Most of the time being the one and only woman in the presidential race means continually untangling yourself from the double binds of gender: Demands that she be tough and feminine, insider and outsider, etc. But every now and then, with a smart campaign staff, a woman can turn being the only woman into an advantage, and a slip into a base run. That’s just what happened after the last debate.
When Clinton’s performance slipped during Monday’s debate in South Carolina her advisers called “foul”: think Republican Rick Lazio.
In that campaign, Lazio vowed to be tough on candidate Clinton and during a debate, he left his podium and walked over and tried to get her to sign a pledge. What was meant to be a classic candidate debate stunt — getting your opponent to engage in a “gentleman’s” agreement to not do X or Y — became an instant lesson in gender politics for Lazio, as he became viewed by women voters as menacing and by male voters as simply boorish.
Realizing that their candidate stumbled, her campaign advisers deflected by calling the performance of her opponents as one of “piling on” (something illegal in football and that men abhor) and pointing out that it is Hillary against “six men.” Not to mention that the moderators, Tim Russert and Brian Williams are….men as well and may very well have been bullying her with their line of questioning.
Because Clinton herself didn’t turn victim, the overall effect is to position Clinton as strong to male voters and between the lines, as being bullied by her male counterparts, to female voters, who never like to see a women being picked on. Even though she is the frontrunner and is likely being subjected to classic frontrunner attacks, Clinton was able to make what has been a continuing challenge: gender and use it to her own effect.
The overall effect will be just what happened with Lazio…providing some inoculation from such attacks during the campaign.
November 5, 2007 at 3:45 am
[...] marie added an interesting post on Clinton and the South Carolina Debate: Calling a âFoulâHere’s a small excerpt [...]
November 6, 2007 at 3:47 pm
One of the biggest crises facing America today, is the Discrimination against our Sons. What we would like to see is a concered effort in the No child left behind Mandate to do the following for our sons
1. Teach Sons the way they should Men should be taught ( Do not Feminize Them)
2. Funding put in place to identify how boys learn and help them Learn and teach accordingly in school
3. 50% of all teachers should be Men, so that our sons have adequate and proper role model
November 21, 2007 at 1:48 pm
As an early anti-war Democrat I have never warmed to Hillary’s candidacy as she still is vague about ending the war and has refused to pledge an end to the opccupation even by 2013. She never read the National Intelligence Estimate before granting war powers and a blank check to President Bush. She also most recently has labled, by her, vote Iran’s Imperial Guard as terrorists which essentially places them in GITMO with no due process. She did not join Biden and Lugar in 2002 to require diplomatic efforts be undertaken prior to Shock and Awe. With Clinton it will be more of the same; billions of dollars spent on military efforts- and many of these industrial military companies are large donors to her campaign- and with a continuing military campaign we can expect more terrorism, more global hatred and distrust of America, and a spiraling demise of our own infra-structure and home eoncomy. All of these facts, in my opinion, makes her part of the BOYS” Club or a Republican.
signed: Java Kitrick, Cols, OH