Hillary Clinton’s Emotional Moment: Move On

[Capitol Annex rarely wages in on presidential politics, unless it is happening in Texas. However, the continued uproar over Hillary Clinton's emotional moment the other day in New Hampshire is more than we can bear keeping quiet about]

Although we at Capitol Annex have endorsed John Edwards for President, we’re an admitted longtime fan of Senator Hillary Clinton.

And, we’re a little befuddled as to why such an uproar has been made–both by the media and other candidates–about Senator Clinton’s momentary display of emotion on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

After all, George W. Bush cried when he took the oath of office in 2001. Ronald Regan was known to shed the occasional tear (on cue, of course), and even George H.W. Bush was not immune from weepy moments (including when he awarded Sam Walton of Wal-Mart fame the Medal of Freedom; getting emotional about Wal-Mart is pretty lame). History tells us that George Washington and JFK showed emotion, too. And, I’ll bet that George Washington never had to tell anyone he had a snowflake caught in his eye, as did Edmund Muskie.

So why, then, does it matter than Hillary Clinton got choked up talking about a subject that is near and dear to her heart? This is not 1960. Women have ruled many major nations on this earth at this point in history. Why should the media and other candidates intimate that, because Hillary Clinton is a woman and showed emotion she is too unstable or unfit for higher office.

Pardon us for saying so, but that’s  just total bullshit.

We should, instead of wondering “what it means” that Hillary Clinton got emotional, be glad that she did. If she didn’t care about the country, she wouldn’t get emotional.  Perhaps we should be asking why other candidates don’t get as emotional about the issues they care about. I can’t imagine it would hurt my choice in the race, John Edwards, were he to shed a few tears when he talks about his mother working in those mills. I’m sure Evangelicals would fall to worship at the feet of Mike Huckabee if he welled up talking about The Lord and his faith (after all, Baptist preachers are known to cry more than every now and then). Just because Hillary Clinton showed emotion doesn’t need she’ll have to retire to a Victorian fainting couch and collapse every time she gets upset. This entire debate is just the height of 21st-century-around-the-clock- news-coverage-we-need- to-fill-five-minutes-so-let’s-show-Hillary-crying-again idiocy.

People get emotional. It is a fact of life. Unless you’ve had your tear ducts surgically removed, you’re going to cry at some point in your adult life. It’s really not a big deal. It doesn’t mean you are unstable (unless you cry all the time), and it doesn’t mean you are not strong (on the contrary, if you are willing to do it in public, it shows you have Teflon skin).

So, to the media, the other candidates, and everyone else: Move on.

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