The Politics of Sex
06 May 2008 9:15 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
from Washington, D.C.
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| As seen in CNBC stores everywhere. Via Make Then Accountable …another beauty at No Quarter |
“The Politics of Sex” used to be something I wrote about regularly.
In fact, back in the 1990s I registered that exact domain name. It’s up front
and center today because of the conundrum of covering Hillary Clinton, the first
formidable female candidate for president to ever to hit the scene. The media coverage has not risen to the occasion. Michael
Wolff’s Vanity Fair article, unfortunately, is another in a series that took us down a completely wrong path, though his article goes well beyond Hillary.
It’s a point of identification and differentiation. We vote for or
against sex lives. – Michael
Wolff
Talk about missing it by a mile.
It’s the charisma, stupid. Did you see that interview with Hillary and Bill
O’Reilly? Disarming the Fox News man, Hillary was like a coiled cat playing
with her prey. It’s so different when a woman is in the race. It’s the same
dynamic playing out, only in reverse, when Clinton spurns Chris Matthews. Will the jilted newsman pout or get revenge on “Hardball.”
In a nut shell: Politics has always been about sex. But Wolff’s title, “It’s
the Adultery, Stupid,” is just that. Stupid. It’s not the adultery people
are looking at. It’s the candidate sex appeal, which up until Hillary revolved around virility. It’s why everyone has been so stumped about
how to characterize Clinton beyond clichés. She’s not male so where do you attach the gender
description.? How? So we go to “ballsy,” “testicular fortitude,”
etc., which is good because if people don’t recognize the image and passion they’ll ignore the person. No one can come up with any analogy that’s comfortable yet, because trying
on a woman as commander in chief has first got to be seen through a masculine
eye. It’s all our John Wayne America knows.
But through adultery? That’s a pipsqueak talking.
Hey, but don’t take my word for it. Read Digby, and Joan
Walsh. These two ladies nail it. Wolff has been de-bal–… er debunked.
