As one of the people working backstage at the convention, I got to see the private side of many of our guests. I've been reluctant to blog about what happened backstage, and I won't talk about any difficulties because sometimes people have a bad day and shouldn't be judged for it. Every single one of our guests did us a great favor by coming. However, two people stuck out: both Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton really impressed me. They are fine people, unbelievably smart, and kind. Dean went out of his way to see as many people as possible. He really cares about the netroots, not just the idea, but the people. He talked warmly about people he knew from this or that place and is clearly really engaged. Hillary struck me with the breadth and depth of her knowledge.
While I am not sure who I am supporting, I think people should know more about Hillary based on her actions and not the right-wing noise machine's crazy caricatures. She was intelligent and inquisitive when it was just me and not anyone who mattered. She asked about my work, my concerns and had an extraordinary grasp of the issues.
I met Mrs. Clinton as she came in, took her to her breakout, took her to the plenary and then saw her out. As we walked to the breakout, she asked about what I did. She was not only familiar with the college where I teach, she knew the specific equal opportunity program I work for (that is funded by the state and not a national program), and was interested in the programs we offer, asking about the supplemental instruction program we have and how it worked. After her breakout, she asked me about my concerns currently facing higher ed. (That, in and of itself, really impressed me.) When I talked about ABOR and academic freedom, she had a very insightful comment, something like (and I'm paraphrasing here) 'the larger schools tend to have a strong commitment to academic freedom, but it can really fly under the radar at the smaller schools and is being chipped away.' That is the single best summary I've heard any non-academic give about the problems facing academic freedom.
After the plenary, she went out of her way to thank me, and remembered my name. That isn't a big deal, and yet, it shows an attention to detail, a competence (I can't remember some names 5 minutes after I'm introduced, much less after 2 hours of questions and debates) that I think will serve her really, really well. She gave me the impression of being warm and caring about the people that were there to help her.
The image that I have previously had of Hillary is of a power-hungry, triangulator, without clear central values, and I am coming to believe that the image is the result of not only the right-wing noise machine, but also a lot of underlying sexism in our society. The fact that she was interested in me, clearly not a high name person in any field who could have just gotten her from point A to point B with a glass of water and a curt not, was refreshing. She was so on-the-ball with issues most people don't really know about and that really impressed me. She listened and she cared and she is really, really smart. I don't know who I'm supporting and I still have many questions. But I, personally, am very ready to consider her candidacy.