Okay, I just saw the Jersey Boys last month, so cut me some slack.
This morning, my daughter actually asked who I was probably going to vote for for president. (Did I ask that of my mom at 14. No, I was busy mourning the fact my first boyfriend had just dumped me.)
I said, frankly until the field winnows a bit, I didn't know. It would probably be a Democrat and probably either Clinton or Obama. God knows it's high time either a woman or a African-American ran this country, IMHO.
However, I had to laugh today at a story on MSN/Newsweek that just screamed that Hillary had finally teared up in public. (I wonder, given how far behind she is in the polls after Iowa caucuses, her advisers told her to cry or else. Literally that happened in the Tacoma mayor's race 14 years ago, where one of the Karen Vialle's advisers told her, just before a debate, that her dog had died, no kidding, in order to make her seem more human.)
So, back to Hillary, my vote and my daughter. Is it still the case, that to be a strong woman in the US these days, you will just have to also shoulder the title of "bitch," unless you decide to have a Klennex moment.
4 comments:
I had the same thought process -- that this show of emotion was calculated. I couldn't do the math -- tears to elicit sympathy and make her more human will gain X votes but a show of feminine "weakness" will lose Y votes multiplied by the number of wrinkles that show when she cries divided by.. ugh.
I think it's perfectly reasonable that at this point, after working so hard and being under such scrutiny for the past 17 years, she would tear up. I also think it's perfectly reasonable that she's an automaton and it was calculated.
What's more disturbing to me is that we -- not just "the media" but we consumers -- spend as much if not more time talking about her tears and whether they are a political calculation than we do thinking about the candidates' positions on real issues. This is easier than figuring out who hs the best answer to healthcare, I guess. But I can't help but feel a little guilty that I know (and care) as much about campaign tactics as I do about the policy stands of the different candidates.
Actually, I feel the same way.
I don't know who stands for what right and prob. won't until it's Washington's turn (and then, what, the political parties are ignoring our caucuses?)
But next time, and if there is a next time, my 14 year old shows an interest in national politics, I should be a little better prepared.
This is more comment on the post from CJR (Columbia Journalism Review, for you non-media types).
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/play_misty_for_me_1.php
BC
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