Sexism and Sarah Palin

Does America still have a double standard when it comes to women and high office? Bob and Cal think so.

Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot. View the video version of this column at blogs.usatoday.com/oped or at USA TODAY's YouTube channel at youtube.com/usatoday.

Today: The political glass ceiling.

Bob: In a few days, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will walk away from her job 18 months before her term ends. I've twice read her resignation speech — rambling, inconsistent and at times incoherent. In it, she blames the mainstream media for her problems. Of course, this is the same media that turned an obscure governor into a household name. Palin is walking away from Alaska politics, but the question is, for how long is she walking off into the sunset?

Cal: Based on the fact that she just wrote an opinion piece on cap-and-trade for The Washington Post, not very long. What amuses me is how so many on the left have attacked and ridiculed her. If she is all that liberals claim she is, why wouldn't they want her to run for president in 2012, or at least be a player as Republicans seek to rebuild their party? Could it be that liberals are secretly afraid of her because she connects with much of the GOP base?

Bob: I, for one, would love to see her run and get the nomination. Oh please! In a debate with President Obama, she'd be walking into a gunfight armed only with a dull butter knife. Bring her on!

Cal: Be careful what you wish for, Bob. Many Republicans may now recall ruefully cheering for Barack Obama when Hillary Clinton appeared to be the Democrats' runaway train cruising to the nomination. Indeed, be careful what you wish for! What's really disturbing about Palin's time in the public eye, though, was the double standards she had to endure. I'm still looking for the feminist leaders who will defend her from what would be called sexist attacks if the target had been a liberal female Democrat.

Bob: The unfortunate reality is that Palin isn't the only female politician who was subjected to sexism in the 2008 election. Before Palin even entered the picture, Hillary Clinton took shots day after day after day. Do you remember the troglodyte who screamed at one of Clinton's events, "Iron my shirt"? How about the avalanche of coverage she got for briefly tearing up in a New Hampshire diner? Ironically, that may have helped Clinton win the state, but the implication from much of the commentary left the impression that a woman may not be tough enough to be president. She took the shots and kept moving forward. Palin could learn a thing or two from her.

Cal: The crying game is simply a matter of equal treatment, which is what we all want, right? The media mocked Ed Muskie for crying in the 1972 New Hampshire primary. George H.W. Bush has been known to get misty-eyed on occasion. Bill Clinton could shed tears on cue. One idiot in a crowd of Hillary supporters doesn't constitute sexism. Many idiots in the news media ridiculing Sarah Palin does. How many journalists, columnists and commentators seriously analyzed her positions on any subject?

Bob: It takes two to tango, and Palin's campaign handlers granted few interviews and seemingly tried to hide her. Even conservatives criticized this strategy. So you can't pin that on the news media.

Cal: Even so, a double standard was apparent when it came to Joe Biden's gaffes, many of which were laughed off as "just Joe." Even now, Biden's regular missteps barely last through a 24-hour news cycle. Google "Joe Biden gaffes" and you'll get more than 160,000 hits. Google "Sarah Palin gaffes" and you'll see over 5 million hits. He's been a Gaffe-o-Matic in Washington for 36 years. She had one year in the spotlight. Fair treatment?

Bob: I've witnessed the burdens put on female candidates firsthand. In 1984, I managed Walter Mondale's presidential campaign. He chose Geraldine Ferraro as the first woman to be vice president on a major party ticket — Palin being only the second. The press then was far more interested in the business dealings and tax filings of her husband, John, than on any positions Ferraro had on national issues. I remember her defending her husband at a news conference that lasted three hours! No male candidate would have been required to defend his wife's business dealings in that way.

Cal: It's telling that shortly after Palin was named, even Ferraro could see the beginnings of sexist news coverage. She told The Times of London that Palin's press initiation took her back to 1984: "People did not know how to deal with me, they went after my background they went after my husband and family." Talk about déjá vu.

Bob: But I recall her also noting, as I have, that Hillary took the same battering. Ferraro flat out called it "sexist." That being the case, we have a real problem here when it comes to women looking to break the glass ceiling in American politics.

Cal: Particularly conservative women. Remember how the makeup and clothes of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris were mocked during the extended 2000 presidential stand-off? That was sexism, but again, feminists who claim to want to focus on a woman's mind said little or nothing because it's really not about a particular woman, or women as a class. As with so many other things, it's about their politics.

Bob: I don't believe Palin is qualified to be president, but it has nothing to do with her gender. I'm an equal-opportunity guy — after all, I don't think George W. Bush was qualified either! But Palin's positions are extreme, her experience weak, and now she's shown an inability to withstand the white-hot flames of Washington politics. That said, Palin (if she runs) deserves to be treated on an equal basis with her male opponents. The double standard that has haunted women in politics — and many other professions — should finally be put behind us.

Cal: No one who has been a governor can be said to be inexperienced. And whatever her political strategy or intentions, I hope she resists the temptation to keep calling herself a "victim." Democrats play the victim card far better than Republicans, and if she adopts that role it will not get her support beyond the shrinking GOP base.

Bob: Then she needs to ditch her victimization narrative right away. That has, after all, been her go-to defense.

Cal: She also needs a new strategy and approach: Read the newspapers, study history and important legal cases, and bone up on foreign policy. She should stay off TV for a while and instead write daily radio commentaries, as Ronald Reagan did, in which she can develop her positions and communicate them to a national audience. She can campaign for candidates in 2010, and if many of them win, she'll have some new capital she can use if she decides to run for president. But it's a long way to 2012, and given her political deficit, it may be an even longer journey for Sarah Palin.

Bob: Yeah, good luck with all that. Or the GOP could look to other women who don't need the tutorial. There are plenty out there with more experience, more knowledge, less baggage and better speaking skills than Palin. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas comes to mind.

Cal: In Palin's coming-out speech at the Republican Convention last year, she had a wonderful line about the opportunities in this great country: "This is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity." Let's simply agree that this door to the highest political positions in this land should remain open whether a woman is liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.

Posted at 12:16 AM/ET, July 23, 2009 in Common Ground, Politics - Forum
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