2.16.2007+Hillary+v.+Eva


 * **

Working title: Andrew Lloyd Webber announces the topic for his newest musical: Hilary Clinton… Wait! Didn’t he already write Evita?

Critics like to point out that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music repeats itself. Undeniably, so does history.

Is it such a surprise that our first serious bidder for first female president of the U.S.A. sometimes seems startlingly akin to Eva Perón?

Each woman had been president of an organization before entering the race for national political power. Hillary Clinton was president of her class at Maine East High School, and Eva Perón was president of the union of broadcast performers. Both were heavily involved in their husbands’ campaigns for the presidency. And once Clinton and Peron reached office, their respective wives entered the political arena headfirst, offending conservatives in the U.S. and Argentina respectfully.

There are noticeable differences between the two women. Hillary Rodham Clinton grew up in a middle class family while Eva Duarte Perón despised the middle class. Clinton was involved in politics before meeting her husband, and Eva Perón was involved only through her radio show. Perón was never formally educated and an actress, while Clinton earned a degree in political science and was valedictorian of her class at Wellesley College.

Despite these obvious differences, these two famous women hold more similarities than anything else. Both claimed to be feminist, and Eva Perón even created the Female Peronist Party, the first feminist party of Argentina. Eva Perón wanted to run for the title of vice president, even though, in the end, she declined due to failing health. This is not unlike Hillary Clinton’s recent battle for a place on the ballot of 2008.

Ironically enough, both Clinton and Perón have done things that outrage “true” feminists. Eva Perón claimed that she did everything as inspiration from Perón. She declined the nomination for vice president with the announcement that she only wished to be written into the chapter of history that belonged to her husband, whether or not that was true. Though she created the feminist party, she is not technically the reason that women earned the right to vote in Argentina in 1952 (voting for, of course, Juan Perón, Eva Perón’s husband).

Hillary Clinton enraged radical feminists by staying with husband Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal and numerous other adulterous affairs that he has admitted to.

Hilary Clinton is accused of being power hungry. Some go so far as to say that she didn’t dump her husband because the marriage was politically advantageous to her. Similarly, the lyrics by Tim Rice in the 1979 classic musical Evita portray Eva Duarte (not yet having married Perón) as seducing her husband with the underlying thought of power, reminding him that she will be no one night stand in a song titled “I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You."

However, there is never real proof to the human mind’s reasoning, and both historical women could have truly innocent reasons for their actions. Above all, both women were strong, dedicated symbols of politics in America and Argentina as well as loving wives to their respective husbands.

Hillary Clinton, despite critique by the more radical feminists, displayed truly honorable public behavior in the light of her husband’s sexual faithlessness. When Bill Clinton needed heart surgery, Hillary Clinton cancelled campaigning to be by his side at the hospital. Eva Perón was unable to stand without support by the time Juan Perón’s second inauguration came rolling around, but stuck it out in a coat of wire and plaster. She was referred to as “Spiritual Leader of the Nation." Often in speeches, she elevated her husband to divine status, and never took a political step without his approval. Some believe that everything she did was only to help her husband.

Years after Eva Perón’s death in 1952, no one knows for sure whether or not she did more good or bad to Argentina, politically and economically. Her husband, Juan Perón, was soon seen as corrupt. The Peronist movement was banned for some time and Peronists were persecuted. In the U.S.A., some see Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs as corrupt, though none would go so far as to call him politically corrupt compared to some of our nations other leaders.

But the question remains: Will Hillary do more good or bad for the U.S.A.?