Enough Americans just could not mentally image the first female president wearing the pants in the family. The first family that is. President, First Gentleman, and children. The Commandress in Chief should wear a dress. Maybe the third, fourth or fifth female president could defy this, but not the first.
Why did Hillary really lose? Pantsuits.
Tradition: Few bachelors have ever been elected president and few divorced people. Few African-Americans in the executive branch as governors. Which is why Obama seldom wears jeans. So why would the voters suddenly pick an untraditionally clothed person? Male candidates wear business suits even when the crowd at a stump speech or a rally is full of blue collar workers wearing jeans or coveralls. A business suit is different from a pantsuit. Female candidates who wear dresses have had a better success rate at being elected than those wearing pantsuits.
Fashion: Don't think anyone pays attention to clothes? Then you have never heard of men losing elections because of poor choice of ties. Nor have you heard recent critiques of Cindy McCain's or Michelle Obama's choices in ready to wear. And Nancy Reagan knew haute couture. Jimmy Carter was excoriated for wearing cardigan sweaters. Are we really surprised at the talk behind Hillary's back? Could no one on her staff tell her? Were they terrified of telling her? We've had eight years of a president who can't stand to hear the truth.
The corporate example: Most, if not all, female presidents of major companies wear business suits. And when female CEO's get fired, are the exceptions who wear pantsuits more likely to get the axe?
Job interview: The primaries, conventions, and fall presidential campaigns of the party nominees are the political equivalent of a job interview. The chance for ordinary Joes and Jo Annes to turn tables on the demanding bosses they have to humor at work every day--metaphorically. To get a job, you have to find work, fill out an application, interview, and maybe undergo a physical exam to enroll in the company health plan and a drug test to satisfy security. A political candidate has to secure a bond and mortgage his or her home to get money for an exploratory committee and campaign funds. They have to fill out paperwork to file as a candidate, to get on the ballot and to possibly get public financing. We all know that the president has to get a physical where the public gets to almost literally look up their arse when pictures of their colon are shown on the nightly news. Considering all the politicians who have been caught using drugs, it is only a matter of time before politicians are made to take random drug tests too. Since we the public know that politicians are public servants and know that they work for us as our overpaid servants, we do notice what they are wearing. A presidential campaign is a job interview. It is not casual Friday.
Law and order: Speaking of casual Friday, is our overly informal culture, our looseness, our permissive society the reason crime is so rampant? President Elects used to wear top hat and tuxedo to be sworn into office. I am not suggesting cause and effect between JFK's going hatless at his inauguration and his assassination. Kennedy was from a society family and understood formality. His brother was a tough Attorney General. But JFK was a philanderer and this set in motion lots of things that should not have been set in motion. He and a mob boss shared interest in the same woman. J. Edgar Hoover spied on the president and hated him. JFK tried to have Castro assassinated. JFK had enemies. You must concede that there are people out there looking for an excuse. Any excuse. Kennedy single-handedly led men to stop wearing hats to work. No hat. Why not ride with the top down? In Dallas in November?
Evangelical Christians: A significant bloc of voters still believes men should wear pants and women should wear skirts. Some even go further and insist on hats (at least for women) and high heels for women. As a side note, Ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic Jews think men should wear hats.
Catholics: Although not a Catholic, as a concession to form, Laura Bush wore a dress for the first time in a long time during the Pope's visit.
Heads of state and government: The Queen of Great Britain wears a dress when she is performing royal duties and often when she is not in public as well. Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, wore a dress like most other female prime ministers and presidents around the world.
History: Pantsuits arrived with the Seventies. Prior to 1970, rape and murder rates were lower than afterward. I am not suggesting cause and effect. What I am pointing out is that this was a time of unisex fashions, the sexual revolution, feminism, gay rights, transgender operations, transvestites coming out of the closet, and the population explosion. All the rules were thrown out with the proverbial baby and the bath water.
The social contract:
1. the working class gets good schools and affordable health care, in exchange for working hard for corporations that do not export jobs
2. the middle class gets a strong economy and low inflation (or deflation), in exchange for supporting centrist moderate politics and not taking the upper class to the guillotine
3. the upper class gets to keep its millions and get billions more in exchange for not looking like the hoi polloi and sans culottes and not letting their private lives be the subject of entertainment shows and supermarket tabloids
Celebrities: Even in the entertainment world which has actively promoted drugs, violence, homosexuality, and gambling, the highest paid entertainment reporters wear designer suits and gowns. The paparazzi on the low end of the pay scale wear scruffy clothes.
Science: It is a fact. Men and women are different.
Feminism: If the first female president doesn't even look like a woman, what was it all for? A woman shouldn't have to look like a man and sound like a man to become president. What kind of message does it send to little girls that they need a gender reassignment operation to run for president? The world should accept women as women not as pseudo-men or male wannabes. And the world does accept feminine women. Even in a religion and a region that seems to hate women, Benazir Bhutto was the popular choice for Pakistan. In the Western world, no one has a problem with female bosses at work nor female governors. The argument that men are holding women back is hokum. It was men who voted for female suffrage in the first place just as it was white people who supported LBJ's legislation supporting voting rights for blacks. [Hillary ignored these facts when she blamed men and blacks for her own failures at the polls. After all, women are the majority and whites are the majority.]
Style: Generally speaking, men and women have different styles. This does not mean one is inferior and the other superior just different.
Hispanics: Get used to all this because Latinos understand dress codes even if Anglos don't.
Dear Lord, please help Hillary learn some fashion sense because her fashion statement is off putting to people she's trying to win. If not in the presidential race, then at least in the Senate. As for her supporters, God help them. For this we pray.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Hello
Topics to be covered include politics and the economy. This blog will be re-introduced if there is a major change in direction. At which time, you will be told why.
I have a friend who describes me as a liberal Democrat with radical ideas. I am not a member of the Democratic Party. I have mostly hung out with Libertarians and Green Party types. I do believe in democracy. As for liberal, I come from a region where conservative is a synonym for "mean ignorant racist". My friend is from outside the region and so I have given up trying to explain to him that calling someone a conservative is an insult. And it should be an insult. Conservatives were the people who supported slavery before the Civil War. Conservatives were the people who fought for the Confederacy. Conservatives were the people lynching black people during Jim Crow. Conservatives were the people beating up Freedom Riders, assassinating people, and using fire hoses on children during the Civil Rights Movement. And conservatives were the people burning black churches, reversing The Voting Rights Act, harassing the NAACP with video cameras at polling places and voters registration offices, state trooper road blocking black people from the polls in Florida, throwing away ballot boxes from black precincts, rigging voting machines, and disenfranchising voters by illegally classifying all Florida blacks as felons during the last two presidential elections. This is common knowledge among foreign j0urnalists. It sure wasn't liberals doing these things.
And when blacks asked for a Senate investigation, not one Senator would sponsor the move. Since there were some in the Senate who called themselves "liberal" I have a bone to pick with the liberals too. Conservatives are mean ignorant and racist. Liberals are hypocrites.
I call myself an extreme moderate. I have no use for communists on the far left and even less use for fascists, Nazis, ultraconservatives, and reactionaries on the far right.
I do honor certain traditions however much I might be called liberal by my outside friends. You might as well know what they are.
1. I think homosexuality is wrong and a perversion. Homosexuals bullied the American Psychological Association and other institutions into no longer classifying them as abnormal. Look out! First sign of the fall of civilization. It happened to Rome. I should point out that if a mob were chasing a gay man or woman I would give the gay person sanctuary until the mob dispersed. On principle. One of the best bosses I ever had at work was gay.
2. I think illegal immigrants should be thrown out of the country. All forty million of them. And English should be made the official language of the United States of America. When this was first a hot issue decades ago, it was Hispanics who were the biggest supporters of the movement. They might still be. Now down get me wrong, this tossing out does not apply to Hispanic Americans who have been here for generations. They are as American as anyone else.
3. I think Islam is a bad religion. This deserves a blog all by itself plus a preliminary blog the week before to explain why discussing a subject is not hate speech. No one is talking about Arab Americans. They are loyal Americans. Period. And individual Muslims are not all terrorists. Only the Muslims who are terrorists are terrorists. This would seem to be obvious but must make preparation for the hypersensitive out there. I am not looking to be threatened like Salman Rushdie but I do think the subject deserves a discussion.
Once past the predictable flames, I hope to move the blog on to less controversial subjects like:
I have a friend who describes me as a liberal Democrat with radical ideas. I am not a member of the Democratic Party. I have mostly hung out with Libertarians and Green Party types. I do believe in democracy. As for liberal, I come from a region where conservative is a synonym for "mean ignorant racist". My friend is from outside the region and so I have given up trying to explain to him that calling someone a conservative is an insult. And it should be an insult. Conservatives were the people who supported slavery before the Civil War. Conservatives were the people who fought for the Confederacy. Conservatives were the people lynching black people during Jim Crow. Conservatives were the people beating up Freedom Riders, assassinating people, and using fire hoses on children during the Civil Rights Movement. And conservatives were the people burning black churches, reversing The Voting Rights Act, harassing the NAACP with video cameras at polling places and voters registration offices, state trooper road blocking black people from the polls in Florida, throwing away ballot boxes from black precincts, rigging voting machines, and disenfranchising voters by illegally classifying all Florida blacks as felons during the last two presidential elections. This is common knowledge among foreign j0urnalists. It sure wasn't liberals doing these things.
And when blacks asked for a Senate investigation, not one Senator would sponsor the move. Since there were some in the Senate who called themselves "liberal" I have a bone to pick with the liberals too. Conservatives are mean ignorant and racist. Liberals are hypocrites.
I call myself an extreme moderate. I have no use for communists on the far left and even less use for fascists, Nazis, ultraconservatives, and reactionaries on the far right.
I do honor certain traditions however much I might be called liberal by my outside friends. You might as well know what they are.
1. I think homosexuality is wrong and a perversion. Homosexuals bullied the American Psychological Association and other institutions into no longer classifying them as abnormal. Look out! First sign of the fall of civilization. It happened to Rome. I should point out that if a mob were chasing a gay man or woman I would give the gay person sanctuary until the mob dispersed. On principle. One of the best bosses I ever had at work was gay.
2. I think illegal immigrants should be thrown out of the country. All forty million of them. And English should be made the official language of the United States of America. When this was first a hot issue decades ago, it was Hispanics who were the biggest supporters of the movement. They might still be. Now down get me wrong, this tossing out does not apply to Hispanic Americans who have been here for generations. They are as American as anyone else.
3. I think Islam is a bad religion. This deserves a blog all by itself plus a preliminary blog the week before to explain why discussing a subject is not hate speech. No one is talking about Arab Americans. They are loyal Americans. Period. And individual Muslims are not all terrorists. Only the Muslims who are terrorists are terrorists. This would seem to be obvious but must make preparation for the hypersensitive out there. I am not looking to be threatened like Salman Rushdie but I do think the subject deserves a discussion.
Once past the predictable flames, I hope to move the blog on to less controversial subjects like:
- Why Reverend Jeremiah Wright is right, er, correct
- Why George W. Bush is worse than Hitler, Stalin and Mao
- Why we should support the man who once bankrolled the evil Swift Boat ads
- Why Hillary Clinton and John McCain are trying to get Barack Obama assassinated
Closing prayer.
"People use your heads to think not to emote. We need more light and less heat. Amen."
Obama's Running Mate
Senator Hillary Rodham
pluses
+ the OWW (Old White Women)
minuses
- probably will piss off the Obama camp again
-may be better to remain in the Senate as a leader or the leader while running for governor of New York State as a stage for another run at the White House in 2012 and 2016
-loaded down with campaign debt which she will expect Obama supporters (who hate her) to pay while she and Bill are worth $34.9 million [The Clintons released their tax returns showing that they had earned $109 million since they left the White House.] The Obama campaign has to fight the notoriously deep pockets of the Republican Party which far outstrips the $40.4 million net worth of John and Cindy McCain BEFORE the free public financing.
Caroline Schlossberg
pluses
+ she's a Kennedy and JFK's daughter
+ she's smart
+brings the small but influential pro-privacy lobby and privacy rights voters to the table
minuses
-those idiots put her in charge of looking for a veep instead of BEING the vice-president
-not a street fighter like Hillary (but not carrying negative baggage either)
-not comfortable in front of cameras (who can blame her0 despite being photogenic
Maria Shriver
pluses
+she's smart
+her husband's appeal crosses party lines and he might even throw his support her way
+comfortable in front of cameras
+as a reporter, she has friends in the media
Ron Paul
plus + would bring an entirely new bloc of voters
Mike Huckabee
plus + the very fact of being considered would appeal to the Republicans for Obama camp
John Edwards
pluses
+my personal favorite and my personal choice
+can help Obama in states Obama might otherwise not win
+huge bloc of voters from primaries
minuses
+Jim Webb says there are three Americas. Why quibble? Reagan destroyed the middle class and Bush is destroying the working class and probably wants to destroy the upper class who are not members of his family.
Arianna Huffington
plus +could go over well in the blogosphere (she's one of us!)
Congressman Rahm Emanuel
pluses
+smart
+good tactician
+policy wonk
+clean
minuses
-unknown how good a strategist he is (probably good since he is a caucus chair)
Vicki Lawrence
pluses
+Thelma Harper (a.k.a., "Mama"). I can see it now: "Obama and Mama will get Osama"
+Al Franken is running and he's not the first comedian to run for office. (I wouldn't mind Jon Stewart n office.
+she's an actress and there is precedent for that in office.
minuses
-She's also a singer and don't know the precedent for that.
-Seriously folks, they used to only let lawyers hold public office and then a few businessmen. Reagan was the first actor, I think. Then came Fred Thompson and Fred Grandy. Other professions besides actors have gotten into office. A former wrestler became a governor. We could use a lot more scientists to finally get some brains in government. But will people vote for a comedian? Can you imagine Bill Maher in office?
Amy Carter
pluses
+activist or former activist (anti-apartheid)
+understands human rights issue as a board member of the Carter Center
+understands citizen diplomacy as a board member of the Carter Center
minuses
-makes Caroline Schlossberg seem outgoing by comparison (and Caroline is not an extrovert)
-off everyone's radar
Michael Bloomberg
pluses
+Could help win the independent voters
+billions
+would consider the offer that Gore would not take seriously
+could garner Republican voters
John Kerry
minuses
-there is nothing in it for Kerry or Obama for that matter
-Kerry did not fight back when the Republicans slandered and libeled him. He was a decorated war hero who VOLUNTEERED to go to Viet Nam and fight on the front lines while Bush went AWOL to campaign for Republican chickenhawks. [Note: a chickenhawk is a child molester and also someone who is hawkish on starting wars but is too chicken to actually enlist and go to the front lines. Most Republican hawks have never be in uniform. They prefer to send their supporters overseas to die in senseless wars defending dictators that the USA has historically allied with against communism.] During the Republican convention, some Republicans actually allowed themselves to be photographed and videoed wearing purple bandaids to make fun of Purple Hearts! Next time a Republican tells a Democrat that he or she is less patriotic, kick them in the ass. That the problem with liberals, they need to grow a backbone and steal the flag (that superpatriots are always wrapping themselves with) from them.
Bill Clinton
pluses
+potentially a great campaigner many pundits have said
minuses
-only in theory
Al Gore
pluses
+He won the election that the Supreme Court, the Republican-rigged elections in Florida, and Roger Ailes stole.
+Finally, the green vote would get an unalloyed champion. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdue!
minuses
-I believe him when he says he would refuse an offer.
-What could Obama offer him? Head of the EPA as well as V.P.? Hire only scientists at the EPA instead of only criminal political hacks? Make the EPA a cabinet level department? (or keep it independent and above the politics that have wrecked it?) He's a billionaire who feels he can get more done on reversing climate change outside corrupt government. He may be right.
-Lose some weight Al before you get a heart attack like Dick Cheney.
Other countries are saying that if the USA won't lead, please get out of the way. Amen.
pluses
+ the OWW (Old White Women)
minuses
- probably will piss off the Obama camp again
-may be better to remain in the Senate as a leader or the leader while running for governor of New York State as a stage for another run at the White House in 2012 and 2016
-loaded down with campaign debt which she will expect Obama supporters (who hate her) to pay while she and Bill are worth $34.9 million [The Clintons released their tax returns showing that they had earned $109 million since they left the White House.] The Obama campaign has to fight the notoriously deep pockets of the Republican Party which far outstrips the $40.4 million net worth of John and Cindy McCain BEFORE the free public financing.
Caroline Schlossberg
pluses
+ she's a Kennedy and JFK's daughter
+ she's smart
+brings the small but influential pro-privacy lobby and privacy rights voters to the table
minuses
-those idiots put her in charge of looking for a veep instead of BEING the vice-president
-not a street fighter like Hillary (but not carrying negative baggage either)
-not comfortable in front of cameras (who can blame her0 despite being photogenic
Maria Shriver
pluses
+she's smart
+her husband's appeal crosses party lines and he might even throw his support her way
+comfortable in front of cameras
+as a reporter, she has friends in the media
Ron Paul
plus + would bring an entirely new bloc of voters
Mike Huckabee
plus + the very fact of being considered would appeal to the Republicans for Obama camp
John Edwards
pluses
+my personal favorite and my personal choice
+can help Obama in states Obama might otherwise not win
+huge bloc of voters from primaries
minuses
+Jim Webb says there are three Americas. Why quibble? Reagan destroyed the middle class and Bush is destroying the working class and probably wants to destroy the upper class who are not members of his family.
Arianna Huffington
plus +could go over well in the blogosphere (she's one of us!)
Congressman Rahm Emanuel
pluses
+smart
+good tactician
+policy wonk
+clean
minuses
-unknown how good a strategist he is (probably good since he is a caucus chair)
Vicki Lawrence
pluses
+Thelma Harper (a.k.a., "Mama"). I can see it now: "Obama and Mama will get Osama"
+Al Franken is running and he's not the first comedian to run for office. (I wouldn't mind Jon Stewart n office.
+she's an actress and there is precedent for that in office.
minuses
-She's also a singer and don't know the precedent for that.
-Seriously folks, they used to only let lawyers hold public office and then a few businessmen. Reagan was the first actor, I think. Then came Fred Thompson and Fred Grandy. Other professions besides actors have gotten into office. A former wrestler became a governor. We could use a lot more scientists to finally get some brains in government. But will people vote for a comedian? Can you imagine Bill Maher in office?
Amy Carter
pluses
+activist or former activist (anti-apartheid)
+understands human rights issue as a board member of the Carter Center
+understands citizen diplomacy as a board member of the Carter Center
minuses
-makes Caroline Schlossberg seem outgoing by comparison (and Caroline is not an extrovert)
-off everyone's radar
Michael Bloomberg
pluses
+Could help win the independent voters
+billions
+would consider the offer that Gore would not take seriously
+could garner Republican voters
John Kerry
minuses
-there is nothing in it for Kerry or Obama for that matter
-Kerry did not fight back when the Republicans slandered and libeled him. He was a decorated war hero who VOLUNTEERED to go to Viet Nam and fight on the front lines while Bush went AWOL to campaign for Republican chickenhawks. [Note: a chickenhawk is a child molester and also someone who is hawkish on starting wars but is too chicken to actually enlist and go to the front lines. Most Republican hawks have never be in uniform. They prefer to send their supporters overseas to die in senseless wars defending dictators that the USA has historically allied with against communism.] During the Republican convention, some Republicans actually allowed themselves to be photographed and videoed wearing purple bandaids to make fun of Purple Hearts! Next time a Republican tells a Democrat that he or she is less patriotic, kick them in the ass. That the problem with liberals, they need to grow a backbone and steal the flag (that superpatriots are always wrapping themselves with) from them.
Bill Clinton
pluses
+potentially a great campaigner many pundits have said
minuses
-only in theory
Al Gore
pluses
+He won the election that the Supreme Court, the Republican-rigged elections in Florida, and Roger Ailes stole.
+Finally, the green vote would get an unalloyed champion. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdue!
minuses
-I believe him when he says he would refuse an offer.
-What could Obama offer him? Head of the EPA as well as V.P.? Hire only scientists at the EPA instead of only criminal political hacks? Make the EPA a cabinet level department? (or keep it independent and above the politics that have wrecked it?) He's a billionaire who feels he can get more done on reversing climate change outside corrupt government. He may be right.
-Lose some weight Al before you get a heart attack like Dick Cheney.
Other countries are saying that if the USA won't lead, please get out of the way. Amen.
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