Hillary Clinton has finally announced her run for the presidency. According to her erstwhile friend, political pundit Dick Morris, she will run on the "Mom Strategy" which, he says, "gives her a credible way to tack to the left on the war."
Hillary launched her Mom Strategy on the ABC television show "The View" when a co-host asked her if being a mom gives "a would-be President kind of an edge up on, say, a male rival?" Hillary replied, "Well, you know, nobody's ever been in a position to ask that question, 'cause we've never had a mother who ever ran for or held that position."
Wrong, Hillary, you're not the first mom to run for President. That niche in the history books goes to Ellen McCormack, mother of three daughters and one son, and even a grandmother, when she ran for President in 1976.
Running for the Democratic Party nomination for President, Ellen McCormack campaigned in 18 states (in chronological order): NH, MA, VT, FL, WI, PA, IN, GA, NE, MI, MD, TN, OR, KY, RI, SD, NJ, and CA. She didn't win any primaries, but she won some delegates and received 22 votes for President at the Democratic National Convention, more votes than were cast for Frank Church, Hubert Humphrey, Henry "Scoop" Jackson, or Fred Harris.
Mrs. McCormack was the first woman to receive Secret Service protection as a presidential candidate in a major party. She was also the first woman to receive federal matching funds for her primary campaign.
In 1980, Mrs. McCormack ran for President again, that time as the candidate of New York's Right To Life Party. She received 32,327 votes in New York, New Jersey and Kentucky, three of the states where she succeeded in getting on the ballot.
Ellen McCormack played a major role in the rise of the pro-life movement. Her leadership enabled the then-young pro-life movement to flex its muscles and demonstrate political courage, determination and perseverance.
After her campaigns for President, politicians who had been timid about saying they opposed abortion and Roe v. Wade came out of the woodwork and confidently stated their views. Mrs. McCormack was also important in the growth of the conservative movement in New York State.
It is curious that, like Hillary Clinton, the Associated Press also ignored Ellen McCormack's ground-breaking campaign for President. An AP news story, timed to coincide with Hillary's proclamation of her Mom Strategy, omitted Mrs. McCormack from a list of eight "women who have run for president," a list that included several whose insignificant campaigns terminated almost before they got started such as Pat Schroeder's.
The AP cited as its source for this list the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers. The Center's list, which is posted on its website and claims to be complete, names 15 women who sought major party nominations but also omits Ellen McCormack. (The Center included Mrs. McCormack on a revised list after this column was published.)
If I were conspiratorially minded, I might think that the pro-abortion feminists in the media and in universities are trying to drop Ellen McCormack, one of the original, valiant pro-life leaders, down the Memory Hole. Today, she has eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and she deserves her place in history.
Hillary Clinton's announcement of her Mom Strategy was part of her book tour to publicize a re-issue of her ten-year-old book called "It Takes a Village." The revised cover shows her surrounded by a collection of adoring children (like the photo-op of Nancy Pelosi when she took over as Speaker of the House).
The word village is a euphemism for government, and the concept of the village raising a child is the socialists' dream. It's based on the idea that children should be raised, guided and educated by an assortment of so-called experts, including teachers, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, judges, and daycare employees.
Hillary invites us to "imagine a country in which nearly all children between the ages of three and five attend preschool in sparkling classrooms." That children's paradise is France, which "makes caring for children a top priority," and where "more than 90 percent of French children between ages three and five attend free or inexpensive preschools."
The assumption of "It Takes a Village" is that daycare, run by tax-salaried and licensed "professionals" in centers regulated by the government, is preferable to mother care. Hillary praises the fact that many French children are in full-day programs "even before they reach the age of three."
The reissue of Hillary's old book dispels the notion that she is re-inventing herself as a moderate. Her Moms Strategy is badly out of sync with her book praising a country that starts government daycare for children at age 2.
