My Dad, Hillary Clinton, and Tough Women

I spoke with my dad a couple of nights ago, and while his initial reason for calling me was to ask about my return date, we ended up talking about the presidential race here. Like many Indonesians with access to the mass media, he was absorbed by the heated -- albeit irrelevant -- debate about who the best candidate is.

My dad is obviously very fond of Senator Clinton. In fact, as far as I remember, he's always been into strong women. Not quite surprising, given that my late grandmother was the poster lady of toughness. She had raised nine sons, worked as a merchant to make ends meet, as my late grandfather's job teaching job only rewarded him a prestige (at that time. Remember, we're talking about the period of 1920s to 1940s) but not enough money to support them all. My dad once reminisced a day when she swam after him in Lake Toba when he refused to go to school and managed to drag him back to his classroom. She was very stern and disciplinary when it came to education -- and it wouldn't have been wise to let the son of a teacher skip school! In today's standard, she could be considered "abusive" for often using her hands to give the boys a lesson. But according to my dad, even if she was really hard on them, they could feel her undying love for them.

And my mom, despite her emotional dependence on my dad, is another example of female power. Only a few things can scare her off -- she'll chase a big rat and kill the poor thing without blinking while I climb onto the table whenever that rodent is present. (Note: even my dad shrugs a bit, though he will try rather unsuccessfully to hide his disgust). When we lived in Manado, she managed to get a snake out of our house. And of course I can always admire her bravery in arguing with the Maduranese becak drivers and police officers, which she wins most of the times :)). She has the fighting spirit also possessed by Mrs. Clinton.

Anyway, since my dad and I apparently root for the same person, we dedicated a considerable amount of time praising Mrs. Clinton's courage and toughness and her other accomplishments. It was definitely one of the rare, precious, Daddy-and-Me times :).

I still don't know, however, my dad's opinion on Xena. I have a strong feeling that he won't be impressed by her muscles (he didn't even think Anna Kournikova is that attractive. He has yet to see her pictures in the Sport Illustrated!). Now, Jodie Foster is another thing. I am sure he'll love her in "The Brave One".

Pic is taken from here.