As Tim Gunn would say, Hillary Clinton needs to tell a story.
For better or worse, it appears that we are a nation of voters who want to get something warm and fuzzy from our candidates before we cast our ballots. And I’m afraid we still seem to need it to be a story about likability.
Since Hillary’s moment of verklempt-ness, there has been much discussion about how that glimpse behind the steely facade may have helped galvanize a portion of women voters who felt they had finally seen the inner Hillary. Not the Hillary being advised by the men of her husband’s campaigns, who seem to assume that a campaign strategy that worked for her husband will logically work for her.
Jennifer Pozner at WIMN’s Voices blog found exactly the right pop culture reference to Hillary Clinton’s dilemma — that being smart and competent, as a woman, just aren’t enough — in a Gilmore Girl’s episode in which one of the high school girls is running for student body president:
Paris: So that’s it! I’m in!
Madeline: Not quite.
Paris: How is that not quite? Most competent, most qualified. What else is there?
Louise: Well, we also polled likability.
Paris: And?
Madeline: And while people think you are smart —
Paris: and competent
Louise: and competent, they also find you, well, a tad –
Madeline: Scary.
Louise: Someone thought a Halloween mask of you would sell big.
Paris: Well, fine. They don’t like me. Big deal, right? I’m still most competent.
Louise: Yes, but when asked if likability would affect their voting choice, almost 100% said yes.
Paris: That’s crazy. People would rather vote for a moronic twink who they liked over someone who could actually do the job?
Louise: Sad, but true.
While Clinton clearly showed a side that demanded empathy in New Hampshire, that moment is already old news. There needs to be more if she wants th job.
Yet, Susan Faludi at The Huffington Post wishes we could turn from whether Hillary is a likable mom and focus on her competence as a woman who is done with her child-rearing years:
American society characterizes women as caregivers based on their young years as mothers. And when the American media demand emotion and warmth from Clinton, they are voicing the demand of a child to its mother (a demand not made equally to its father).
But there’s an entirely separate realm of female caretaking that is, in fact, more relevant to national leadership and to Clinton’s candidacy. Daughters shoulder the overwhelming burden of the care of our elderly parents. This too is a sphere of women’s experience, far more familiar to the women in the middle-to-older age bracket who supported Clinton most fervently, but its precepts are very different.
We know Clinton can embrace her inner Tracy Flick. But an article in the New York Times suggests that if Hillary is to succeed, she needs to find the right “blend of policy and persona.”
Her husband felt our pain. Americans wanted to have a beer with George Bush. There has to be something she can find, if she digs down deep that will resonate in that same way.
So what should her story be? At the age of 60, I have to believe she knows the “real” her. I am sure that beneath the wonk and circumstance, there is Hillary the mom, Hillary the girl, Hillary the real.
We’re a nation that’s become obsessed with Dr. Phil and finding our best selves. But that’s who are are at this moment in time — so it would probably be a good idea for Clinton to embrace that notion and run with it. Because there are still some people, including Alice at Wonderland, who think the tears were either fake or borne of self-pity:
I’m going to echo Maureen Dowd, and I never thought I’d say that: her tears are borne of self-pity. Is she crying for the death toll in Iraq? For the uninsured? Because those tears, I could get behind. No, she’s crying for her lost opportunity. That’s the moment she chose to show her vulnerable side. When her campaign was at stake.
If you want Chelsea to see you as the first female President of the United States, time’s a-wastin’. Time to write the story that’s going to work for the rest of the campaign.
Cross-posted from BlogHer.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I really enjoy reading your blog, it always has great insight. But I am very frustrated with the media’s lack of questions to the presidential candidates about global warming.
The Daily Green just put an article out talking about how the presidential candidates are not being asked where they stand on the issue of the climate change – this is surprising to me considering its such a MAJOR concern to people. I just saw a poll on http://www.EarthLab.com that says people care a lot what their next leader thinks about global warming (after you take it they show you the results). Does anyone know of another poll or other results about this subject?
If not, go to http://www.earthlab.com/life.aspx and take their poll to see which way the results go. This is a pretty legit website; they are endorsed by Al Gore and the alliance for climate protection and they have a carbon footprint calculator. No matter which political party you vote for this is an important issue for our environment, our economy and for homeland security.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
One more example of an extra set of standards for women, it appears. But in this case, there’s some basis for it, I think, in that it’s been difficult to see Hillary as a real human being at times, and her own self-presentation has been part of that problem.
But I think the Gilmore Girls reference nails it pretty well. I loved that show, and remember that particular scene.
January 18th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
It’s a slippery slope though, isn’t it? We want to see Hillary’s softer side but we still want a tough, fearless leader of our country. I think her presidential campaign nicely shows the difficulty most woman have with their work/life balance – how to maintain a sense of self while still bringing home the bacon in what seems to still (unfortunately) be a male-driven world.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
BRAVO!
I’d like to add an insightful addition in this comment, but seriously, between you and the quotes, it has all been said, and well.
The last two lines of the Gilmore Girls quotes sums it up for me. I am stunned people vote based on likability, but know it to be true (albeit sad).
January 18th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I just want to thank you for the allusion to Tracy Flick – that was brilliant.
January 19th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Winning the presidency is always – and regardless of gender – about finding the right “blend of policy and persona.”
January 19th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Good stuff!
Great mtg you too!
I agree with your Maureen Dowd point-
and I NEVER thought I’d say that too.
Keep on keepin’ on!
January 20th, 2008 at 8:35 am
I’m glad you’re here.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:14 am
This was a really interesting post. The double standards really are unfair. We don’t spend time analyzing how the other candidates are doing or have done as fathers.
January 20th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Oh, I think you and Dowd are exactly right. She was pondering herself, her campaign, her own personal struggle and things were on a downturn. These were tears of self-interest. But why not? The other day, John McCain said he didn’t learn anything from his previous loss to be the Republican nominee but he was good and mad for awhile. These people are working themselves to the bone and they want to realize this goal with every fiber of their being. Emotion is high, life dreams at stake. I cried when my agent didn’t sell my novel (and then got a new agent
.
January 20th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I agree with Susan Faludi. We care who our male candidates are fucking, but I have yet to hear anyone turning a spotlight on their respective personality flaws.SNL skits notwithstanding!
And while I have some mixed feelings about Hillary–her stance on Iran scares me–I don’t give a rat’s ass if she is “nice”, grasps what it is like to be up at 3 am with a howling infant, bakes cookies or cries crocodile tears.
I think based purely on issues Kucinich will get my vote, however I absolutely feel Hillary can do the job. Probably with more competence and grace than the male democratic candidates. Not because she is a mother, but because she articulate, experienced and intelligent. Like her or not, I think a small part of most of us is a little bit in awe of her.
The Gilmore Girl’s comparison is funny, but Hillary is not an older Paris. I’m pretty sure that if any of us launched a presidential campaign, we’d be slapped with the Unfeeling Bitch label too–regardless of how kind and normal we might be in our everyday lives.