Photo credits: Aftermath News
My recent post of a letter in support of Hillary Clinton by Christine Stansell, Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago, and its impressive list of feminist signers has so far drawn nearly 1400 visitors to Katalusis.
The response to Stansell’s letter has been especially meaningful to me as I’ve been as frustrated and perplexed as other feminists by the troubling situation addressed in today's Boston Globe in a thought-provoking article by Susan Milligan titled Clinton's struggle vexes feminists.
Milligan’s thesis is summarized in her opening paragraph:
“As Hillary Clinton struggles to regain her momentum in the presidential race, frustrated feminists are looking at what they see as the ultimate glass ceiling: A female candidate with a hyper-substantive career is now threatened with losing the nomination to a man whose charismatic style and powerful rhetoric are trumping her decades of experience.”
Milligan reminds us the American electorate has an unfortunate history of allowing style to trump substance; think Gore vs. Bush in 2000 and John Kerry vs. Bush in 2004, but she goes on to note Clinton’s additional burden:
“The style-vs.-substance clash is common to presidential contests, and has hurt wonky male candidates as well, women's leaders say. But they argue that Clinton has a peculiar burden in this year's contest because she never would have been able to reach the final stages of the nomination process unless she had spent her life emphasizing her professional record over stylistic abilities.”
Milligan’s article quotes Democratic consultant Peter Fenn:
“Choosing a president is the most personal vote most Americans will cast, said Democratic consultant Peter Fenn, and voters often will be attracted to a candidate's general vision and leadership style more than to his or her specific policy agenda. Democratic presidential contenders Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John F. Kerry, for example, suffered from the perception that they were less personable than their GOP opponents, several political analysts observed.”
The article also quotes Jon Delano, adjunct professor of politics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University: "Political analysts always say that personality trumps issues nine times out of 10 in a presidential race. But the bar for women is much higher - sad but true."
Note to Readers: I urge you to read Milligan’s complete article on the front page of today’s Boston Globe.
The response to Stansell’s letter has been especially meaningful to me as I’ve been as frustrated and perplexed as other feminists by the troubling situation addressed in today's Boston Globe in a thought-provoking article by Susan Milligan titled Clinton's struggle vexes feminists.
Milligan’s thesis is summarized in her opening paragraph:
“As Hillary Clinton struggles to regain her momentum in the presidential race, frustrated feminists are looking at what they see as the ultimate glass ceiling: A female candidate with a hyper-substantive career is now threatened with losing the nomination to a man whose charismatic style and powerful rhetoric are trumping her decades of experience.”
Milligan reminds us the American electorate has an unfortunate history of allowing style to trump substance; think Gore vs. Bush in 2000 and John Kerry vs. Bush in 2004, but she goes on to note Clinton’s additional burden:
“The style-vs.-substance clash is common to presidential contests, and has hurt wonky male candidates as well, women's leaders say. But they argue that Clinton has a peculiar burden in this year's contest because she never would have been able to reach the final stages of the nomination process unless she had spent her life emphasizing her professional record over stylistic abilities.”
Milligan’s article quotes Democratic consultant Peter Fenn:
“Choosing a president is the most personal vote most Americans will cast, said Democratic consultant Peter Fenn, and voters often will be attracted to a candidate's general vision and leadership style more than to his or her specific policy agenda. Democratic presidential contenders Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John F. Kerry, for example, suffered from the perception that they were less personable than their GOP opponents, several political analysts observed.”
The article also quotes Jon Delano, adjunct professor of politics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University: "Political analysts always say that personality trumps issues nine times out of 10 in a presidential race. But the bar for women is much higher - sad but true."
Note to Readers: I urge you to read Milligan’s complete article on the front page of today’s Boston Globe.
