NPR: Hillary Clinton and the Gender Card

Hillary Clinton and the Gender Card

Filed under: Election 2008

The Hillary Clinton mixtape from this week's debate

Tough bit from Andrew Sullivan today, who's had it up to here with people saying Hillary Clinton deserves props as a tough woman for fending off the attacks of six other Democratic presidential contenders:

What's next? Congratulating her that she didn't burst into tears? And can we please retire this hideous "Hillary" thing? She's Senator Clinton. And she can't play the gender card both ways.

Laura Conaway

2:22 PM ET | 11- 1-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Any attempt by the Clinton campaign to frame the race in terms of a gender battle would likely backfire in ways they cannot possibly imagine.

Don't they realize that Clinton is to women as Obama is to blacks?

Sent by Will G | 2:53 PM ET | 11-01-2007

I wholeheartedly agree with Andrew Sullivan on this. It's a variation of the expectations-lowering that Bush used so effectively in his first campaign.

An argument could be made that she has to contend with plenty of sexism working against her, so why not try to make lemonade and to turn it to her advantage. But it's such a disingenuous approach.

I just hope that the degree of success she's having serves to make this kind of ploy less useful in the long run.

Sent by Maura | 5:03 PM ET | 11-01-2007

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
Please send me updates from NPR.	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

Host

Alison Stewart

Welcome to 'The Bryant Park Project'

This new radio show from NPR comes to you weekdays, straight out of New York City. You can find audio and video from us here and in our podcasts. Bryant Park is not a talk show, but it is a conversation. Intrigued? Read our frequently asked questions and discussion rules.