Leslie Knope 2016
The Leader We Deserve
Hillary Clinton may be making the headlines, but my peers (you may refer to us as millenials if you would like) want our first female president to be a Leslie Knope. The Director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department (played by former Hillary Clinton impersonator Amy Poehler) is one of the most passionate and positive people on television. Knope cares about her town, and will do everything that she can to represent it in the most ethical way she can muster. Knope has gone above and beyond the call of duty for a politician, and has dazzled us on screen with her integrity, loyalty, and idealism. The show is a delight to watch.
Unfortunately Parks and Recreation is a sitcom, and being uncompromising in the face of roadblocks is usually not a feasible tactic in today’s political climate. Instead, we have Hillary. As soon as Obama had his hand on that bible in early 2013, she was being asked about a presidential run. Classy to a tee, she deflected the (rude) questions and intense speculation; humbly appreciating the fans without indulging them. The mantle of “America’s First Female President” has stayed heavy just above her shoulders—keeping her shadowed in political non-speak. As the Democratic Party has moved to the left, she has doggedly stayed at her center-moderate position. The winning position.
However, that position is starting to look vaguely conservative from where my generation is standing. In issues such as financial reform, foreign policy toward the Middle East and Israel, and military spending her answers remain along the status quo. But the problem is, my generation does not accept the status quo as the older generation (which is where the majority of her financial support will come from) was wont to. They wanted to hear someone talk about jobs, and the economy, and maintaining America’s position of supremacy abroad. Hillary is happy to oblige.
An interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffry Goldberg was her foreign policy soapbox. Shoulda’ woulda’ coulda’ interviews are never flattering, and Hillary’s interview was full of barely-disguised humble brags. Her big one: ISIS would not have happened if Obama had listened to her strong suggestion to arm Syrian rebel forces. Never mind that it hadn’t worked for us with the mujaheddin in Afghanistan. In fact, many of the arms that the United States sent to Iraqi rebels to help them topple Saddam Hussein are now being used to bash the Kurds on the border with Turkey. The hawkish positions that she outlined in that interview were astounding. She sounded more like an old-school John McCain than a Barack Obama. She even praised the U.S. Cold War-era approach to world conflict. Hillary did have some definite successes during her tenure as Secretary of State (rights for women and girls, internet freedom, etc.), but it didn’t seem like she had learned anything from the moment that she voted to give George W. Bush a blank check and wage war against Iraq. What we need in modern U.S. foreign policy is to unlearn the lessons of the military industrial complex, and be flexible in the face of new threats like ISIS.
And then there is the not so small matter of the privilege. It is unfair to sabotage Hillary’s chance to be the first female president of the United States because of the innumerable Clintons and Bushes in our political landscape, but it does rub me the wrong way that the media appears to be laying out our candidates for us. Elevating these political dynasties (especially the Bushes) crowds out the political landscape for upstarts (like our own near and dear Barack), and solidifies it as a pursuit only for the privileged. In a lot of ways we are one (very long) slippery slope away from watching aristocrats decide the financial fate of nations through strategic marriages. Relying on the old guard of politicians complicates our chances to reduce economic inequality, address institutional racism, and craft a post-Cold War foreign policy. These are agendas that millenials care about, vote on, and cannot be properly addressed when you are indebted to powerful corporate interests.
I am having a lot of trouble finding someone who “has my back” in politics these days. I would rather not have my vote go to the candidate that will probably do fewer bad things in 2016. I like Elizabeth Warren, and I want her to continue honing her skills and making waves in the Senate. If the Democratic party sent her out in a presidential bid she would get eaten alive, and I appreciate that she knows this. But other than that I have slim pickings. Part of this is our own fault for not bolstering progressive thought in local elections. For not paying enough attention to the Leslie Knopes.
Local politics breeds Leslie Knopes, and there are a lot of reasons that my peers tend not to pay attention. A big reason is that we are transient, and therefore less invested in local politics. But another reason is that we often get caught up in the Hillary Clintons and Elizabeth Warrens. Don’t get me wrong, we need more of these take-no-prisoners women in Democratic politics, but it would also be nice to feel like those women really are there to represent the interests of the people.
Sometimes, the politicians need to be reminded of where the future lies beyond their own political career. It lies with the Leslie Knopes; who work in government departments like the Department of Parks and Recreation, in little towns across America. Who sit through hours of town halls, file hundreds of pages of paperwork, and fight budget cuts when they threaten their jobs and the jobs of others. These people have fire, gumption, and now they have role models like Hillary Clinton to see where they can succeed. Hillary Clinton is an incredibly intelligent, motivated, passionate woman who has made a career out of breaking glass ceilings. We should encourage her to break that last ceiling that she has her eye on, but we cannot treat her as a silver bullet for all of the Democratic Party’s failings (as we tried to do with Barack Obama). For that to work, we would have to be in Modern Family instead of in Pawnee.
