The #MeToo movement doesn’t need Bill Clinton

Monica Hesse’s Oct. 17 Style column, “Bill Clinton and the enduring dilemma,” raised a valid point, but the #MeToo movement must go one step further and eject former president Bill Clinton and men like him from the movement.

Female voters who supported Mr. Clinton then, including me, are very similar to the voters who support President Trump now. Everyone backed a grossly imperfect candidate to get what we needed at the time. But, as Ms. Hesse noted, by looking the other way on Mr. Clinton’s individual treatment of women, we helped lay the foundation for the end result today. The most substantive solution to our collective hypocrisy and moral quandaries is to exclude men of Mr. Clinton’s ilk from #MeToo.

Furthermore, #MeToo doesn’t need Mr. Clinton or any other man who has a questionable record with women. There is enough fury and backlash from women that the need for support from dubious male allies no longer exists. #MeToo motivates women to go from being convenient political pawns for men to political decision-makers.

Mr. Clinton, for whom I once worked as an intern, helped forge the bridge to the 21st century. Now that we’re here, he can take his legacy and the unfortunate pedestal it rests on and leave.

Maria Reppas, Glen Allen, Va.