One may like or dislike Hillary Clinton, but one can hardly argue that she is very likely the most successful woman that ever took part in American politics. Even if you don’t take into account the fact that she has a pretty good chance of becoming the first female President of the United States, her previous career is still rather impressive. She is a very good example of results one may get if he or she chooses a course of action early in life and continues to methodically move in one and the same direction for years to come.
Hillary Clinton (born Hillary Diane Rodham) has started out in politics at a fairly early age: in her teens she already was an active member of various young Republican groups and campaigned for Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964. However, this period of her life didn’t last for long, as she became a staunch supporter of Democrat party in 1968 and remained such ever since then. After that she used all available resources and time to promote the Democrat cause and her own standing with the party.
She was equally active in college politics during her stay in Yale, and almost immediately after graduating she continued her efforts in bigger politics, working in Washington D.C., campaigning for Democratic Presidential candidates George McGovern and Jimmy Carter.
However, it wasn’t her only occupation – Hillary Clinton was a member of Rose Law Firm and later was appointed as a chairman of Legal Services Corporation by then-President Carter. Her position as the First Lady of Arkansas (Bill Clinton, whom she married in 1975, was Governor of Arkansas for more than a decade) she first began serious work in what was going to become her trademark interest area: the affairs of children, women and families.
She also played a huge role in Bill Clinton’s winning the Presidential election in 1992, providing her husband with strong and constant support and pursuing his cause with incredible fervor. After becoming the First Lady, she also behaved in a far more active and ambitious manner than is usually associated with this status, for example, working as the head of Task Force for National Healthcare Reform (which never came to pass at the time).
Despite several scandals shaking the reputation of Bill Clinton as a President and the Democrat party as a whole, the most notable being Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, she continued to support her husband, although she later mentioned that she considered leaving him. One can’t help but wonder if her future ambitions played their role there: if she left her husband at that crucial moment it would have dealt a severe blow to his reputation and her own standing in the party. It would have probably meant the end of her own presidential ambitions she was certain to already entertain at the moment.
Again, one can love Hillary Clinton or hate her, but one thing is for certain: such focused pursue of a single goal is only to be respected.