The Media’s Good Old Boys + Arianna and Maureen: Let the Hillary-Bashing Continue

"Media Guru" Arianna Huffington

Watching a video of Arianna Huffington, along with George Will, David Brooks, and Robert Kuttner, on ABC’s This Week triggered an “aha” moment for me. Arianna was at the Round Table moderated by George Stephanopoulus, and she was obviously enjoying her status as the only woman present. You could almost feel the bonhomie emanating from the TV screen as Arianna seized yet another opportunity to trash Hillary Clinton.

At today’s Huffington Post, Arianna repeated her line of attack against Sen. Clinton, warning of the dire consequences Clinton’s appointment at state will hold for the Obama Administration. (Keep in mind, the Huffington Post has been a leading mouthpiece for Barack Obama since he first announced his candidacy for the presidency.)

Arianna writes:

“Hillary + Obama = High Drama. It's too early to tell what changes Hillary Clinton will bring to Barack Obama's foreign policy, but she's already had an enormous effect on his brand. Her addition to his team has turned "No Drama Obama" into "Mo' Drama Obama." Hillary's appointment isn't even official, but the Obama/Clinton narrative has already left the realm of politics. Its twists, turns, shadings, and complex emotions are the stuff of literature. But who would be the best writer to do this saga justice? Henry James (Portrait of a Lady Secretary of State)? Shakespeare (Clinton II)? Or is the Obama/Clinton relationship more like a Nora Ephron romantic comedy? When Hillary Met Barack. Sleepless in Chappaqua. You've Got Fundraising Email.”

As Georgetown University law professor Heidi Li Feldman noted at her blog today the accusation that Hillary Clinton will add drama to the Obama Administration is “another latently sexist turn of phrase: women create drama; men bring charisma.”

But back to that “aha” moment that I mentioned above. I’ve been repeatedly stunned and puzzled by the attacks of women like Arianna and Maureen Dowd on Hillary Clinton. I just didn’t get it. Watching ABC’s This Week video finally did it for me, and it’s pretty simple. By beating up on any woman who appears to be destined for a national leadership role, Arianna and Maureen win acceptance in the media’s good old boys club.

As a result Arianna is known as a “media guru” – despite the tabloid journalism practiced at Huffpo - and she gets to hobnob with the likes of Brooks, Will, and Kuttner.

The minimally talented – except in the area of hate-mongering - Maureen Dowd is one of two women columnists at the NY Times and one of a very few women columnists featured on the opinion pages of newspapers nationwide.

I’m going to give Arianna and Maureen the benefit of the doubt by suggesting their reprehensible behavior is unconscious stuff. God knows it must be terribly threatening to have to report on the achievements of a power house like Hillary Clinton. Unlike either Arianna or Maureen, Hillary has succeeded both personally and professionally. She has kept her family together over the years and maintained many close friends, while simultaneously earning worldwide respect in the political arena.

In sum, putting Clinton down appears to be a pathological defense mechanism for the obvious inadequacies of Arianna and Modo and as mentioned earlier, they get the benefit of hanging out with the good old boys.

Arianna has suggested that Hillary Clinton brings the stuff of literature with her, and I would agree that Hillary’s life story would be a most compelling read. On the other hand, the petty lives of Arianna and Maureen wouldn’t even make the comic books.