August 27th, 2008
Branding Jill Biden
I can forgive my eight-seven year old father, most of the time. He has developed a habit — or maybe I’m just noticing it now–of labeling the women he meets or sees on television as ” one good looking woman” or “damn attractive.” He is particularly enamored, at the moment, with Michelle Obama. So am I. And while I know that my father doesn’t have a sexist bone in his body, the comments about the physical appearance of smart women are really starting to get to me.
Joe Biden is not eighty-seven. He has no excuse for introducing his wife (repeatedly, I might add, as if we didn’t get it the first six times) this way:
“My wife, Jill, who you’ll meet soon, who’s drop-dead gorgeous. My wife, Jill, she also has a doctorate degree, which is a problem.”
Shame on you, Senator Biden. I know you’re a nice guy and I’m really glad that we’ll be seeing a lot more of you between now and November, and hopefully for eight more years after that. I also get that you love your wife. So why put her down? Why remind us that “you got the girl,” the model/poster girl, who, oh yeah and by the way, just happens to have a doctorate? How do you hope to win over the 18 million Hillary supporters with this age-old notion that it’s not enough to be smart, that real women must be “drop dead gorgeous” too?
Sure, it helps. We’ve all read the surveys that say that men prefer blonds, long hair and high heels. But isn’t this election supposed to be about change? Before I get to your foreign policy, your stand on the environment or how you and Barack will fix the economy or get us the hell out of Iraq, I need you to drop the old boy attitude, the patronizing, offensive references to how your wife looks.
Someone wrote a great editorial in the Boston Globe the other day about Michelle Obama’s convention speech. The gist of the column was that Ms. Obama spent a great deal of time convincing people what a wonderful mother she is and next to zero time telling us about her own achievements.
Michelle Obama, in case anyone doesn’t already know, is one smart woman.
I don’t know much about the new VP pick, Palin, but one conservative radio talk show host kept saying how gorgeous she was.
It made me sick. I had to change the channel.
How come people have such a hard time with smart women?
Dianna Huffs last blog post..B2B Customers of the Future — Now Being Programmed
Bravo! It’s posts just like this one that will help stop the perceived need to tone down the commendable intelligence of prominent political women with a dose of mom-ness and beauty.
Should appearance be at all relevant to a candidate’s “brand,” including spouse carry-over? No. Why is there no media commenting of Biden’s looks, while Palin has endured excessive commenting on her appearance? I don’t support Palin politically – in fact, her positions scare me. But, it’s her positions alone that matter.
There are a whole lot of women blogging now, and I say we echo your call to keep focus on the issues, and who is best suited to solving our national problems. Candidates should be branded only by their positions and plans to solve issues.
Mary Cullens last blog post..Keep Politics Out of Your Business Email Signature
Thanks, Mary. This has become even more urgent now as we face an election of personalities over policies. The crucial issues are being lost in in the subterfuge of hockey moms and lipstick, of women being put forward for the symbols they represent rather than for the substance they offer.
I agree whole-heartedly…..we must blog until we drown out the noise–for it is just that, and it will bring us all down if we’re not vigilant.