On April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, titled “Citizenship in A Republic.” One portion of that speech is known as “the man in the arena.” Those who follow the TV series “Blue Bloods” probably have heard it multiple times.
As our nominating contest has come to a close, and as we have listened to the endorsements now forthcoming of Hillary Clinton, and in reflecting back upon, her career, it occurred to me that TR’s words could, with an updating of gender, strongly apply to our presumptive nominee.
So allow me to offer my updated version of those words from more than a century ago, replacing male references with female references:
It is not the critic who counts; not the woman who points out how the strong woman stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the woman who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends herself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if she fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
As I consider Hillary Rodham Clinton, during her entire adult life she has been in the arena, from her earliest work for Marian Wright-Edelman through her current campaign for the nation’s highest office.
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton — the woman in the arena.