Is Hillary the perfect female politician?

Is there anyone who evokes opinions as much as Hillary Clinton?

Finish saying her first name and you receive a barrage of views.

{mosads}She’s the known political quantity with decades of experience at the forefront of public life. And with that comes baggage, some which is good and other which is not so good.

This is what makes her different. Clinton is imperfect.

Bear with me, but I think we should be thankful for this. Female candidates tend to be without blemish. The female politicians we are used to have no experience in political controversy, she is absent from leadership and she is caricatured as warm and “motherly”.

In other words, she is soft.

Most female politicians, whether they want to or not, are directed into education or health policy roles. Roles which we can accept women in.

Research shows that voters prefer this as it fits into the gender stereotypes we know so well.

While Clinton found her feet there, battling Arkansas law makers for education reform, she’s the woman who negotiated with Iran. She’s the woman who helped Barack Obama make the call on Osama bin Laden. She is the woman set to debate Donald Trump.

Some may not like to admit it, but Clinton is downright remarkable. Indeed, if we go back to when most of us first met her we would have laughed at the sheer improbability of a day where she could be president.

In the 1992 campaign she was questioned about whether America could accept an openly-active First Lady. As if to claim that previous First Ladies were shrinking violets. 

Apart from telling us to prepare for one, she knew we needed one.

She changed the assumption of First Lady. Not a wall flower, but an active and contributing member of the White House.

Then she sought office, sat in cabinet and now is on the edge of the presidency.

Seriously, could you imagine any other First Lady achieving this?

I couldn’t see Mamie Eisenhower wanting to get in the political ring. Michelle Obama resists it. And Nancy Reagan used her influence behind the scenes.

Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary Todd Lincoln were strong capable women but avoided politics itself.

Hillary is still changing the way we thought about women as spouses and politicians.

Hillary eschews the understanding that female politicians can exist only without controversy.Contemporary research points that female politicians are judged more harshly when questions of ethics and decency are raised.

Hillary has had these questions too, but she strides above them.

The Clinton candidature is a culmination of the times in which we live and her experience. She is ahead of the curve and pushing us to a new path.

No other politician has had such an impact on American society simply by being.

You might not like her, but damn it is hard to ignore that.

Conrad Liveris is a workforce diversity specialist and expert on women in leadership.

The views expressed by Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill