Feminism and the Hillary Clinton narrative

I saw a comment in a thread earlier today that made my blood boil; for the commenter I am sure it was an non-reflective, knee-jerk response born out of Clinton hatred.  But to me, it was an almost perfect symbol of the reflexive sexism of so many critiques of Hillary Clinton.

I should begin by saying I don't support Clinton for the Democratic nomination, insomuch as that means anything.  But I do think she's a great candidate who has brought a huge groundswell of support and enthusiasm to the Democratic cause.

With that said, the comment that made me froth with such rage was "Hillary is a "feminist" who got where she is thanks to her husband. Great role model, there."  (It was made by a man, who I think doesn't need to be explicitly called out for what he said.)

You know what?  Hillary Clinton has been great achiever in academia and at the bar.  She is a wildly popular United States Senator.  And she is a great candidate for President of the United States.  Which she has achieved - all of it - on her own terms.  How dare anyone try to tear her down because she happened to marry a great man.

But what's worse, is the sexism - all dressed up as a concern troll for feminism.  One that I've been seeing a lot of recently.

Men telling women what they can and cannot do;

Men telling women who they should or should not be;

Men telling women how they have to go about achieving their goals and helping or serving their fellow compatriots;

Men holding women who they should or should not take pride in, who they should and should not model themselves after...

THOSE are the evils that feminism is all about fighting.  That is the very definition of patriarchy.  You think attacking Hillary Clinton for her participation in one of the great political marriages in America's history, is some sort of blow for feminism?  You could not be more wrong.

Democrats don't criticize the Kennedy brothers (or the late Sargent Shriver, or a dozen other "Kennedys") for being part of a great American political family; we celebrate them, celebrate them for what they mean to us.  They shouldn't criticize Hillary Clinton for the same thing.  To do otherwise - because she happened to marry a great man and a great President - is unadulterated sexism.  Let women make their own choices.

To furthermore imply that she is not a role model because she supported her husband's political career first before turning to her own, is worse than unadulterated sexism.  It's patriarchal bull.