Alter: Hillary Plays Gender Defense | Newsweek Voices - Jonathan Alter

Team Hillary misplays the victim card.

Nov 5, 2007 | Updated: 6:46 p.m. ET Nov 5, 2007

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The first was a political suicide, the second a campaign traffic accident.

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During the 2000 New York Senate campaign, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton squared off against Rep. Rick Lazio in a debate that proved pivotal. In order to make a point about Hillary's lack of candor, Lazio moved toward her on the stage in a way that seemed physically intimidating. In an instant Lazio blew up his political career. Everything else in that debate—from the long-forgotten "soft money" question that sparked his gambit to Tim Russert's invocation of Monica Lewinsky—faded away, along with any chance Lazio had of winning the votes of women.

Seven years later the role Hillary's sex played in a debate is back in the news, only this time the fallout is at least marginally harming Hillary. It's a gender fender bender, with each side pointing fingers over who did what in that pileup in Philadelphia. The fight includes phony claims of injury, evolving testimony about what happened, a trial lawyer (John Edwards) and a jury not quite sure what to believe.

The collision took place on a slick road, where nobody quite has full control of the vehicles. Sexual politics in America are in transition, and the fate of Hillary Clinton will depend in part on how she handles them.

The first thing to understand is that Hillary's wide lead among Democrats in the national polls is mostly the result of her support among women. With women making up more than 50 percent of voters in every state (in some states it could go as high as 60 percent), that's one hell of a base. The Clinton campaign has been targeting them, and it's paying off. Whereas women candidates in Democratic primaries for governor and senator have seldom enjoyed a demonstrable edge because of their gender, Hillary appears to be defying history. The pride women take in her, especially younger women, is palpable on the campaign trail.

That pride kicked in after the debate, when even those observers who thought Hillary got shellacked raised the issue of her standing up to the boys. Two days later Hillary went back to Wellesley and bragged about how her education in that all-girls school had prepared her perfectly to thrive in a man's world. This was a perfectly appropriate thing to say at her alma mater, but it didn't wear well over time. The following day in New Hampshire, as she filed papers in Concord to go on the primary ballot, she quoted Harry Truman's famous maxim, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," then added that she had "always been comfortable in the kitchen."

So now it???s official that in the Democratic field for the Presidential race, we have six contenders, who discuss policy issues, trade questions and criticism at each other and could be and held responsible for one???s words and actions, and one who would only announce her policy and intentions but is above any criticism or question.

It portends what Hillary Presidency will look like, if it ever going to happen; she will only announce what she wants to do, or what her policy would be, and any criticism against her decisions or policies would be judged sexual discrimination and silenced by her cronies and liberal mainstream media. Maybe we should think again about whether America should elect someone only for the sake of achieving a diversity milestone and feel good about ourselves or if we want to elect someone who could be held accountable, who do not hide behind gender victim card. U.S. Presidency is much, much more important than simply being a trophy for diversity movement. After all, isn???t it the cornerstone of democracy that citizens freely elect some one who is accountable to their constituents?

In a way Hillary is smart in letting her cronies do all the work of playing gender victim card, while she herself keep away from that kind of cheap trick. She could appear strong, statesmanlike, rising above the cheap gender card, all the while ensuring that her opponents and the media will think twice before leveling any criticism against her in the future. And it???s also a rare time that Ferraro could get a media spotlight, after her historic landslide defeat as a token woman candidate for Vice President of the U.S. She surely knows how to play the gender victim card very well because she was the foremost expert on this, in fact it is her only expertise in politics to this date, and her only qualification for VP candidacy was that she was a woman.

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Posted By: Ciardha @ 03/11/2008 10:03:45 PM

"Ferraro's line felt awfully 1970s. No one of any consequence endorsed the idea that the other candidates were sexist. " Oh really. Alter, your misogyny is showing. You and all the media and the other candidates (especially Obama) have shown just how sexist our culture still is. Women 40 and older know this and are really revolted by the lot of you. And we aren't keen on Obama either because of his many sexist comments. That doesn't fly with 40 something women (Obama's generation by the way. We know the frat boy game he's playing and it doesn't play with us. Plays great with you GUYS and the female cheerleaders of men you have in the so called newsmedia.)
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Posted By: adam in iowa city @ 01/14/2008 4:12:56 PM

I'd direct you to the bankruptcy bill of the 1990s that Hillary voted for, which would have thrown children under the bus in favor of big credit card companies. Hardly the women's and family issues dedication I want in a president.
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Posted By: soren lerby @ 11/12/2007 3:47:03 PM

So now it???s official that in the Democratic field for the Presidential race, we have six contenders, who discuss policy issues, trade questions and criticism at each other and could be and held responsible for one???s words and actions, and one who would only announce her policy and intentions but is above any criticism or question.

It portends what Hillary Presidency will look like, if it ever going to happen; she will only announce what she wants to do, or what her policy would be, and any criticism against her decisions or policies would be judged sexual discrimination and silenced by her cronies and liberal mainstream media. Maybe we should think again about whether America should elect someone only for the sake of achieving a diversity milestone and feel good about ourselves or if we want to elect someone who could be held accountable, who do not hide behind gender victim card. U.S. Presidency is much, much more important than simply being a trophy for diversity movement. After all, isn???t it the cornerstone of democracy that citizens freely elect some one who is accountable to their constituents?

In a way Hillary is smart in letting her cronies do all the work of playing gender victim card, while she herself keep away from that kind of cheap trick. She could appear strong, statesmanlike, rising above the cheap gender card, all the while ensuring that her opponents and the media will think twice before leveling any criticism against her in the future. And it???s also a rare time that Ferraro could get a media spotlight, after her historic landslide defeat as a token woman candidate for Vice President of the U.S. She surely knows how to play the gender victim card very well because she was the foremost expert on this, in fact it is her only expertise in politics to this date, and her only qualification for VP candidacy was that she was a woman.