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Hillary tackles 'boys club'
02/11/2007 09:50 - (SA)
Wellesley - Democrat Hillary
Clinton urged women voters on Thursday to rally behind her
campaign against "the boys club of presidential politics" two days after male rivals attacked her repeatedly at a debate.
The front-runner among Democrats seeking the presidential
nomination in the November 2008 elections - and the only woman
seeking the job - rallied enthusiastic students at her alma
mater Wellesley College, a prestigious liberal arts school
outside Boston.
Clinton, 60, graduated in 1969.
"In so many ways, this all women's college prepared me to compete in the all boys club of presidential politics," the former first lady told hundreds of students.
"We need to shatter that highest glass ceiling," added
Clinton, who is trying to become the first woman president. "We can make history."
As she sought to mobilise student voters with a nationwide
campaign, her words alluded to the pummelling she took on
Tuesday night against six male candidates at the Democratic
debate in Philadelphia.
Sen Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen John Edwards
of North Carolina, both trailing Clinton by double-digits in
national polls, attacked the New York senator's honesty,
leadership and ability to win the November 2008 election.
Edwards' communications director Chris Kofinis shrugged off
the Clinton campaign's complaint that other Democrats had gone after her at the debate.
"Senator Clinton once again took multiple positions on
multiple issues," Kofinis said in a statement on Thursday. "We understand that the Clinton campaign isn't happy about that, but instead of smoke and mirrors, how about some
truth-telling?"
But Wellesley students welcomed Clinton like a superstar.
Students danced in the aisles as she kept them waiting more
than an hour, and punctuated her speech with foot-stomping
cheers and roars of approval.
Clinton, who has been criticised by rivals for originally
voting to authorise the Iraq war, compared campus life today to
her experience as a college student in the 1960s, protesting
the Vietnam War.
"We were embroiled in a war that many of us opposed," she said. "We were uneasy about our future, uncertain about
America's role in the world and unwilling to trust a government that didn't share our values. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?"
Student Maya Dolgin, the head of Wellesley's "Students for Hillary", was impressed.
"I hope when we leave school, be it at the end of this year
or after four years, we will be just as ready to change the
world," she said.
- Reuters
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