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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review May 10, 2007 / 22 Iyar, 5767

Comme Segolene, like Hillary

By Dick Morris & Eileen Mc Gann


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | This week brought good news for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) — post-debate polls all suggest that she scored a significant victory in the first meeting of the Democratic candidates. For the moment, at least, she seems to have arrested Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) momentum and re-established a lead.


But the defeat of Segolene Royal in France at the hands of Nicolas Sarkozy may be a bad omen for the long-term health of her candidacy. Royal's defeat was not primarily due to ideological issues. French President Jacques Chirac has long since worn out his welcome and Royal's Socialist Party would, all other things being equal, have been in a position to exploit his unpopularity. But instead Sarkozy, like Chirac from the RPR Party, won the election. While Sarkozy has long been at loggerheads with his president, his victory cannot be attributed to party or ideology. Nor is it a latent manifestation of heretofore dormant love of the United States in the heart of the average Frenchman.


No, Royal lost because she was a woman.


And, as always, a woman does not lose an election because of overt sexism. In fact, when she commenced her run, Royal surged to a lead on the wings of a national rush of excitement at the prospect of a woman president. Just as with Hillary, her vote share among women was very high in the early going.


But it is an axiom of politics that women accumulate highly personal negatives at a faster rate — negatives that prove more long-lasting than those regarding male candidates. As I read Walter Isaacson's magnificent biography of Albert Einstein, I find myself wondering if he could reduce this phenomenon to a mathematical formula.


For Royal, the moment when her negatives began to build was a trip to the Middle East in which she was seen to slight Israel and pour unmerited praise on the Palestinian government. But rather than being looked upon as a move to the left, explicable in the case of a Socialist, they were seen, unfairly, as a faux pas, indicative of a volatile, emotional, impulsive, ill-informed and unseasoned female candidate.


In Hillary's case, the highly personal negatives she has accumulated are not related to a perceived lack of ability or insufficient gravitas to serve as president. Indeed, her debate performance showed how well-prepared and -equipped she is to fend for herself at this level. But the most recent Gallup Poll unearthed a bitter harvest of negative phrases voters used in open-ended questions to say why they disliked her.


To be sure, a great many voters gave favorable responses, praising her strength, stamina, determination, tenacity, outspokenness, willingness to stand up for her beliefs, intelligence, and level of knowledge.


But it is the lot of a female candidate to be judged, harshly or enthusiastically, on her personality, and to an extent quite unlike that visited upon men.


Royal also illustrates how important a female candidate's marriage is to her campaign if her husband is high in profile. Although they are not legally married, Royal's long-term live-in partner and the father of her children is Francois Hollande, the head of the Socialist Party. Her candidacy was not helped by the perception that he had given her the nomination in lieu of a wedding present and that he would seek to control her and pull the strings were she elected.


Royal's defeat illustrates the vulnerability of women who run on the national stage accompanied by high-profile husbands. While Hillary's uniqueness as the first viable female candidate for president has its uses, it also brings with it detriments.


Hillary stood out among the six candidates debating in South Carolina. As the only woman, she had no difficulty distinguishing herself and winning points for a good performance.


But the trajectory of Royal is not comforting to Hillary. Negatives adhere quickly to women running for office and, in the opening months of her candidacy, she appears to have attracted more than her share.

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JWR contributor Dick Morris is author, most recently, of "Because He Could". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.



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