Linda Hirschman argues that she can’t,
All the gender gap talk notwithstanding, there’s no guarantee that Clinton would receive enough votes from women to be elected. I’ve studied women and women’s politics for 20 years, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that, except for possibly once in 1996, female voters have not by themselves put anyone in the White House.If Clinton is going to attract the women she needs, she’s probably going to have to do something more than simply have a pair of X chromosomes herself. And much as it pains a feminist like me to say it, a lot of her campaign will have to involve putting her on the couch and analyzing her character and motivation. Again.[link]
Hirschman cites past election results to buttress her claim. She has also conducted interviews with a few White women-a key demographic group according to Hirschman and she concludes that women are politically unaware, vote purely on impulse and rely on their husbands for political information. Of course, Hirschman’s poll, which is confined to a total of six at-home wives can hardly be considered to be scientific.
As far as I can see, the key fallacy in Hirschman’s argument is that she has reduced the whole process to a binary of men vs. women. Her argument that women have failed to elect their candidate presupposes that women actually had their own candidate. In other words, were the past presidential elections fought solely on gender grounds where all women (and men) were united in electing their own separate candidates? If that is true, will women who traditionally vote democrat vote for a Republican candidate if she happens to be a female?
And then of course, Hillary doesn’t actually has to rely only on women voters.
P.S Personally, I prefer Obama. Among other reasons, another Clinton will mean that the White house would be occupied by a member of either Clinton or Bush family for straight 24 years. That’s a lot and who knows? Jeb Bush might throw his hat in the ring in 2012.
Update- Timothy Noah starts Obama Messiah Watch. heh (link via Gaurav)
Filed under: Media/Blog watch, Politics
>> Personally, I prefer Obama
Confused,
I dont think he can make. Not because he is black, but because he is a Muslim. Wonder what will happen if he becomes the Prez.
Hi
I’m always amused with Democrats who have left what, up until 2 months ago, was the frontrunner, the smartest woman in the world and a shoe in for the nomination, to twist in the wind.
Now that there’s one other possibility, shes been tossed aside in favor of something new, like a used napkin.
The bush/clinton/bush /clinton thing bugs me too.
Obama is an old, tired liberal retread with the usual socialist answers to life.. hardly a breath of fresh air.
A sitting Senator hasn’t won the presidency since 1924.
Just maybe the winner is on down the list a bit.
Thanks for your post.
Caucasian men dominated the landscape for long and now a Caucasian woman seems to be enjoying much greater a chance to slip in than an African American man. as we all know, Ms Hillary is not the first lady to run for president, but she leads the rest in terms of her profile, visibility and sheer talk value.
I tend to disagree with Hirschman..women may not be so inclined enough to talk about policy matters etc, but they are sensitive to certain issues that seem to influence their “gharelu ambience”, the positive feelers of security, etc etc. Most women are sensible and dnot prefer to take the limelight but stay in the background n run affairs. One hand this writer talks about the visible excitement in them about a woman being so close to touch the mantle of power, while the other side she terses about their lack of saliency…is it salience ? or articulation? perhaps, women give higher priority to saliency -awareness.
I brush aside her theory n affirm that – it’s the “FATIGUE” that people carry would decide who would be the next Prez. well it’s not the fatigue of being with Clintons n Bushes….but a fatigue of having a MALE as president..look at the lady, she is vibrant, cheerful, exudes brightness, Powerful yet a hint of vulnerability..ah, woman! you experienced so many things, most of us dream about or feel envious of…your life had the third corner like a triangle.why the writer is living on the historical laurels which once graced many living rooms now in their wane? times have changed, the world has become more insecure, women feel the need to create cocoons for their loved ones…that’s the only thing that matters to them and men somehow see themselves agreeing to this. It’s not the loudness or the feverish rapidity women nurture when they talk about various issues, gentler beings think and listen to the noise around n decide what to do..mothers do tht always, right?
@….do not follow international news because of excessive coverage of wars and violence….
this is not disinterest, but an effort to avoid disturbances!
personally I feel Oprah Winfrey could be a more influential and empowered individual…
R,
Obama is being heralded as John F Kennedy, now while he is smooth, I am distinctly underwhelmed by him. I will rather root for Hillary, after all managing Bill Clinton is no small deal.
In other news, have you noticed one of the commentators on this blog has been transformed into a goat. Ah, the joy.
shadows : Obama isn’t Muslim.
confused : Obama is too religious and wears his religion on his sleeve just like Bush. And it’s high time America stopped voting for such people. Although I don’t think that time will come in the near future.
@Gawker: Obama belongs to that religion.Fall over Google. anyway, let’s think progressively. what is religion?what is creed? etc etc. Obama is a charismatic and intelligent speaker.that’s enough!
G
Ah the Joy…tut,tut, u gave that BIGG clue..Joy..wriggle it around..Jyo
I think “Pan”, the GREEK God is in love with me, he is the god of goatherds and shepherds. He is human though, but, with goat horns and goat feet. An excellent musician (ah!, I love that), plays the pipes. He is playful and seen dancing with woodland nymphs…He is always in pursuit of one of the nymphs but, always rejected because he is ugly.
now u dnot get so “pan”icky G!
Gawker,
Read this – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
I read on some news site that he even attended a madrassa. He may have converted now, but he was born and brought up as a muslim. Now nothing wrong with that, but given the tendency to be intolerant…. I wonder how many Americans would take the risk.
>> He is human though, but, with goat horns and goat feet
You remind me of Tumnus, from the Chronicles of Narnia.
>> Obama writes about using marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years to “push questions of who I was out of my mind.”
– From the wikipedia link
@All,
Now I suppose that this is not a problem. His personal life, not a big crime, etc etc. True.
But then, arent drug addicts supposed to be mentally unstable. (Just a general thought, not Obama, it can be anyone)
Why?
gawker: you said it – America will probably have a black/Jewish/even Muslim president before they elect an atheist
@shadows: you are shooting blanks here. Clinton ‘did’ marijuana, GWB did drunk driving – it all depends on the your (and opposition’s spin machinery) ;
‘drug addict’ is a long stretch from having dabbled in grass at one point of your life.
btw, the madrassa story (which has been discredited) was a clever plant that served as a double blow – to raise suspicions about his muslimness and to suggest that it was actually Hillary’s office that planted the story. Clever, very clever.
Wikipedia as a source for information….hmmm.
My main issue with Obama is that we don’t know enough about him – what he believes, where he stands on various things.
With Clinton, we know. And yes, she’s made mistakes. That’s what happens when you have a record that can be examined.
That’s my issue with how things work now – if you have a voting record, you can be skewered for your mistakes, but if you have *nothing*, you are better.
Huh??
huh *nothing*…pity
Politics is a dirty business.everyone lowers his or her standards.ye baby, no one stays “virgin” for long, there go one more bullet over broadway
http://politicalhumor.about.com/
Shadows,
He is not! And frankly, I don’t give a damn if he is.
iplainsee,
Perhaps. Who knows? But Republicans will have to work mighty hard to win this one.
Jyo,
Well, a lot of feminists argue that it is time US had a women president and Clinton can certainly play the gender card. She is smart, articulate and can change her positions pretty fast-she certainly has a good chance.
Guarav,
Yeah, but looking at her past record, one can be sure that she will be the president. Clinton will hang around in the background.
I noticed but ‘ah joy’-isn’t that Amit Varma composition?
Gawker,
Yeah but no one really expects an atheist to win an American election any time soon. I mean, thank FSM for Muslims-we are not the villain number one anymore.
Shadows,
He wasn’t born and brought up as a Muslim-clever plant as Bongo points out.
>> Wikipedia as a source for information….hmmm.
BongoPundit, Confused,
Whether he is or not may not matter to you, but sure it does to the Americans
. I am much more concerned whether Laloo or Paswan will become PrimeMinister or not.
BTW, not just wikipedia, its even in the papers.
Plant or not, why is his middle name hussein then?
He isnt going to make it for sure. Black and Muslim. He stood a chance if he was the former only.
Anyway, who cares
BongoPundit,
my point about drugs wasnt that at all, it was just an interesting observation – Read it again.
Why do we say “are you doped/stoned” when someone makes a stupid post, while at the same time, we say that xyz did drugs isnt a problem. Interesting..
shadows : His dad was Muslim (not a practising one), his mother wasn’t (she was atheist). He attended a regular school in Indonesia which Fox News and other lazy (and Islamophobic) media, except for CNN, mischaracterized as a madrassa. Furthermore, he has been a devout Christian for over 25 years now, following the United Church of Christ, which is the most liberal and open minded one in the US, openly welcoming homosexuals to their fold.
And as for drugs, there is a difference between someone making leaderly decisions or writing blogposts while currently being on drugs or “doped”, and someone making leaderly decisions or writing blogposts, while having used drugs in the past. After all, we do allow alcoholics to drive as long as they are not drunk while driving.
confused : Don’t be so sure about people hating muslims more than atheists.
link
Shadows, thanks for proving that the Republican spin machine aka Faux News works; don’t blame you.
Confused, people will vote for Hillary not because she is a woman but will rather not vote for her because she is. Whew! Hope you got that.
Gawker,
Thanks for the link. I guess, eventually it might happen.
Pat,
You re right but I think only partially. If she was a Republican candidate, yes but I am not so sure with Democrats. Also, some will vote for her only because she is a woman.
The overwhelming majority of America is religious (regardless of your party) so I don’t see Hillary being elected. Recent polls show that somewhere around 85% of Americans believe in the Christian/Jewish/Muslim God, 12% believe that there is “something” devine and 3% do not believe in any deity. I am a liberal democrat who doesn’t believe in mixing religion with politics, although I am strongly religious. This is why I don’t think Hillary will get elected because she’s not as religious as most people in America would accept.
SAVE THE CHIEF!!!!!!!!