"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.)
BETWEEN THE LINES
Jonathan Alter
A Gender Fender Bender
Team Hillary misplays the victim card.
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
The first was a political suicide, the second a campaign traffic accident.
Customize the Newsweek homepage to feature the latest word from your favorite columnists.
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."
- 1
- 2
- Next Page »









Discuss