Local women explain why ‘We’re with her’

Laura Covington recalls the first time she met Bill Clinton. He stopped to ask her to vote for him for Arkansas Attorney General.

“I told him I couldn’t because my uncle was running against him!” Covington laughed.

Covington is a member of the local chapter of the group, Hillary for Arkansas, which has been meeting regularly.

“We’re with her,” Covington said. “She started with us.”

Bill and Hillary Clinton both taught at the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1975. In 1976, Bill was on the way to a political career after being elected Attorney General.

Covington remembers with pride the way the First Lady of Arkansas, and then the First Lady of the country, wasn’t content with the usual backseat roles of wives of politicians.

One of her best quotes, Covington believes, is: “Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.”

Suzie Bell, another member of the Hillary for Arkansas group, recalls all the heat Hillary Clinton got about another quote: “‘I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had tea, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life.’

“She was not your stereotypical First Lady,” Bell said. “She worked. She had a job. She had purpose. She has been a groundbreaker for women from day one.”

Both Covington and Bell believe part of the dislike and even animosity towards Hillary is sexual discrimination. For example, opponent Donald Trump has said that Clinton doesn’t look “presidential.”

“I’ve experienced sexual discrimination myself,” said Bell, who was wearing a Love Trumps Hate button. “To say she doesn’t look presidential is clearly sexist. Trump is such a misogynist. Look at how he has treated women his entire life.”

Some might say that campaigning for Hillary in Arkansas won’t do any difference because the state is firmly Republican and likely to go for Trump. All the state’s electoral votes will go to the winner. But Bell still thinks it is important to be involved in supporting the first woman from a major party to run for president, a woman who has vast political experience as a senator and as Secretary of State.

“I’ve lived a long time and this is the most important election of my lifetime,” Bell said. “It’s not so much about me. I have daughters. To me, it is very exciting to support a female candidate who has a chance to be elected. For my grandchildren, I want to show I did everything I could to get her elected. It is about the future. I want to see this very qualified candidate elected. She has class and elegance and will represent us well.”

Bell has made reservations for herself and her daughters to attend Clinton’s presidential inauguration.

Even many Republicans have said Trump has been a disaster as a candidate. Currently Hillary is considered to have a 75 percent chance of winning the election. Rolling Stone recently had a story, “R.I.P., GOP: How Trump Is Killing the Republican Party, Donald Trump crushed 16 GOP opponents in one of the most appalling, vicious campaigns in history. His next victim? The entire Republican Party.”

But Bell feels no sympathy for the Republicans.

“They deserve it for not standing up to him for saying hateful things like what he said about Mexicans,” Bell said. “Love will win every single time and hatefulness gets us nowhere.”

The Hillary for Arkansas group is working on a voter registration drive. The local group will have a debate watch party at 8 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Eureka Springs Carnegie Library Annex.