Hillary Clinton

On October 26, 1947, Hillary Clinton was born. She went on to study at Yale Law School, where she met her future husband, and president, Bill Clinton. She served as First Lady from 1993 to 2001. Hillary then became the first American First Lady to win a public office seat when she was elected as a U.S. Senator. Her first attempt to run for president was in 2008, but she ultimately conceded when it was clear that Barack Obama was going to win. After Obama won, he appointed her as Secretary of State, which she served as until 2013. Hillary then announced, in early 2015, that she would be running for president again. She became the Democratic Party's nominee, rendering her the first women to be the presidential nominee for a major political party. Clinton ultimately lost to Donald Trump in November of 2016.

I was never a Hillary fan, not in 2008 or in 2016. My family and I were Obama advocates and I was a stanch Bernie supporter. I did not like Hillary at all throughout the whole election this year. Once it was clear that Bernie did not have the chance I had hoped, I reluctantly supported Hillary. Up until her concession speech, I believed that she was the best of two awful choices. But her concession speech changed all that.

I've listened to this speech over a hundred times, it was even the focal piece for a rhetorical analysis essay I wrote over the summer. I had always seen Hillary as someone who was always about herself, but this speech showed that I was wrong. This speech showed how she knew that her time was over but she needed to be strong for the next generation. Her speech was an inspiration to me because it was telling me that people are going to try and keep you down but you can't let that stop you.

While some people reading this may hate Hillary as much as I hate Donald Trump, I encourage you to listen to her speech and not think that it is "Hillary Clinton's speech." Listen to it as one human being to another. One quote in this speech that touched my heart, and I hope it touches yours too, was "And to all the little girl whose are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams." This quote meant so much to me that I chose it as my senior quote for my school's yearbook, but it means so much more to me than a few lines of words on a page.