Don't Cry For Me

Andrew Sullivan excerpts [transcript] a Say Anything defender of the Say Anything Clintons, and we get this history lesson about women in power:

Faye Wattleton: Well, I think that Bill Clinton's role is that of the spouses of all the candidates, he's participating as a surrogate for his wife who is running. And I think that its entirely consistent with the ascension of other women to the top offices in their country; they come about it as the result of the president being their spouse or being members of prominent families.

How could we possibly expect a woman to make it on her own, in this country or any other?  Even a woman who is a world class genius?  Only the Boss's Wife can get ahead!  Or, per Ms. Wattleson, the Boss's Daughter.

Well, here is where I was hoping Andrew Sullivan would provide some  help - was Denis Thatcher actually famous as anything other than Margaret's husband?

Or was Margaret's father, the Mayor of Grantham, so politically powerful that he was able to waft his daughter to the post of Prime Minister?

And can someone help me learn a bit more about President Meir, or King Meir, or whatever famous man swept Golda into office?  There must have been one, yes?

Or (last guess) is this Faye Wattleson woman just making stuff up, seemingly intent on arguing that Hillary's role models can only be Eva Peron, Benazir Bhutto, and Indira Gandhi?

Go, Hillarity.

Comments

[Cecil Turner]

Might want to emphasize that Andrew wasn't espousing this view . . . in fact, he was pretty rough on it (and the Clintons), and uncharacteristically blunt about it:

This couple really do [sic] corrupt everything they touch.

And though I still have heartburn with a Brit expatriate (unless there's some citizenship effort in progress?) endorsing US political candidates, he encapsulated my disgust with the Clintons fairly well.

[JM Hanes]

I quit reading Sullivan so long ago, I have no way of knowing if he's consistently parsed his language to avoid any actual mention of voting himself the way he did during Kerry's run. Somehow, I can't imagine him finally becoming a citizen without trumpeting the news of that seminal event to the world. OTOH, depending on how he positioned himself vis a vis the immigration debate, he might conceivably have dug a rhetorical hole that could be difficult to climb out of publicly. Last time I looked in on him, he mentioned heading off to something with his husband, so it occurs to me to wonder how the INS regards Massachusetts marriages in re granting citizenship.

[Clarice]

Don't forget Lurleen Wallace.

[davod]

Don't forget Lureen Wallace who took as Governor of Alabama from hubby George, and of course Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (also a Senator), who took over from Hubby Nestor.

[bgates]

Closer to home, there's the precedent of Edith Wilson, who exercised significant influence after her husband became incapacitated.

-making Hillary the second Democratic First Lady to owe her power to the stroke of a Woody in the White House.

[PeterUK]

Denis Thatcher was the invisible man,he only appeared when a spouse was required.Mayor Grantham will get you Mayor of Grantham or less.

[Donald]

bgates just dropped the double entendre of all times. I feel, so...so...awed.

[steveaz]

Sully should know better: when you squeeze a lemon, expect lemon-juice.

When you squeeze a lefty feminist, you get predigested oatmeal. And that's where Sully's sunk to: serving pre-chewed pabulum.

A note on the Hill and Obama "race": their tiffs and miffs (the ones that the media are hyping) are trivial and contrived. The Dem's want Americans to think they are fielding two candidates with "real differences," then, just in time for the convention, , they'll "bury the hatchet," and "put America first," to form their "Unity" ticket.

To assist, Sully's stuck dredging-up goofy excerpts in order to drag-out the hype over the "Unity" ticket's non-existent differences. Bill's finger-wagging makes a neat proxy for Hillary's cackle, and Sully's doin' his part to keep the Hll-vs-Obama meme alive for another six months.

[sbw]

I was going to chide TM for bringing up Andrew what's-his-name, because no one cares anymore.

But it was worth it to laugh at the conclusions to which people can jump when they have no sense of embarrassment.

[Donald]

Lurleen unlike the rest of them was kinda hot in her day.

[MayBee]

What is Mr. Merkel's position in life?

[MayBee]

Here we go. Merkel's father was a country theologian. Her husband is a quantum chemistry researcher.
The most powerful woman in the world (at this moment) made it on her own.

[NoWay]

To Tom Maguire:

"Or (last guess) is this Faye Wattleson woman just making stuff up..."

You should take some interest in history before you ever touch your keypad.

Faye Wattleton, African-American, feminist, activist, and youngest president of Planned Parenthood (1978-1992). President of the "Center for the Advancement of Women".

BTW, does it strike you as strange that Maggie Thatcher (PM for 11 years, conservative) and Eugenia Charles (PM for 15 years, strict constitutionalist) were given elected mandates longer than any other female politicians in the last 40 years, but with a decidedly unHillary bent? Charles, for instance, encouraged the 1983 invasion of Grenada to stem the Cuban influence! Think Hillary would've done that?

It's not Hillary's feminist/unfeminist credentials that people worry about. It's her honesty, something that her obsessive quest for power seems to derail a lot of the time.

[Cecil Turner]

You should take some interest in history before you ever touch your keypad.

Not sure what your point is. Perhaps that Ms Wattleson's activism in the women's movement gives her risible pulled-up-by-spouses/families theory some cachet? A bit hard to credit, if so.

[Clarice]

Lurleen ran for the same reason Hill is. Her husband was barred by law from holding another term and she sat in for him. Shove this in the feminists face! Call her Lurleen with a Yale law school degree at every turn.

[MayBee]

Did Ms Wattleson's husband get her the position with planned parenthood?

[JM Hanes]

NoWay:

That just demonstrates the hypocritical lows to which feminists will sink in order to avoid loking like they might actually side with Republicans on anything.

[NoWay]

MayBee:

In 1970, Wattleton became executive director of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Dayton. She married social worker and musician Franklin Gordon in 1971, and had a daughter, Felicia Gordon, in 1976. They were divorced in 1981.

Highly unlikely that he got her the position with Planned Parenthood.

[MayBee]

That blows my mind, NoWay. A woman that has risen to the top without her husband. Amazing.

[Jane]

Hey I don't even have a husband. Imagine how tough it is on me. I'm shocked that I own a computer frankly.

[Ann]

Jane , you crack me up!

You also could of said it in a slightly different way:

"Hey I don't OWN a Husband. Imagine how tough it is on me. I'm shocked that I HAVE a computer frankly. ;)

[Jane]

Indeed. Does that mean I qualify for foodstamps?

[davod]

"Indeed. Does that mean I qualify for foodstamps?"

Only if you get a male relative to co-sign the application.

[Jane]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww - Touche'