As I've been watching the news recently keeping up with the presidential race something has been niggling at me. Why is it that John McCain is referred to as McCain, Barack Obama is referred to as Obama and Hilary Clinton is referred to as Hilary? Do they feel more familiar with her? Do they worry people will think they are talking about Bill Clinton? We can solve that, let's call her Senator Clinton. "Bill" was never a senator. He's often referred to as President Clinton.
No. I think the problem goes deeper. The big issue right now is race. Should Obama be viewed as a "black" candidate? Is it fair to make race an issue? Racial prejudice is universally agreed upon to be a bad thing. At least by those who aren't racially prejudice. It's out in the open. It is a major problem in this country but at least people are talking about it. What we aren't talking about is gender prejudice or gender bias. If "Hilary" were a man would anyone refer to her by her first name? I don't think so.
You don't hear, "John, the republican nominee visited Iraq yesterday," or "Barack spoke about the anti-American comments of his pastor on Larry King Live." It may seem like a small issue but it's not. Ever since Obama's name started to make the rounds of presidential discussion a couple years ago I voiced the opinion to my sister who was reading Obama's first book at the time that I thought the American people were more likely to elect a black man to office than a white woman. Gender prejudice isn't discussed often. There's an assumption that it no longer exists. I don't know them offhand but there are studies that women make less money than their male counterparts in the work world. When you see women CEO's or excutives they've usually passed their children off to nannies, ended up divorced or stayed single. Again I don't have a study to back me up but I do work in the business world and have seen many examples of this. I know women who would like to work part-time until their children are old enough to go to school lose their jobs. You also don't see many men choosing to stay home with the children.
There are many more informed people than myself on the issue of gender equality but I feel challenged to look into it more. I'm basing my comments solely on observation. Now if you ask me if I think that being a woman is Hillary's only negative I would have to say a hearty "NO". In some ways it's a positive. Woman, especially baby boomers, have been waiting for a long time to a elect a woman as president and their votes will go to (see I did it - I called her Hillary) Sen. Clinton. I would like to see a woman as president but I personally disagree with much of what Clinton purports.
A huge negative for her is that she is a polarizing figure. Many people don't like her and many probably don't know why. My mother has not respect for her because she stayed with Bill Clinton for political gain despite his flagrant philandering. I wonder if there aren't a lot of other women that feel that way. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." How many times has Clinton stepped out on Sen. Clinton? I've lost track. As far as I know my mother has voted democrat in every election since before I was born. This same women went and voted for McCain in the primaries.
She's also trying to run on her husband's record. She has 8 or less years in the senate. That's not that long a time. Don't start me on the 2 Obama has. Does being first lady prepare you to be president?
I'm not denying she's a smart women. In fact she is probably pretty capable of doing the job whether I would like the job she did being a different story altogether. But it is wrong to call her "Hillary" and act like that's not making a huge statement. Just my 2 cents.
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4 comments:
Hey CJ, I think Hillary has chosen what we call her. If you look at the signs that the candidate have made for their own campaign, you'll notice that hers say "Hillary" in large letters and then Clinton in smaller letters. I think she's the one trying to distance herself from Bill :)
Interesting observation - I must admit, I hadn't really noticed this until reading your post. It makes sense that her campaign advisors/strategists are trying to politically distance her campaign from President Clinton, especially in light of the heightened attention some of his comments have been getting these days.
She needs to get a muzzle for him already.
Interesting post, CJ. Thanks. I do agree with Jenny, though, that the media wouldn't be calling her "Hillary" if she wasn't encouraging it with her signage. But, still, when the pundits report, they'll flop between "Sen. Clinton" and "Hillary." I'm sure if she didn't want people calling her by her first name, she would correct them.
MJ & Jenny - I have to admit I hadn't thought about it that way. Thank you for throwing in a perspective that hadn't occurred to me. I wonder if she considered the ramifications of going by that name. I guess it does make sense that she would want to differentiate herself from her husband but kind of ironic considering she's partially running on his record.
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