Letters to the Editor
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@ Gwool
I have rewritten one of your sentences in your post to me. I want to see what you think about how it plays:
"whining about your persecution for being old, short, klutzy, or black"
Now pretend this is one of those logic tests. Which word doesn't fit?
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Listen Up
Listen here.
We don't know what the junior senator from New York really thinks about anything because she is such a waffler and a panderer. At least we are entitled to know what she really looks like.
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@ Nancianne
Why do you think her other photos don't also show what she really looks like? Do you think they were using trick photography?
BTW, I actually like how she looks in the photo. I think she looks seasoned, authoritative, and confident. What is it you don't like about the photo?
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Enough to make me vote for her
I'd not wanted to just vote for Hilary because she's a woman and we need one in the White House. Been waffling myself, weighing the particulars and positions of each wannabe.
Now I may just have had my mind made up for me. If, as the sensitive and thoughtful Mr. Limbaugh says, we "have to stare" at an intelligent woman aging, count me in; staring at W's empty face all these years has made my eyes tired.
Perhaps our Hilary can usher in a new American era; one in which being and looking like the person you really are is preferred to the false faces most valued now.
And this is being written as I stare 50 in the face. Not a pretty sight either, I'll tell you.
LauraM
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LaurieNY and aka Smith
You ladies rock. Thank you for the good read. :)
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What Hillary deserves
The final paragraph of this piece offers perfect evidence that we haven't "earned our grown-up voter stripes." Too many Americans still think that to elect anyone other than a white man would be, as Ms. Traister suggests, to make "thrilling history." I find it difficult to imagine that crossing that line qualifies as "thrilling" in the industrialized world anymore.
Several of the women I work with have already said that they're voting for Hillary just because she's a woman. I think that does a disservice to her and to women in general. When members of the media keep bringing up the immaterial issue of gender, even if they're trying to point out the unfair attention she receives because she's a woman, they only serve to keep this silly issue front and center.
The old guard of feminism complains that men can't look beyond Hillary's wrinkles, giving weight to the idiocy of people like Rush Limbaugh. What Hillary deserves is to be treated exactly like every other candidate. If Matt Drudge won't do it, why shouldn't we?
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@ chsmith08
Are you by chance a white male?
An argument can be made that the sex and/or race of a candidate that is anything other than white male is indeed a matter of some import. While in the abstract every candidate should be evaluated by the content of hir character rather than the equipment zhe is packing, I feel compelled to offer this observation:
We do not live in the abstract world.
Symbolism is hugely important in driving the American agenda. The symbolism of a black or female president would inspire great change in our society. Most women of a certain age (and I'm not talking all that old) in America can recall being indoctrinated with the message that math and science were for boys, not girls. Girls just weren't "good at math," you see. And while such overt fucktardation may not be running rampant in our schools anymore, the message is still being sent to girls that their opportunities are more limited than those the boys enjoy. Imagine the inspiration a woman president would be!
The effect may be even greater for the black population. And the ripples from such a stone falling into the cultural pond would travel to the farthest reaches of the country.
I don't mean to be over-dramatic. But, you know, women are still dismissed as inconsequential by a significant segment of the U.S. population. I think Wrinklegate is an example of that. No man would be dismissed for a few wrinkles, and no one would question whether America might be put off by watching a man age in office. This flap is the result of a cultural dismissal of women in general as insignificant and unimportant.
Try walking a mile in these heels, and you'll see. In fact, I think it would be a wonderful thing if Rush Limbaugh and all his cronies were forced to live for a year as a woman. They'd change their tunes lickity-split when they realized that no one was listening to a word their shrill, bitchy voices were cackling about.
Sex is an important issue, as is race. It is historic. And the election of a woman or a black man to the presidency would forever alter the American landscape. If you dismiss the impact, you simply don't understand. Much like the goldfish who is unaware of the water in which it swims, white men tend to be blind to the privileges they enjoy for which others continue to struggle.
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@ Dana Runs
"Wrinklegate" is fabulous coinage. Don't know if it has been used elsewhere or elsewhere in this thread, but I gotta hand it to you, if you coined it, you're brilliant.
A few years back some friends and I had a party for another friend who turned 60. Our friend had joked that she was about to become a crone and so we had a croning, complete with witchy sorts of ceremonies. It was a fabulous time. In some cultures women are celebrated as attaining wisdom when they get older. We need to start doing that. I look at Hillary's wrinkles as hard won. While I don't love everything about Hillary, and while I could happily vote for Edwards, Obama, or even Biden, I do admire her toughness in the face (excuse pun!) of what she has been through.
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Laurie, Toots ....
"There's two issues at play here: 1) Women's looks and age are taken into account much more often then those of men when deciding whether or not they can do a job, and 2) Conservatives have a tendency to launch childish, schoolyard-bully-level attacks on Democratic candidates."
Childish attacks are not the sole purview of conservatives. Conservatives were not the ones mocking the physical attributes of Jerry Ford, for example. Conservatives were not the ones opining about Obama's drug use, or kindergarten essays.
It's bipartisan childishness.
"You keep bringing up how male physical attributes are also criticized, but you're comparing apples and oranges. Has anyone ever said "he's too short to be president" or "his hair is too grey to be president" or "he's not handsome enough to be president" or "he's too chubby to be president"? NO."
Yes. I referenced attacks on John Adams for his height. In my youth I was an advance man for a presidential candidate. I was a wide eyed 21 year old who caught Potomac Fever in a big way. I went to a debate held by the league of women voters. Upon leaving I heard a woman mention how she had been disappointed in Howard Baker. I did my level best to listen in on the conversation as I wanted to see what the dispute was.
It was because he was too short. There's been analysis after analysis of the height of male presidential candidates.
Taft was the only "fat" president.
"That's what happened here, and what we're talking about... conservative commentators expressed the concern that Americans would not want to watch a woman aging on a daily basis, right before our very eyes. No such concern was raised over either a male or a conservative candidate. Period."
There's no female on the conservative side this time around, but Elizabeth Dole took her fair share of shots over her appearance the last time around.
"Wondering if Ronald Reagan's advanced age would hinder his presidential abilities was justified. Wondering if Hillary Clinton's unsightly wrinkles would hinder hers is not. It really IS that simple."
Again you ignore comments about clumsiness and all the rest which are inconsequential physical attributes on a par with appearance, athleticism, height, or weight, which have all played a role in past elections -- rightly or wrongly.
The more Hillary makes this about gender the higher she is going to drive up her negatives.