NPR covers sexism in Clinton campaign

I was listening to NPR a couple of days ago and heard a perfect follow-up interview to the topic of sexism and the Clinton campaign on the program On Point. The segment, hosted by Tom Ashbrook, was entitled, "Gender and the Clinton Campaign" and can be listen to at www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/02/20080226_a_main.asp. Guests included Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic VP nominee in 1984, and Pat Schroeder, who was considering a presidential run in 1988. Here are some highlight comments from the interviews:

"Is this country not ready for a woman in the White House? Not ready for this woman?"

"This presidential campaign has certainly suffered undertones of sexism. Hillary is criticized for her cackle, her cleavage, ... There have just been ghastly comments out there. "Do my ironing!" yelled a couple of voters in New Hampshire. There have even been anti-Hillary "Nutcracker" toys for sale." (Note: I checked this out myself and- I just can't believe this- you can buy your very own on AMAZON.com. Very disheartening).

"In order to succeed, women must be twice as experienced and twice as tough to prove themselves. Hillary did this; she checked all of these boxed- and then somehow all rules changed."

Ellen Goodman comments on Rush Limbaugh's statement, in which he asks: "Will Americans want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?" Goodman answers, "So why can we watch President Clinton or Bush go grey?" She also remarks later on, "Enter any sexist term you can think of into Google, such as 'Madame Defarge', for example (the ruthless character from Tale of Two Cities) and you will get hundreds of hits relating to Clinton." --> Try this. It's scary.

Geraldine Ferraro comments on the fact that both men and women feel threatened by Hillary in their gender identity. She remarks (and I hear it all the time, too) that, when asked why they would not vote for Hillary, people often answer, "She just makes me nervous," an vague and unquantifiable critique that hints at sexist undertones. "If you are feminine," concludes Ferraro, "you can't be strong. If you are strong, you can't be feminine." Yet, ironically, Obama is praised for being gentler, more collaborative- is he exhibiting feminine traits? Is he the "estrogen candidate"?

Pat Schroeder concludes the segment, stating that "Sexism a huge issue in this campaign," but is much harder to monitor because more covert than when she was running. Still, "the media is a disaster when it comes to Hillary's campaign. You expect [journalists] to be real reporters, and then they take a negative position like Tim Russert. It encourages the sexism."

My personal favorite quote of the interview is a reference to Tina Fey's endorsement of Hillary Clinton: "Yeah, she's a bitch. But bitches get stuff done."

Madaleine Albright on Daily Show

Albright was a guest on the Daily Show to promote her new book, "Memo to the President Elect". She sees the next president's task as the most difficult everbecause she has: "never seen world in such a mess". The main issue for hte next president will be how to end the Iraq war because it was the "greatest disaster in American foreign policy". She thinks that you can't leave troops there permanently and the next president needs to get them all out.

Albright endorsed Clinton becuase she has the experience to deal with these difficult foreign policy issues and ending the war. She said: "I'm a flat-out a democrat" and "I would be ok with Obama but I want Hillary". Her main justification for supporting Clinton is because she believes that Hillary will be able to get things done in Washington becuase of her experience regarding the relationship between the executive and legislative branches.

"Bouncing effect of diplomacy"- someone gives a speech in the U.S. and it is interpreted all different ways around the world by the news coverage and the different audiences. Diplomats an dpoliticians have to keep in mind that they are not just delivering a message to one country/audience.

"I know people get their news from you." - Albright about the Daily Show
This relates to what we discussed in class- news show vs. comedy show?

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=156941&title=madeleine-albright-pt.-1

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=156942&title=madeleine-albright-pt.-2

Pre-Ohio debate coverage

In the Pre-Ohio debate coverage on NPR, Mara Liasson and Robert Siegel reassure listeners that Hillary will come out fighting tonight. However, they are pessimistic about her actual chances of winning the nomination. They discuss the number of delegates she has to win in Texas and Ohio to stay in the running, and add that it will be very difficult for her to accomplish that. In general, they had few nice things to say about her and basically proclaimed Obama the winner.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=38131288

"If you assume that women are only supporting Hillary because she's a woman, then you're not giving women the credit we deserve." Why do women always have to defend their votes? I feel like any one outside of Wellesley that I tell who I voted for I get the response "...becasue she's a woman!" This link off a local texas npr station sums up why women are voting for Hillary- and it's not JUST because she's a woman.

http://elections.kut.org/2008/02/26/ladies-this-election-could-be-for-you/

Some Voters Say Sexism Less Offensive than Racism

This CNN headline caught my eye about a week ago: "Some Voters Say Sexism Less Offensive than Racism." These words are practically identical to those delivered by feminist icon Gloria Steinem, who, while lecturing on campus earlier this month, cautioned Wellesley women against voting for a candidate by virtue of their sex or skin color. The Democratic nomination, unfortunately, seems to have come down to a choice between a 'black man' and a 'white woman'- all policy and substance seem to have somehow magically evaporated into thin air. If things continue along this path, CNN's article implies that we can expect a win for Obama: America, many agree, suffers from 'racial guilt,' a sense of tremendous responsibility over the lives lost for civil rights. This one thick layer of guilt, however, has overshadowed other important layers; women were for a very long time considered the property of their fathers and husbands, and were denied basic rights in a fashion that today would be considered appalling. 

Still, while voters are caught up in Obama's rhetoric of 'Change,' it seems that all cameras are on Hillary's hairdo, cleavage and ankles, waiting for the minor crack in her voice or tear in her eye to pounce on her and make her out to be a vulnerable, emotional candidate prone to dangerous 'female' forms of human expression. Wait a minute- wasn't she previously criticized for being too hard, too "tightly scripted" and not human enough? I lay much of the blame for this sexist caricature of Hillary on the media. Get this: as Hillary was in the process of delivering the infamous answer, a local reporter broadcasted live that Hillary had "started crying." Soon enough, headlines like "Trail of Tears" began to pop up everywhere. Just to be sure, I went onto YouTube and watched the clip at least half a dozen times- at no point was she crying; her eyes may have temporarily welled with tears (come on, she's exhausted!), but there was no 'trail of tears' to be seen. Rather, journalists' intense coverage of the 'emotional moment' greatly overshadowed a previous hour of serious, detailed policy talk.

I find the media's handling of the Clinton campaign to be oftentimes blatantly sexist and tasteless. "Did the Emotional Moment come too late?" asks a reporter, manipulating Clinton's emotions into some sort of campaign ploy. My question is: is it too late to reverse the damage done by the media?

Turkey ends ban on head scarves

On February 9th, the Turkish Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of amending their Constitution to end a ban on head scarves in schools and universities. The ban was enacted in the 1990s as many authorities believed that the growing number of women covering their heads threatened Turkey's secularism, one of the nation's founding principles. Many of the secular elite feel that ending this ban is a move toward a more repressive Islamic regime. Others, however, argue that the veil has multiple meanings and that ending the ban will allow more women to attend university.

Turkey is rather unique in its attempts to balance Islam, democracy and secularism. Does this constitutional amendment signify a decrease in secularism and an increase in Islamic influences? Or can the country still maintain its secular principles? This new law will help more women attend universities, but could it also make more women feel obliged to wear head scarves?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/world/europe/10turkey.html?scp=1&sq=turkey+head+scarves&st=nyt

http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=10814

Obama stealing Clinton's base!

Obama's win in Wisconsin yesterday marked 10 straight victories, which can only mean one thing: he's stealing Clinton's base. He got the same percentage of the women's vote as she did yesterday- and it's showing in her delegate count. From the beginning, everyone knew that the way Hillary Clinton would win the primaries (and the national election, for that matter) is through the support of women. Women make up 60% of registered democrats, which should allow her to run away with the nomination. However, women have not recently been voting for her in the numbers she predicted (and needed).

What does this say about American women? Maybe they don't believe having a woman president is *that* important. Maybe they have just been really impressed with Obama. NPR portrays the primaries as basically over. Obama has so much momentum that they don't think anyone can stop him. NPR reports that Texas is her last chance. If she doesn't win, she's done- and she blew it.

Why aren't women supporting each other? What social and psychological forces are keeping women from voting for Hillary in larger numbers?


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19188844

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19215808