Wouldn't you say? 
Posted on 11/02/2007 2:28:15 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
I have lots of experience with women. Not what you’re thinking. I mean experience in living around a variety of women. Most of those have been extremely strong and accomplished women.
My Mother and her two sisters all had college educations at a time when Southern women were often expected to run the kitchen, clean the house, knit and sew, and play hostess. My grandfather was well educated, and insisted that all his daughters attend the strongest women’s college which was also south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Thus, they attended Goucher College in Baltimore, Md. (One met and married a Johns Hopkins man, created my branch of the family. That’s a story for another day.)
My Uncle Johnny used to say that when his three sisters got rolling, they’d conduct three monologues at the same time in the same room. He described them as “three-masted frigates under full sail, with all guns blazing.” The point is, they were all feminine, but none of them could ever, even on a real bad day, be called a shrinking violet.
I looked for women who were able, smart and strong to marry. I raised my two daughters to be the same. (I’m very proud of both of them. Both have it all – husbands, children, careers, and a wicked sense of humor which they got from me and I got from my parents. That’s also a story for another day.)
The subject for today’s sermon, if you hadn’t guessed before now, is women in politics generally, and Hillary Clinton specifically. Mrs. Clinton has actually produced a commercial claiming that the male Democrats are picking on her.
To whom is she complaining in that commercial? Does she want her Mother to come out on the porch with her broom and chase away the nasty boys who are picking on her little girl?
If we have another version of the Cuban Missile Crisis and are nose-to-nose with another world power (probably lead by a male), is she going to whine and complain? Or, is she going to suck it up, make the right decision, and then act decisively, like Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher did regarding the Falkland Islands crisis?
Or, further back in history, it was Queen Elizabeth I who faced and defeated the Spanish Armada which had the ships and the troops to overwhelm England if they landed.
Or, in Italy, it was Lucrezia Borgia who poisoned her way to the top of her family and political power in the early Renaissance. (Maybe Lucrezia is the wrong example to apply to Hillary. Murder as a public policy would rule out Lady Macbeth as well.)
Any women who would be successful while holding great power has to be strong and self-confident, among other qualities. Furthermore, such a woman has to know her own mind and have the courage of her convictions. Think Golda Meir in Israel, Indira Gandhi in India, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, to name a few modern examples beyond that of Lady Thatcher.
Ask yourself whether any of these women would have stumbled and fallen over such a simple question as whether they agreed with the policy of Governor Spitzer of New York, to give drivers licenses to illegal aliens. And, if any of these women HAD fumbled over such a simple, yes-no question, would they have sought to deflect attention by saying that people were picking on them? Or, would they have acknowledged their mistake, reached a decision, and carried it out?
Can you imagine any of these extraordinary women falling back on the cover story that “the boys were picking on them”?
Let’s consider a male President who’s contemporaries thought he wasn’t up for the job. Long after he left office, the verdict of history concluded that Harry Truman was a strong, decisive, and good President. What was Harry’s advice about politics that Hillary should follow today, if she can? If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
My Mother, her sisters, some of my wives, and both of my daughters all demonstrated that they can stand the heat. Maybe one of them should run for President....
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About the Author: John Armor practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu He lives in the 11th District of North Carolina.
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Wouldn't you say?
My relatives were Baptist, but it is true that Tulane and Newcomb, being southern institutions, didn't discriminate as did many northerners.
“Mrs. Clinton has actually produced a commercial claiming that the male Democrats are picking on her.”
I’d like to view that. Got a link?
That'd work for me...then Babwa could interview Daddy and, in result, get her fuzzy-lensed arse handed back to her, live and in color.
A couple of Jewish girls from my high school in MS went to Newcomb, so that's why I thought that.
Unfortunately, I think Hillary does have the courage of her convictions and the balls the carry them out. It's just that right now, she can't let them be seen, as she is in full vote-gathering mode, where she has to be everything to everyone.
Later, when she's president, she'll let them out. Then we'll be in a world of trouble.
““Mrs. Clinton has actually produced a commercial claiming that the male Democrats are picking on her.””
I’ve googled every combination of this that I can think of and can’t find any reference to this. Could you please illuminate on where you obtained this information?
John / Billybob
“It is available on the blogosphere.”
Where? I can’t find it anywhere.
John / Billybob
BTTT
A nice twist of the focus knob.
It is necessary to change the whole political culture, before it will be possible to change Congress. It can be done. But it will be a long, hard process.
John / Billybob
Hillary is now backing away from the “poor widdle girl” picked on by all the “big bad men.” However, that was her and her campaign’s reaction the morning after her bad debate.
John / Billybob
Thanks!
With ample precedent.
But, I submit, m’lud, with all submission,
To marry two at once — is Burglaree!In the reign of James the Second,
It was generally reckoned
As a rather serious crime
To marry two wives at one time.
Nope. She knows exactly what she thinks. But she also knows if she says it in public, she'll never sniff the white house china collection again. Hence, the bobbing and weaving.
And, in a sense, she's right that the other candidates are being unfair, in a weird democrat sort of way. The rule for democrats is never actually say what you believe or want to do or the voters won't elect you. Fair would mean that they all pretend that all of their respective public positions are clear and they would never actually pin one another down on "delicate" subjects like illegal immigration in public. But she's the front-runner and needs to learn to take the heat.
Her warriors, in her warroom, are very good about covering her butt and missteps.
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