Sunny beats gloomy.
Consistency beats flipping.
Bedazzling beats begrudging.
Confidence beats whining.
Maureen Dowd in today's New York Times, commenting on the political truisms that Hillary has crankily ignored while she wages her campaign against Barack Obama.
I only heard the press reports of Hilary's "capitulation" to Obama in Texas, after which she reared up all fierce-like and has been working consistently to hammer her opponent. But it seemed to me, when I heard her say she was "honored" to share the stage with Barack Obama that it was a characteristically female language pattern [1] -- we girls are really good at showering a little praise, and we generally expect reciprocity.
I.e.: I give you a little love; you give me a little love.
It's the polite thing to do.
I suspect she was surprised when Obama didn't shower her back. And then horrified when she realized it made it look like she had caved.
There has been much research into the ways women bring different strengths to management roles -- unfortunately there's not enough available data to determine what variable techniques, if any, are more successful when a woman is running for president.
[1] It would be interesting to see if Deborah Tannen has weighed in on that moment.
p.s. This just in, from bobcatrock »
1 comment:
I think this part of the process is where we Democrats fall apart. We start picking these candidates apart, until there's nothing left, not even a little fur left on the bone, and the Republicans just sort of pull the rug out from under our feet. Remember that debate where they both just said how much they enjoyed this process? I miss that.
And the title of this post gives me a funny visual: Barack Obama with his Bedazzler going to town on his jeans.
I love Barack, but I find the hype around him to be grating. I love Jon Stewart's comment about it: "Barack Obama cured my leprosy".
Also: may I just add, that if Hillary were a man and had these same traits, would we find them so unattractive? Possibly, but....
Post a Comment