Are We Ready for a Female President?
06 January 2008 11:05 am by Taylor Marsh
Are We Ready for a Female President? updated
This was not a particularly good debate for Barack Obama. Of course, the same was said after many of the previous debates, and it didn’t stop him from scoring a clear Iowa victory. … .. – Obama’s Rose Garden Debate
It was the flash of her eyes.
The sideways glance that told the story.
Strength in a seconds moment that let them know they’d gone too far.
I think that Hillary moment will become a Rorschach for voters around the country. – Josh Marshall
I knew this was coming.
At least some are offering
America a choice:
Watch above the video moment of the night, where Clinton either shows passion,
or loses it.
Again, how predictable. **See my eyes narrow with a darting glance of annoyance.** Tuck it in.
Infantile reactions on parade:
Low: The words “change” and “experience.” The next
candidate to use them both in the same sentence should be forced to chew through
their own forehead in punishment. Worst offender? Hillary Clinton, who forced
me to ask during my drunkblog:Did you know that Hillary has experience? Experience with change? Change
that only her experience, her experience with change, can bring about? And
that she’s a woman, a woman bringing change with her experience of
womanness? Yeah, me neither.
Ah yes, PajamaMedia opining through a “drunkblog.” A Facebook
moment, no doubt.
Jake
Tapper’s commenter offers more:
Ok, I can’t stand Hillary Clinton; however, I saw a strong response from
her in this video clip. I didn’t see uncontrolled anger, rather, righteous
indignation. I hate to admit that but I also have to be fair.Posted by: Lee | Jan 6, 2008 12:50:54 PM
Let’s stick to the cosmetics, shall we. Mr. Tapper opines:
Clinton people are spinning this as her projecting strength. I do not think
that will be the widely-head view.
Sheesh, I could have written the script last night.
Jane Hamsher reminds everyone what you get in media 101.
Hillary is obviously going after Obama, but somebody needs to remind her to smile when she does it. She needs to watch her husband’s takedown of Chris Wallace. If you’re gonna school someone, you better look like you’re having a good time doing it.
UPDATE: I’ve just taken the time to look at Bill Clinton’s interview (this is just one segment) with Chris Wallace. I emphatically disagree on this one, because the fire in Bill Clinton’s eyes contained anything but a smile. It was the exact same type of reaction that Hillary had, which once again makes you wonder about the reviews.
Hillary opted for transparency. It remains to be seen if it will cost her.
The truth is that this is the moment this country decides if we’re mature enough
to elect a female president. In this
country it is still the case that when a man shows anger and fights back he
is a leader and strong. But when a woman fights back to aggressively demand
her opinion be counted and her record be respected she’s a bitch.
Showing passion and fire when challenged has always been a dividing line for
women in leadership roles. Some will love the moments, most in the traditional
press who have openly admitted their hostility towards Hillary will use this
as an opportunity to ramble on about how much they don’t and by extension neither
will the American people. But there isn’t a man alive with a girlfriend or spouse
who hasn’t seen a moment like this themselves. That instant when the woman you
respect and revere gives you a sidelong glance that says you’ve gone too far.
Ack! But Hillary will drive away more men. No one ever got rich by underestimating
the impotence of the everyman’s ego. Bubba is freaking! NASCAR fans everywhere
just crashed into their bowls of pig rinds. We can’t have a woman who acts like
this. See Mudcat cluck.
Women understand it. Liberated women in positions of leadership recognize it,
because they’ve seen it in themselves, their female bosses, not to mention their
girlfriends. But it’s always been kept behind closed doors. America hasn’t seen
it. The question is if we’re ready for it. The question remains unanswered right
now. It’s clear many in the media are not. Many men are not. Women who are easily
intimidated and expect our females to never reveal themselves are not.
However, truly liberated women and men everywhere welcome the unbinding of
the American power of the grown up grrrl, even if it’s coming all these
years after the fight began.
Last night Clinton revealed her passion, depth of knowledge and her humor.
She revealed who she is. She also sent a warning that she will not be insulted
or dismissed. That indignation at having her experience and record laughed at by two men who can’t get the job done alone so they hold hands to get it done together.
Hillary quite simply let them have it. Women everywhere know how she feels. There isn’t one person
in business or any level of professional life, even college, who hasn’t had
it happen to them. But having a woman show it in public? It’s an emotional cleavage
moment inspired by a flash in time when weaker men joined together to take
their more formidable female adversary down through a round robin rough up.
You could see it in the fire and flash in her eyes.
This is a defining moment in American history. To see if we can grow up from
“bitch” to “strength,” while appreciating that an infuriated
woman standing up for herself and her record is a sign of real heart, passion
of conviction and determination. It all depends if America likes the look of
feminine power when it’s released through a flash of fire in a potential commander
in chief’s eye.
Has America grown out of their June Clever syndrome, finally ready for our Golda Meir moment? We don’t
know the answer to this question yet. But from the signs I’m seeing today, I wouldn’t take the bet.
UPDATE II: Jeralyn has added here thoughts in “Pack Journalism and Gender Politics.” Well worth the read.
UPDATE: Kevin Drum:
THE PACK….Ezra Klein watches pack journalism at work, 2008 style, and it’s not pretty. Nickel version: If some other reporter says Hillary Clinton melted down because she displayed a flash of emotion in last night’s debate, then she melted down. After all, who are you going to believe, the spin room or your own lyin’ eyes?
In related news, apparently the flinty-eyed independents of New Hampshire aren’t quite as flinty-eyed as they’d like you to believe. After a solid year of town halls, coffee klatsches, and early morning doorbell ringing — because, you know, New Hampshirites take their electoral responsibilities so much more seriously than the rest of us — all it took was a few thousand Iowans to flip them from one side to the other in less than 24 hours. Feh.
Am I feeling bitter? You bet. Not because Hillary Clinton seems more likely than not to lose — I can live with that pretty easily — but because of how she’s likely to lose. Because the press doesn’t like her. Because any time a woman raises her voice half a decibel she instantly becomes shrill. Because we insist on an idiotic nominating system that gives a bunch of Iowa corn farmers 20x the influence of any Democratic voter in any urban area in the country. Because the fever swamp, in the end, is getting the last laugh.
