Chelsea Clinton Remembers 1992 Campaign with “My Dad for President” Essay
Chelsea Clinton was asked to pen a remembrance of her father’s 1992 campaign — which kicked off in October 1991, 20 years ago this month — and she authored this essay, “My Dad for President” as part of that commemoration.
The 1992 Clinton presidential campaign was actually the first presidential campaign I ever took part in, but it wasn’t to help Bill Clinton or the Democrats…it was to help First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Clinton become the First Lady of the United States…so she could take the first steps towards becoming President Clinton herself.
I was 15 years old at the time, in a Catholic high school in the suburbs of Cleveland, with Brandon Walsh (decidedly not Dylan McKay) sideburns and a respect for Hillary Clinton earned my freshman year, a full year before most of the country had ever heard of her, when I researched Hillary’s work as Arkansas’ First Lady for a debate in Ms. Habrat’s speech class. Oddly enough, I also researched Tipper Gore for the same class, but a different debate — that one on music censorship. I found Tipper to be, largely, an irrational nut and think the same to this day.
Hillary Clinton, however, intrigued me for being a woman people forever accused of being behind all sorts of ridiculous things and seemingly having magical powers with which to thwart her enemies. When the Clintons emerged on the national scene, and both the Left and Right started maligning her, I followed her exploits with even greater interest.
In life, I’ve always had a natural affinity for people who not only take punches well, but punch back even harder. I can’t stand wimps. I don’t like people who are forever too afraid to fight and have no interest in ever supporting anyone who I don’t trust to do what she or he thinks is best no matter what the establishment wants her or him to do instead.
I remember the 1992 campaign because both of my grandmothers were thrilled to see Hillary on the national stage, and cheered every time she took a stage and socked it to her critics. Both grandmas hoped they’d live to see Hillary as president herself, but both died before Hillary announced her 2008 campaign.
The night the Clintons won in 1992, and emerged from the statehouse in Arkansas for Bill Clinton to make his acceptance speech, my grandmothers and I all promised together we’d do everything we could to help Hillary Clinton win the White House herself in the future. Since I was all that was left of that pact in 2008, I tried to do everything I’d imagine my grandmothers would have done, and then some, to elect Hillary Clinton.
HillBuzz.org was started as a Hillary Clinton campaign site inspired a little by the round-robin telephone trees and Ladies’ Guild newsletters my grandmothers relied on in their time to communicate with like-minded people and work towards goals, like electing favored candidates to office. Though they could have never imagined something like a website existing to help Hillary, I hope they would have enjoyed the site my friends and I created for the campaign…and that I continued, and evolved, with friends old and new in the years since.
It still kills me a little every day that I couldn’t think up the magic strategy that would have defeated Obama in the primaries. I feel I failed my grandmothers because I didn’t save the day and win the nomination for our HRC.
I know Hillary Derangement Syndrome runs strong in a lot of you who read this site now, and I learned long ago that I am never going to convince anyone to change their firmly established perceptions of this woman. My boyfriend Justin, in fact, was raised to hate Hillary Clinton (though he can never clearly tell me why) and his parents honest-to-goodness believe Hillary stole a “heart attack ray” from NASA and uses it on her enemies (like Tim Russert, whom Justin’s father, a veterinarian, seriously believes Hillary murdered during the 2008 presidential campaign. He also thinks Hillary murdered someone he calls “Vince Vaughn”, so you can imagine why I have never deigned to argue with this man or challenge his perception of HRC).
There are ENORMOUS lessons for conservatives to learn from what the Obama campaign did to Hillary Clinton and her supporters in 2008, but in the three years and change I’ve been writing HillBuzz.org, I have never been able to convince Republicans to put their Hillary hate to the side long enough to see that everything the Left did to Hillary in the primaries was a dry run for what the Left will do to the Republican nominee in 2012.
John McCain, for whatever reason, didn’t really want to be president and never truly challenged Obama. McCain was the “it’s his turn” nominee, and ran a lackluster, meandering campaign that he actually suspended at one point and talked about just giving up. The only thing this man did right, in fact, was introducing Governor Sarah Palin to the national stage and launching her on a path to become the first female President herself.
It still hurts my heart that Hillary Clinton will never be president, but I see in retrospect her year to run was actually in 2004. She could have been the nominee, if she hadn’t listened to the Democrat establishment that told her to wait her turn and that “2008 would be her year”. I have it on very good authority that Ted Kennedy himself told Hillary that, and she foolishly believed him, being a good and loyal Democrat who decided to respect the establishment’s wishes and postpone her own ambitions so John Kerry could run the establishment-approved campaign in 2004…while the establishment geared up to backstab Hillary Clinton the next election by deciding, as early as 2004, that Barack Obama would be the 2008 nominee. The Democrat Party hates women, but knows it needs blacks to keep blindly voting Democrat, so having the first black president was always more important than running a candidate who would have made an excellent president.
During the 2008 campaign, I saw just how vile the Democrat Party really is. In truth, I’d always been uncomfortable being part of a Party that relied to heavily on union thuggery and that worked so hard to keep black people and Hispanics so poor and dependent on government handouts so they would keep blindly voting Democrat forever. I also hated the identity politics that drives the Democrat Party, and the corruption endemic to every major city that’s under complete Democrat control.
I would have probably become a Republican 20 years sooner if it wasn’t for the Clintons, because while Bill and Hillary Clinton were the heads of the Party, at least I felt the Left was kept somewhat at bay and such an entity as a conservative Democrat could actually exist. I learned my lesson at around 5pm or so on May 31st, 2008 when the Democrat Rules & Bylaws Committee actually stole Delegates from Hillary Clinton and awarded them to Obama, to secure the nomination for him.
I was there, in DC, when the actual decision came down. It was pouring rain that day. I will never forget a slight, bespeckled, Asian woman in a pink rain coat with a Hello Kitty umbrella who stood outside the hotel the RBC was meeting in holding up a sign that read “Count every vote, every vote counts!”. The rain had warped the letters and the paper was falling to shreds, but there she stood, crying because it was so clear to her the fix was in and the Party had decided on Obama no matter what the voters wanted.
That was it for me in terms of the Democrat Party. I will never in my life vote Democrat again, and I hope in some small way I can use my life to help metaphorically burn the Democrat Party to the ground for so embracing voter fraud, thuggery, Alinsky Methods, and everything else the Left employs to glorify Obama and keep him in power.
I came out as gay during the 2008 campaign because the Clinton campaign here in Chicago needed someone to fundraise and recruit volunteers in Boystown. I soon found myself on TV and the radio and doing interviews with the media. It was the scariest thing I’d ever done, and I was terrified there was no turning back ever, but I did it because Hillary Clinton needed it to be done and I couldn’t do it unless I came out. I got to meet a great many of Hillary’s friends here in Chicago, and got to know a few of them very well. They knew the sacrifices I made for the campaign and were a better support team than I could have ever dreamed I’d have in coming out. I got to know Chelsea Clinton a little by working several events with her and had the shock of my life one day in February when she actually called me on the telephone to thank me for organizing a small dollar fundraiser for her mother.
There were stretches when I’d get to speak to Hillary herself in person several times a week. My family pretty much disowned me and was embarrassed by me for coming out, and in talking with her Hillary learned this and actually tried to intervene to mend these fences for me. I was just a campaign worker in Chicago, with the little website my friends and I ran, running my little volunteer efforts here, and the woman who was in the fight of her life against Obama and the Left actually remembered what I was going through every time I’d see her and she’d take a moment to check in and encourage me to stay strong and to know I made the right choice in coming out.
I still get hatemail here at HB from people who say how much they hate Hillary Clinton and go on about how evil she is or how she killed “Vince Vaughn”. I forward those last ones to my boyfriend Justin with a note saying, “Tell your dad to stop writing me!”. I will always treasure the experiences I had on the 2008 campaign because a former First Lady of the United States, a former United States Senator, and the current Secretary of State is a person who showed me such incredible kindness right when I needed it most and who made sure I knew how much she appreciated what I went through in trying to help her campaign.
So, the Clintons will always mean something to me on a very personal level. When Justin is mad at me and wants to be a jerk, or just wants to get my goat because he’s still at that point in his 20s when he thinks everything he does is HILARIOUS, he’ll forward me a picture of Hillary looking terrible somewhere while traveling around the world and attach a message of “Your gal’s not looking so hot these days”. I just ignore him, because his Hillary Derangement Syndrome will never allow him to take a step back and appreciate how much Hillary’s personal kindness to me will always mean, no matter what he, his parents, or anyone in conservative ranks says about her.
On days when I was so sick I almost couldn’t get out of bed or have felt so attacked and defeated I just didn’t want to live anymore, I swear I thought about Hillary Clinton standing in the rain in Pittsburgh, PA back in 2008…refusing to cancel a campaign rally…and delivering an electrifying speech to the crowd as lightning flashed above her head and I marveled at her tenacity from the sidelines.
I never thought another person on Earth would inspire me like this, but then emerged Governor Sarah Palin who has the same tenacity and determination, even if she’s in a different party and is on a mission to take down the establishment in a way Hillary Clinton never did.
It’s actually been really hard for me to come to terms with this, but I had to accept a long time ago that even though Hillary was betrayed by the Democrat establishment (in both 2004 and 2008), it’s just not who she is to bring these people down. Maybe that comes with being a former First Lady, or from having been in the Senate and lived in Washington for too long. It was never in her 2008 campaign to take down the establishment…but at the time, I didn’t even know back then this is what America needed to do to survive.
I know in comments people will rehash all the old anti-Hillary, hateful remarks that I’ve seen and responded to thousands of times at this point. I also know I’ll be asked “how can you support Palin now after being such a strong Hillary supporter”. I hope regular readers will answer this stuff for me because I just don’t have the strength to repeat myself on this again. Though, I will say that in 2008 the best choice for President was Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, who would have never done to this country what Obama did because she would have never allowed the Left — or anyone alive — to dictate the course of her presidency.
The best choice for President in 2012 is Governor Sarah Palin, because I believe she has the same tenacity and fight inside her that Hillary Clinton did in 2008…but with the realization that the permanent political class needs to be fought tooth and nail, in a way that Hillary didn’t see clearly when she was in a position to have done so herself.
I grew up knowing the strongest fighters and the best Americans around me were the moms, grandmothers, and aunts I knew back in Cleveland who took care of me and all of my friends and who always rose to the challenge when they needed to…when too often the men that I knew in life slinked off to play golf or go on vacation when the going got tough.
I think America’s going to be saved by moms, grandmothers, and aunts in 2012. I think a lot of these women — and the men who will stand with them — were Hillary voters in 2008 who will back Governor Palin in next year’s election. From Hillary to Sarah so many of us will go, with many never imagining in a million years they’d make a transition like this.
It’s sure been a strange journey for me, and for everyone from the Team Hillary days who’ve continued with me here on HillBuzz.org for all these years.
This post ended up being much less of a nostalgic look back at the 1992 campaign than Chelsea’s reminiscence that started it…but while I’ll never forget the past and will always cherish its part in me, I can’t help but set my sights on the future and the people I know are best to lead America through the tough times ahead.
The 45th President of the United States will be a woman, but she won’t be named Clinton and despite the personal feelings I have for the Clintons, I have to say yet again that the next president has to be — HAS TO BE — someone who is willing to absolutely destroy both the Left and the Cocktail Party GOP establishment if America is to recover from what Obama has done to the nation.
The only person alive who can do this is Sarah Palin.
I seriously pray every day she answers this call. I know if my grandmothers were still here they’d be praying the same thing, as are millions of us Hillary ’08 vets who are willing to get back into the trenches again and fight Obama and his minions under Palin’s banner this time.
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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Bravo, Kevin! Tears here (while applauding). As a "Hillary '08 vet" and an early PUMA, I can relate to virtually everything in your essay. Kevin, you are an American original, and, like Sarah and like little Trig Palin, you are truly one of the world's "undercover angels"!
"…the strongest fighters and the best Americans around me were the moms, grandmothers, and aunts… who took care of me and all of my friends and who always rose to the challenge when they needed to…when too often the men that I knew in life slinked off to play golf or go on vacation when the going got tough…I think America’s going to be saved by moms, grandmothers, and aunts in 2012. I think a lot of these women — and the men who will stand with them — were Hillary voters in 2008 who will back Governor Palin in next year’s election. From Hillary to Sarah so many of us will go, with many never imagining in a million years they’d make a transition like this." (I will frame this and display it prominently throughout 2012.)
I firmly believe that Sarah will save and begin to heal this country.
Excellent post, Kevin, and again, such a relief to know that I'm not the only gay conservative here in Chicago!
Eric Olsen
(aka GayPatriotMidwest)
gaypatriot.net
Say hi to Bruce for me!
I would, if I knew where the hell he was. That man seems to be spending his life flying from airport to airport!!
I think he was in SC.
Kind of like playing Carmen Sandiego.
"… in comments people will rehash all the old anti-Hillary, hateful remarks that I’ve seen and responded to thousands of times…"
Some people need to drop the old battles so that we don't open fresh wounds. We need to pull together to put the right people into office so that America doesn't fail and take the whole world down with it.
Kind of like the Religious Right that won't vote for a candidate that they agree with on 98% of the issues, because one or two positions are off. So, because they can't have the "perfect" conservative, they don't vote, and a liberal gets elected who appoints liberals to the Supreme Court where they further entrench the liberal way.
I get that some people don't believe in gay marriage, et cetera. But guess what? America is not a theocracy! Iran is, and American conservatives don't like how they treat non-Muslims. So, American conservatives should understand that any theocracy is bad.
America is about freedom. Kevin has his opinion on Hillary. You have yours. If they are different, get over it!
After these many years of pouring out his soul on HillBuzz.org, everyone should know Kevin Dujan is a true American patriot. If you don't then you haven't been paying attention.
So, let's ignore our small differences and concentrate on how much we have in common.
Who's for getting rid of Obamacare?
Who wants to try to recover from the damage of the Stimulus Bill?
Who wants to change the incentive structure of the tax code so that businesses want to hire people?
Who wants America to get back their AAA+ bond rating?
Who wants to restore American leadership internationally?
I'm with Kevin and the "HillBuzz Boyz" on this one.
Together, we are an army for good.
Excellent response for the anticipated HDS 'rehash' mob, newtlove! I have three words for them:
Barack Hussein Obama.
Ditto. You realized before I did that Establishments in both parties will do anything to stop a woman president. I still find it disheartening that even women conservative pundits engage in the Establishment’s activities.
HELL YEAH!!!!!You go Kevin!You were there for all of us disenfranchised Democrats in 2008 and we all will be there with you for Sarah Palin in 2012!!!Come on people.Don't let them do to Sarah what they did to Hillary.Palin for President-2012.If it can't be Hillary as our first female President ,Sarah will do just fine.
Right off the top – Hillary Clinton would be a better President than Obama, hands down. Even her detractors agree.
Two – Kennedy's backstabbing runs deep – read the Newsweek piece that came out right after the election – where Obama reveals being approached, pushed, and groomed. And Kennedy, working behind the scenes, waited until the perfect moment to pounce on Hillary, who thought he was a friend. Remember? She made the comment about candidates and the fears of assassination, innocent enough, and he pulled the liberal rage over a syllable card. Then Caroline revealed her decision and the stiletto strike was complete.
In retrospect, it is a stunning coup. Somebody in that "establishment" camp you mention was able to stifle the most powerful couple in the world – and reduce Bill to a pathetic political hack. Someone was able to make Hillary sit down and shut up – and take it with as much grace as she could muster – and she has. Someday though, she is going to have to pull back the curtain. Now would be a good time, because I do believe she cares about this country.
We are watching #occupywallstreet – the implementation of Stephen Lerner's expressed plan. We hear Michael Moore posit the meme – "There's plenty of money. They have it. It's ours. We can take it" and now Roseanne Barr telling us to "Behead Bankers, Rich Who Won't Give Up Wealth…"
Make no mistake, this is Obama's team, and they have a plan. This is the horse they intend Obama to ride to re-election. They are trying to gin up rage, pit neighbor against neighbor, bring out the mobs with the pitchforks.
Your support has changed my opinion of Hillary. One is known by the company they keep – and the PUMA belief that you do what is right no matter your party is inspirational and healing. Your stance, and your faith, and your commitment to doing what is right and damn the party politics makes a difference.
My wish for Hillary is that she gets to retreat from the vicious scene, and live a life of grace and joy, with grandchildren to regale with tales of interesting times.
I'm with you, together we are an army for good. Go, Sarah.
But Sarah, or not, it is vital to remove that man from office. The fate of the world depends on it.
re the wall street stuff. I asked a friend what it was all about, as he's apparently there every day, and he hasn't responded. perhaps he thought I was joking, but I wasn't…he had posted a NYT article, and said: they got it all wrong. so i asked, okay, set the record straight…
Kevin, what a heartwarming story. I am a rabid conservative, and I was outraged at what the establishment Democrats and the Obama machine did to Hillary. Don't get me wrong, I would not have voted for Hillary, but I defended her every which way to Sunday. The unspeakable injustice done to Hillary is not forgiveable. The media could have exposed Obama's outright theft of delegates and sabotage of the caucuses. If we knew it, you know the media knew it. I work for people who voted for Obama who are so uneducated that they think I am a conspiracy theorist when I mention the stealing of the nomination from Hillary. It quite surprised me when Hillary agreed to serve as Secretary of State after what Obama had done to her. I figured she did it at the time because she still had presidential aspirations, and the Left would not be able to accuse her of no foreign policy experience when she ran again. The Left is so stupid that it never realized how ridiculous they all looked when their manchild candidate had far less foreign policy experience than Hillary.
This was a beautiful entry that was a pleasure to read.
truly. I mean, I've never been a big Hillary fan, but wow, there's no question that she was done wrong. completely and totally. It was a true abomination what was done to her. and no one seemed to care! all the Ds I know were all like: hey, we love obama now, he's mr. awesome! cheers, let's have some kool aid. it's pretty disgusting, actually. some of them have rethought their choices, but well, some are still defending him….
You changed my opinion of Hillary Clinton. She definitely would have been a better president than Obama.
Here’s hoping Sarah will run!
I just want to correct you on one thing–you changed ONE republican's mind about Hillary Clinton. Mine. I never had Hillary Derangement Syndrome, but I was a staunch republican and wouldn't have voted D, ever. I've been reading Hillbuzz for a while now, and I've come to appreciate Hillary Clinton now that I've seen her in a different light. I appreciate you Kevin, thanks for your candor and authenticity.
huge Hillary supporter here.and happy to be in the army for good.
Hillbuzz has helped change my views of Mrs. Clinton. I cannot say that I could support her politically. However, I have an appreciation for her that I would not have had if it were not for this website. Perhaps it is silly, but I call the former First Lady "Mrs. Clinton" out of respect. I don't refer to Mrs. Clinton as "Hillary." I am not saying that those who do are being disrespectful–far from it. It is just my way of trying to show respect.
Now contrast that with what I call the current president: "That miserable SOB we call president"!
If I had respect for the current president, I'd call him "Mr. Obama." But I don't have any. He would have to evolve several billion years to reach the level of pond scum. He's a corrupt Chicago pol with extreme Leftist views. For that, I loathe him. Just think "Fast and Furious" and "Solyndra" and they spell C H I C A G O politics.
It is a shame that Mrs. Clinton was treated so horribly by her party. I am glad that she was such a source of comfort and support to you during a challenging period in your life and that Hillbuzz is the end product. I am, however, baffled by her decision to serve as Secretary of State and disgusted by the enthusiam with which she has done Obama's Jew-hating bidding where Israel is concerned. She isn't a stupid woman. But maybe she is more radical than she let on.
I'm an ex Dem , now Independent leaning for to the Rep party, I agree with you on everything except on S Palin, I don't see her as the one ready to lead this country, she's a quitter and always complaining, I like a more prepared and moderate person like M Bachman or Romney, Palin is not prepared for big time yet, she has to go to school as B oreilley said, she's not for the big leagues as Hillary is!