General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Robert Reich -- Hillary "cannot run on being the first woman to be president..." [View all]TheBlackAdder
(28,239 posts)You really don't want her to win with such a narrow concept of politics, do you?
Instead of espousing such a populist view of politics, you need to step back and make reality-based decisions. Hillary has political consultants who protect her and will advise her on everything she says, does, wears, etc..
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She has to acknowledge it, she can't hide from it. BUT, she cannot make it a central issue in her campaign.
She can let other 3rd-Party people say things, but it cannot be from her or from within her camp.
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Women have to be leery about introducing their family, their children, not coming off as a 'bitch' or shrew, because JUST ONE mistake will drop her electability. These are not concerns that men face--this is a female phenomenon in politics.
If she were to embrace her femininity or gender in her campaign, it would reinforce over 50% of the country to vote against her.
Like it or not... THAT'S THE POLITICAL REALITY FACING NATION WOMEN CANDIDATES.
The closest we saw were Geraldine Ferraro (and all of the sexist jokes) and Sarah Palin's sexist jokes. Both were VP candidates.
(Luckily, my favorite candidate, Shirley Chisholm, didn't go through that, but that was in the early 1970's before Phyllis Schlafly energized the Moral Majority and other evangelicals during the ERA ratification process. Her struggle was both race and gender, even within her own camp.) The same thing will happen to Hillary, but moreso since she is running for a position that is male-identified, that people's conceptions demands a strong masculine figure. Gender would be the third rail topic.
Perhaps that's what you want.