They fear her sex

Watching Barack Obama's latest faltering effort last night to attack Hillary Clinton, I was struck by how he avoided any eye contact with the woman herself who was standing just a couple of feet to his right.

Obama's body language - leaning away from her and occasionally looking down and to the left -translates as weakness. And that was just the good stuff he had rehearsed beforehand. Later in the debate, after getting booed by the pro-Hillary audience in Vegas (did anyone tell them to do that?) he reverted to his diffident default mode of previous contests.

John Edwards had the advantage of being a litte further away from her frost. But he fared little better than Obama, visibly wincing when Clinton accused him of throwing mud around and using tactics "right out of the Republican play book". Edwards ended up spluttering an explanation that "there is nothing personal about this". In previous debates when he has encountered her ice-queen stare close-up, Edwards has appeared almost like a cartoon character with his feet trying to walk backwards as his body remained rooted to the lectern.

After all the talk over the past two weeks about Hillary playing the gender card and hiding behind her trouser suit, I wonder if a different dynamic is at work - namely, that male candidates are struggling to find the right way to attack a woman.

In Britain, Margaret Thatcher could generate a sometimes sexually-charged aura of fear and respect around her. I can remember seeing some more excitable Conservative MPs almost squealing with a creepy purple-faced sado-masochist delight as she delivered a "handbagging".

I am not, of course, saying Obama and Edwards wish to suffer in the same way. But America is a far politer country than the UK and its politicians have less experience of direct combat against a formidable woman.

They are okay at slagging her off behind her back. They just can't do it to her face. 

Comments

[somegirl]

totally agree with you. I actually lost interest about 20 minutes into it because it seemed less like a debate, and more like the "Let's All Gang Up on Hilary" show. It was very disappointing. I wish the "men" would focus more on the issues than trying to attack Hilary at every moment.

[Christopher Hobe Morrison]

Well, if you put it that way a friendly look her in the eye but don't stare, and you're telling her this in a friendly way with no meanness intended sort of feeling would be better.

But in your photo Obama may not have been looking at Clinton in the eyes, but he was actually looking toward the camera.

But I did not watch the debate. The debates are a sort of professional wrestling spectacle with everyone pretending to be sophisticated observers analysing the candidates' performance. Everyone is totally clueless, including the candidates.

[RightStuff]

Hillary Clinton is a hopeless boor who will work hard to destroy the USA if she is elected. That we are even talking about how to debate her without hurting her feelings is scary. I'm sure Maggie Thatcher never pulled the "I'm a woman" card to get her opposition to ease up.

[al bullock]

Oh my goodness, everyone is picking on poor little girl.

Poor little girl is like a cobra and will strike without warning and smile while striking. She has all the poison and viciousness of the cobra, but none of the inhibitions of the cobra. The cobra only strikes when alarmed or hungry. Hillary strikes for the joy of wounding someone.

[British Supporter]

Interesting how the same faction who belittled and ridiculed Hilary for standing by Bill are now too afraid to look her in the eye. If this is how afraid they are of her now and she has not even reached the level of Margaret Thatcher, they will be cowering when she starts really bringing out her ammunition.
Goes to show that a little dignity can go a long, long way.

[Demh8tr]

I'd be scared of that nanger too. I might bite then give a bad after taste. I see why billy went else were

[Penelope McFadin]

I have met many people who just hate her outright and claim she will destroy the country. However, not one of them has ever given me a good reason why they believe this. If you ask me, she can't do half as bad as the goof we have currently in charge.

[jim]

you are sooooooo right !!!!!! hillary is the only democrat with a sack. i wonder if the republican candidate will be as afraid of her. doesn't matter to me, the whole country is falling apart anyway.we have had a clinton or bush in the white house since 1980, god i wish reagan and thatcher were still around.

[Karpindur]

How is it that people feel this woman should be spared the essential challenges and give and take of an election debate? How odd it is to see people write moaning of "mudslinging" and "personal attacks" when the other candidates challenge her? The issues they raised are real and demand an response, yet most people, and the Hillary worshiping media refuse to hold her accountable. To me, her icy stare and thinly concealed rage at being confronted says it all. Obama and Edwards are brave men, because win or lose, the Clinton's never forget.

[Jaibones]

Tom, you do the "body language" gig, now? OMGoodness. Her "sex" -- which I assert doesn't exist in the traditional sense -- is not a thing to be feared in this campaign, so let's stick to the usual kinds of fears: her money, her organization, and her ruthlessness and ambition (i.e., willnessness to play dirty) are all worthy of being feared.

Leave body language reports to O'Reilly.

[Ivan]

They fear her shallowness and inaptness. (as was successfully demonstrated by the "plants" at both her latest Vegas "debate" and multiple previous appearances). What kind of aspiring candidate is afraid of real questions from the audience? Have you seen her website? The only thing that you will take away after visiting it will be her hate for Bush.
In short, unlike Thatcher, Hillary has little to show besides her experience as the First Lady, which she's also for some reason actively trying to hide, by having her hubby block access to the documents.

[Jackie Mccaffrey]

I think you got it when you said "ice queen stare" because it is not just about sex or gender, it's about the kind of woman or person she is. There is a difference between a respectful listening mode and a gimlet stare and excepting criticism and accusing others of mudslinging (and is as her wont not answering the question). And, if you caught Maureen Dowd's recent article in The New York Times, Mrs. Clinton can be quite punishing and ill-mannered. Maybe it is shock that a woman with the capacity for such graciousness is so nasty and ungracious that throws people. Gender or no gender, direct rudeness is difficulat to deal with. I have the links to two Dowd articles that your readers might enjoy at my URL on myspace.

[DJM]

I guess Obama values his life. Its a shame Vince Foster got too close to Hillary.

[monitorhead]

whatever... if any other candidate happened to be in the lead, it would be "gang-up-on (insert candidate here) night". struggling to find an angle? They shouldn't be struggling for an angle! Male or Female, they are all candidates, they should be able to belt her a good one, just as much as she could belt one right back. And if any candidate (female or male) is unable to throw on the gloves and start punching each other, why did they volunteer to be in the boxing ring.. or should I say, the Candidate Wrestling Federation?
CWF Raw on TNT Rawks!! :D

[Eddie]

If either wins, it will still be bad for our nation. Democrats have been trumping core American values for years, and these two have agendas to destroy it.

[Sam]

Poor Mrs. Clinton, she's being ganged up on by a bunch of girlymen democrats. She can't handle a bunch of sissy socialists how could she deal with the uber chauvanist islamic terrorists? This proves the point that a vote for mrs. clinton is like telling the islamic terrorists "please come and kill us".
They certainly did not fear bubba. Remember they attacked us 9 times with no reaction from mr. clinton but surrender. In fact it was bubba's weakness that convinced bin laden that he could defeat us and that we had no stomach for retaliation.

[polishbabe]

I love the line "ice queen stares." The woman scares me. We need an intimidating president, not Bush, not flimsy Edwards, not baby Obama.

[Nick P]

"America is a far politer country than the UK"

Respect your view and all that old chap but you afraid you are barking up the wrong tree.

Try asking for directions from your average New Yorker. They'll tell you where to go....

[Kirsten Bray]

Women have been demonized since eve in history and politics. They are constantly feared, called whores, harlets, bitches, manipulative. I ask people why they don't like Hillary and they say they don't know they just do. This is the subtle but everlasting effect that demonization of women in history is now playing in our politics...if people could understand their motives and realize how stupid it is we just might have a chance at a great president, who we all know is sharp as a tack and has great experience and is a 2:1 package..

[Jeff Cooper]

I don't know if anyone in any media reporting on Hillary has noticed this or not, but she isn't the first woman to run for an elected office, let alone the presidency. Media types are proposing she is breaking new ground and men don't know how to mount an offense against her. Perhaps they are misinterpreting attacks her political position on the issues as personal attacks due to her being a woman. If that is the case, then it's the media who is being sexist and not the male candidates.

[Keith]

Hillary Clinton will say and do anything to get elected. She will promise us anything for our vote and try to change us to a socialist society.
This country can't afford another Clinton. I think Hillary would prostitute herself if the White House was guaranteed to her.

[voyager]

If she wants to fight with the boys she better be able to take it like the boys or get annihilated. Mudslinging? No one has even touched the mud yet. They're just calling it like they see it when it comes to her record and her rhetoric! The other candidates better learn to tell her that she's not going to get special treatment! The fact that she is a frontrunner proves the democrats do not think for themselves. They follow the press like children following the piper and dance beneath the moon for him. I don't care if she's the ice queen. I'd melt her in 300,000s of a second. The other candidates need to give it to her just like each other. It really doesn't matter though. If she gets the nomination the voters will put another republican in office! How stupid the dems are!!!!!!!!

[31415926]

They fear her sex...

Give to her everythink/anythinks, just becouse she is a woman?

I do Not think this is right!

[Karl L]

The Whitewater scandal, Vince Fosters 'suicide', husband not having sex with interns in the oval office and finding novel uses for Cuban cigars... Not a good reputation for a President but anythings got to be better than the psychopathic monkey currently running the show.

[Jason]

The reporter is wrong to say that Obama is weak because he only looked at his opponent a few times during the debate. Obama is a desent person and he should feel bad over saying negative things about his colleague, even though she is his competition but they are in the same party and fighting for the same cause against Republicans. It is my opinion that Edwards and Obama are going to come out as a team running mate after all things are said and done. Hillary Clinton is a smooth and capable politician, if it was not for the Iraq war vote, she would have beaten them all hands down.