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Dec. 3, 2008
Steven Emerson: Yes, the terrorists are winning
Don Terry: Lifetime, no see
Dec. 2, 2008
Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world
Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack
Dec. 1, 2008
Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings
Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?
Nov. 28, 2008
Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be
Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?
Nov. 26, 2008
Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership
Andrea Simantov:
Shades of life
Nov. 25, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence
The Kosher Gourmet
by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!
Nov. 24, 2008
Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'
Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends
Nov. 21, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?
Caroline B. Glick:
Civilization walks the plank
Nov. 20, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness
The Kosher Gourmet
By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto
Nov, 19, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality
Elliot B. Gertel:
'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?
Nov, 18, 2008
Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason
Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?
Nov, 17, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason
Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?
Nov, 14, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia
Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead
Nov, 13, 2008
Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic
The Kosher Gourmet
by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla
Nov, 12, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers
Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks
Nov, 11, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?
Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate
Nov, 10, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?
Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist
Nov, 7, 2008
Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality
Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy
Nov, 6, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism
The Kosher Gourmet
By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes
Nov, 5, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors
Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie
Nov, 4, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law
Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East
Nov, 3, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?
Jonathan Tobin:
Was He Wrong About Everything?
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
January 14, 2008
7 Shevat 5768
Women trivialize politics by rushing to Clinton in the tracks of her tears
By
Michael Goodwin
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Even as it is being digested on its way to becoming conventional wisdom, the emerging narrative of the New Hampshire Democratic primary offers a profoundly distressing scenario. Hillary Clinton apparently was rewarded with a crucial victory for that teary moment in a diner.
Forget her intelligence, her long career, her hard work, her positions and even the quality of her opponents. None of that mattered after the briefest sign of waterworks. Instantly, large numbers of female voters seemed to have put aside their reservations and rushed to support her.
It is a breathtaking development in the glorious history of women's fight for equality. The first woman with a real shot at being President of the United States rides a wave of tears to a victory. The arsenal of democracy has a new weapon. Will Iran be scared of us now?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and the other suffragettes must be smoldering in their graves. This is what they fought for?
The moment also is ominous for the presidential campaign. With women making up 57% of the Democratic electorate so far, Barack Obama faces a daunting challenge: how to combat Clinton without handing her victory on a sympathy vote. She can, as she has, accuse him of peddling false hopes and even of making America more vulnerable to a terror attack, but the minute he responds, she'll be the victim. If she cries again and why shouldn't she? he'll be a cad.
As if her being married to a former President isn't enough complexity, the incident adds another riddle to Clinton's historic campaign. Whether her tears were real or scripted is almost beside the point. What matters is that her comeback victory, where she erased a huge deficit in 24 hours, stems from how women responded to her display of emotion.
The diner moment was the only significant event of the day before votes were cast. Overnight, it turned what even Clinton's campaign saw as a large Obama victory into a win for her.
Predictions that Obama would win by double digits are cited by some as proof of the racism of white voters who lied to pollsters when they said they would vote for the black candidate. No doubt that has happened, but the evidence in New Hampshire points to a different but equally troubling phenomenon of gender solidarity.
Many reticent women voted for her because Clinton's out-of-character display persuaded them she is authentic and real.
Some analysts also believe the sudden embrace of Clinton was prompted not so much by the event itself as by repetitive media coverage of it, which included ridicule by permanent nemesis Rush Limbaugh and other men.
Whatever, the result was dramatic. Only five days earlier in Iowa, Obama got 35% of the female vote, against Clinton's 30%. In New Hampshire, Clinton got 46% of the female vote, against his 34%. Although the surveys were not exact copies, the difference in voting patterns is stark enough to be reliable.
That crying carried the day for her is more than bizarre. She has always been proud of her poise under fire, opening a November debate by saying "This pantsuit it's asbestos tonight." Her Senate career has been about showing toughness in a time of war. Her vote for the Iraq invasion, her request to be on the prized Armed Services Committee and her recent vote to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization suggest a desire to be seen as one of the boys on security issues. But at crunch time, when her career was on the line, her tears counted most.
Of course, if men candidates cry under stress, they're toast. Just ask President Edmund Muskie. The Maine senator blubbered his way out of the 1972 race after blistering attacks by a New Hampshire newspaper on him and his wife.
But tears are back. Think how many professional women have cried secretly in the office rest room or into their pillows at night. What a waste, and not very effective.
If she's elected, Clinton can hardly be blamed if she calls on her new weapon from time to time, but she better use it with discretion. It could work if Congress resists her health care plan, but the real test would come in a faceoff with, say, Vladimir Putin. He would see it as proof of our weakness, so that might be the time for her to bite her lip and run to the rest room.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and the media consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here.
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