NORTHAMPTON – Though Ellie Wolfe wasn’t yet alive to see Hillary Clinton give her 1995 speech in Beijing, titled “Women’s rights are human rights,” she wore the famous words on a T-shirt as she readied to watch Clinton address the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday.
This time, the speech inarguably made history, as Clinton became the first woman to accept the nomination for president.
“I feel like it definitely shouldn’t have taken this long,” said Wolfe, 15, a volunteer for the Clinton campaign.
Though Wolfe typically is in bed by 11 p.m. (and the teen loves her sleep), she was too excited to be tired Thursday. She sat on the couch in her family’s Northampton living room, unable to keep from bouncing as she talked about Clinton.
“It’s really nice to see a woman in such high power,” she said, waving her arms for emphasis. “It’s important for younger generations of women to see that.”
The history is not lost on her.
“I just feel so lucky that I’m able to see this and witness this firsthand,” she said, grinning wildly.
For her mother, Traci Wolfe, it’s all quite moving.
“When I was younger I actually told my dad that I wanted to be the first woman president, and he told me women can’t be president,” Wolfe said of growing up in the 1970s. “I find myself surprisingly moved that there’s a chance a woman can be president of the United States, and it’s great to see Ellie so inspired by Hillary Clinton.”
Traci Wolfe said politics of late can be daunting and it’s easy to feel powerless, but her daughter’s enthusiasm reminds her to push the limits.
“I think it’s pretty easy for someone at 47 to be jaded by politics these days,” she said. “(Ellie) has talked to everyone in my family of voting age. She reminds me that everything is possible.”
While Ellie Wolfe acknowledged that her predominantly Democratic nuclear family likely has something to do with her values, she watches enough news to make up her own mind.
“I think I have more of an understanding of Democrat versus Republican,” she said. “I was raised this way but I also know what I stand for — it’s not just that my parents stand for it.”
Ellie Wolfe started working for Clinton’s campaign at the end of February. Watching Donald Trump’s rise, she said, sealed the deal.
“It made me feel a sense of urgency,” said Wolfe.
She volunteered her time — sometimes as much as two hours a day, on top of school — to ensure Clinton won the Massachusetts primary.
She said she was only 7 when Hillary Clinton first ran for president, “so I never really followed that election.”
But this time around, she said, she knew that would be different.
“I sort of wanted to follow this election more closely so I could feel more in touch with what’s going on,” she said. “I sort of got a good vibe from her.”
Wolfe helped the campaign by “phone banking,” or cold-calling voters around the country to ask questions about who they would vote for, why, and what precincts they would vote in, priding herself on her ability to have convinced at least one of those people to vote for Clinton instead of Trump.
The clincher in that persuasion, she said, came in her ability to point out how much stronger Clinton is on women’s rights and education. After all, she said of the voter, “he had a daughter.”
After the cold-calling rounds were completed, Wolfe also helped the campaign with fundraising calls. Later this year, she said, she looks forward to canvasing for Clinton in the battleground state of New Hampshire.
“I’m starting back up again pretty soon,” she said.
Wolfe said Clinton has to be more qualified and tougher than her male counterparts simply because she’s a woman — just like Barack Obama was held to higher standards as the first black president.
Sometimes people at school get mad at her, she said, for pulling the “gender card,” and even her female friends think “feminist” is a “bad word.”
“There’s definitely a fine line,” she said. “It makes me upset.”
That, said her brother Teddy Wolfe, 18, means America should be rallying around Clinton and anyone else who knows the pangs of injustice.
He’s quick to point out how “demeaning” it must be for women and people of color to see the posters in their childhood classrooms with the many white male presidents throughout history. His sister nodded in agreement.
‘The first female politician I heard of was Leslie Knope, and that’s in a TV show!” said Wolfe, referencing Amy Poehler’s character in the show “Parks and Recreation.” “There’s this aspect of having a woman president that’s just so exciting.”
While Ellie Wolfe noted that the U.S. is behind European and other countries in terms of female leadership, in the moment she couldn’t be happier.
“There’s something so patriotic about the way I feel right now!” said Wolfe, unable to keep the grin from spreading across her face. “I’m just so proud to be an American right now.”
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.