon its commitment to nationalized industry, redefine the role of the welfare state, and accept the importance of the free market.

Hillary is no Golda Meir.

In 1948, Golda Meir was one of the signers of Israel’s declaration and was appointed diplomatic minister to Russia.  That same year, she was appointed minister to Moscow, but when Israel was attacked by neighboring Arabs, she returned and was elected to the Israeli parliament.  Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent Meir on a secret mission, disguised as an Arab, to plead with King Abdullah I not to enter in a war against Israel.  Abdullah declined.  At age 68, tired and ill, Meir contemplated retirement but was drafted to lead her party.  When Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died, she served out the balance of his term and won election in 1969, becoming Israel’s fourth prime minister, the world’s third woman with that title.  She was a tough woman with a tough job in a vulnerable and continually threatened democracy.

Hillary is no Angela Merkel.

Angela Merkel was a research scientist with a doctorate in chemistry.  She began her political career serving as a deputy spokesperson for the first democratically elected East German Government in 1990, assuming many roles and government positions during unification.  In the election of 2005, Angela Merkel was appointed Germany’s first female chancellor.  In 2013,  Merkel won a landslide victory .  Merkel has been described as the de facto leader of the European Union and was named  the world’s second most powerful person by Forbes Magazine in 2012 and  2015.

Hillary is no Corazón Aquino.

In 1986, Maria Corazón “Cory” Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino became the eleventh president of the Philippines, the first woman to hold that office in the nation and in Asia.  She toppled the 20-year authoritarian rule of Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy, re-established a Congress, and promoted a constitution with limited powers of the presidency.  She restored confidence in the economy with market-oriented reforms and was a staunch defender of human and civil rights and promoted many charitable initiatives.  During her last two years, her nation suffered natural catastrophes – earthquakes, devastating volcanic eruptions, typhoons, and flooding.  She navigated through these disasters with calm, determination, energy, and devotion to her nation.

Hillary is more akin to Argentina’s former president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who was elected on the coattails of her husband, the previous president, Nestor Kirchner.  Kirchner was a liar, a grifter, and a corrupt leader who enabled Iran in Argentina.

Hillary also bears a strong similarity to Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, who started her political career as a Marxist guerrilla in the 1970s against Brazil’s military dictatorship.  The disgraced President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – president from 2003 to 2011 – mentored her into becoming Brazil’s first female head of state as well as in chicanery that led to impeachment.  She was also an advocate for nationalization and big “progressive “government.

It may be high time for America to have a female president – but not in this election, and not Hillary Clinton.