Writes Rhonda Garelick, in "Ocasio-Cortez Rewrites the Rules" (NYT gift link).
It's an old idea — that feminine beauty is powerful and that power-seeking women can implement beauty to rise in the political world. Cleopatra, etc. But Garelick adds the notion that a woman baring her belly to the public and making a show out of shifting her fertility into the realm of science and technology will augment the power achieved through beauty and fashion. The old idea is a cliché. It works as far as it works. The new idea is barely coherent. How are you fusing your body and mind if you are extracting the eggs from your body? "Embodied"? One might just as well say "disembodied"?
In any case, this isn't an essay exam in a Women's Studies class. This is an effort to display the capacity to serve as President of the United States. Still, why not? Why not use some zany notion of human, embodied and, yes, female power and go for it? When is the last time the people of the United States voted in a human being who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency? I don't think I've seen it in the last 50 years. You win by putting on some kind of show. Who's to say which kind?
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62 comments:
That's a cunning linguist.
[start virtual italics]When is the last time the people of the United States voted in a human being who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency? I don't think I've seen it in the last 50 years. [end virtual italics]
So, starting with President Carter? In your view, what changed as opposed to prior to 1976?
Historically: I like Ike.
Interestingly, this would put President H.W. Bush in that--is the word "performative"?--category. Not something I would have attributed to him, but, as I indicated, I find it...interesting.
Males being the unmarked sex is what let "he" stand for both sexes. Before feminists intimidated the male faculty into always inserting "he or she" into everything he said.
Althouse, perhaps I'm taking your timeframe too literally, but I'm assuming you chose "50" specifically. Should I not be?
That is to say, unmarking meant indifference, not focus.
You're allowed and inclined to say "It's me" because the objective case is the unmarked case in English.
The female mayor of Lincoln is a Yalie. She must spend $20k per year on clothes. Rich lib.
feminine beauty is powerful and that power-seeking women can implement beauty to rise in the political world.
What struck me about her homemade video was how ugly she looked. No make-up, no worries about camera angles. She looked kinda fat in places, pudgy. She looked unattractive. Like a lot of people on the woke left! Being ugly or unattractive seems to be a badge of honor with them. Or, at least, not caring about your appearance so much.
On the ABC interview, the professionals did her make-up, she was dressed to look her best. And she looked rather attractive, in my opinion.
So she is comfortable looking like regular people. And also comfortable looking like a celebrity. I think sexual attraction might help her with the normals (who see her on TV), and her Woke unattractive videos help with the anti-beauty crusaders (there are a lot of them on the left).
I mean, I think there's been at least an element of what I think you're referring to prior to '76. However, I'm tempted to say that approach revved up with the advent of cable news and the campaign and style of President Clinton, so later. I'd be interested in more of your thoughts, Althouse.
funny joke at 7:55, BB. I'll have to remember that one
so, just to review..
when Republican Karoline Leavitt GOT pregnant..
that was just a pretty (evil) republican (evil) woman doing evil stuff.
but; when long in the tooth AOC bares her belly; and PRETENDS to (maybe) want children (someday (LONG from now))..
That's GOOD!
The vapid age.
In our vapid rage-fueled leftwing media world - the fueled base will vote based on looks. Ignore the vapidity - and listen to the BS. IE: When AOC could not answer a question about China for 30+ seconds. She sat there empty - searching for her buzzwords. "policy!" she declared. wow - impressive.
& just look at that perfectly applied lipstick.
let's be fair..
TWENTY YEARS AGO, back when she was a co-ed; AOC was moderately attractive.. Not compared to most co-eds, but attractive compared to Hillary!
Now, at 38 years old, AOC is getting fat.. and Not in a good way.
"When is the last time the people of the United States voted in a human being who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency?"
I would say 1988 with Bush I.
WWII Navy pilot, Yale graduate, husband, father, oil businessman, elected to the House, United Nations Ambassador, Chair of the Republican Party, Liaison to China, CIA Director, member of the Trilateral Commission and Council of Foreign Relations, and Vice President.
He made foreign policy look easy.
St. Croix:
Back in 1991, Bill Miller--a political consultant based in Texas and who, somewhat unusually, worked for both the GOP and the Dems--coined the phrase "Politics is show business for ugly people." So there's that. However, I also think the climate is a little different now.
Last 50 years?
Jimmy Carter - Navy officer, GA state senate, GA governor
Ronald Reagan - national spokesman for GE, President of SAG, 2 terms as CA governor
GHWB - Congressman, UN Ambassador, head of CIA, 2 terms as VP
Bill Clinton - Arkansas Attorney General and Governor
GWB - business man, Texas Governor
Who among them looks less qualified than a 3 term congresswoman?
Contrast also the media model: wearing suits and controlling your image, and the shots, controlling everything (especially the politics)
with the Joe Rogan model
He wears a T-shirt, no dress up, image is not everything, very relaxed environment, just speak freely and openly for a couple of hours, on any subject of interest. And he's blowing away the corporate press with his audience numbers.
Sarah Palin was way ahead of the times. And The Times.
Yes, I can see Althouse voting for someone who demonstrated "human, embodied and, yes, female power" as a qualifier for President of the United States.
For myself, I'd prefer a more buttoned-up look for leaders with power, but I also know that's mostly gone the way of the dodo. Kind of like I vastly prefer a full Rite I, more high church, Episcopal service with music in the old school, glorious Anglican tradition. That's mostly gone, too.
I put them both in the category of "no choice but to accept it and move on." Time has overtaken events.
Or should that be, "events have overtaken time"?
AOC came from nowhere, an upper middle-class background. She's been a protégé of the DSA Democrats. From Day 1, they saw a vulnerable district and successfully gamed the primary in 2018. They've primed her with a smart wardrobe and good coaching, and now they want to push her as Presidential material. It's ridiculous how far away from that caliber of politician she is. She has no record of public service, aside from her rather theatrical stint in Congress, no experience outside of that carefully curated tenure. Who's pushing so hard? Is it the DSA or a desperate Democrat machine party?
I liked the old norms. That makes me a dodo, too.
"When is the last time the people of the United States voted in a human being who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency?"
Wow, the incredible ingrates... How about the man who is in the White House right now? There has not been a president in living memory who has come near the impact and effectiveness confronting and solving long-standing problems and systemic dysfunction domestically and in foreign affairs as Donald Trump, all while facing unprecedented hostility and incomparable burdens created by previous administrations, as well as being impeded by traitors and enemies in his own Party and administrations.
Most of the so-called Republicans and conservatives don't appreciate what Trump's done and doing. ...George Bush??? GTFOH!
I saw that movie. I'm no Lorenz Hart scholar, but the bet here is that what gave Hart the most anguish and eventually killed him was not his sexuality but his alcoholism...... To the casual observer, a half erect penis might offer some interest, but to those participating in the game, the fully erect penis is far more entertaining.
Posted in the wrong place and too lazy to post again.
"Last 50 years?
Jimmy Carter - Navy officer, GA state senate, GA governor
Ronald Reagan - national spokesman for GE, President of SAG, 2 terms as CA governor
GHWB - Congressman, UN Ambassador, head of CIA, 2 terms as VP
Bill Clinton - Arkansas Attorney General and Governor
GWB - business man, Texas Governor"
My thought, too. We really haven't done that badly if you look at it that way.
Men not in shorts. Women in dresses. A fertile and forward-looking combination. That said, AOC should be frozen and thawed in a more convenient era.
Let me just second what Michael Fitzgerald said. And add that Trump, if not adequately dealing with the issue of the unconstitutional usurpation of power by the permanent bureaucracy, at least has more clearly exposed the extent of the problem.
Dance Ten, Looks Three.
Aren't people who re-elect a president voting for a " a human being who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency."
In the last 50 years that would be Reagan, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, and most recently, Trump.
The Garelick article reads like a bad poem thematically inspired by the female fantasy of just being so cool and desirable that you transmogrify into Queen of the World.
"When is the last time the people of the United States voted in a human being who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency?"
Donald Trump certainly seems to have the capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the Presidency. The guy is a fucking machine, he never stops. Are you suggesting he lacks **true** capacity?
I mean, granted, he didn't run 600 miles in 6 days. Is that what you think it requires? There was a guy at Cambridge ...
None of the ideas of the left are coherent. The one skill the left has is repackageing idiocy as avant-garde. And then getting Althouse to blog about the resulting nonsense. I suppose that is a skill. Not sure how helpful it is.
Women and men remain, as humanists characterize them, equal and complementary. #HateLovesAbortion
“ You're allowed and inclined to say "It's me" because the objective case is the unmarked case in English.”
Sorry, but I have to be *that guy*. Consulting God, “ No, the subjective (nominative) case is actually the unmarked case in standard English.”
“There is no one effortless way to look as a congresswoman, no uniform of business suit and tie that allows her to blend in.”
If AOC and her ilk continue encouraging Islamic immigration, that’s likely to change. Congresswomen (and all women) will be required to wear head-to-toe garbage bags in public.
Henry Adams, the Dynamo and the Virgin. Adams was a long-time Washingtonian, so he wouldn't dismiss the application of his idea to politics, even though women didn't have the vote in his day.
AOC is more attractive than previous female presidential candidates. She just has to remember not to show her teeth and gums when she smiles.
The last president "who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency" may have been Eisenhower. Possibly Reagan. Bush Sr was a good resume candidate (as opposed to his son who was only a pedigree candidate), but his administration was a fizzle. He did what official Washington wanted -- when he should have fought it. He lacked the political skills to make a case for a second term. LBJ had the resume too, as well as the ability, but he couldn't handle what he got from history. I question the question though. Lincoln and FDR didn't have impressive records when they were elected and many doubted that the were up to the job, but they both managed to "president" well enough.
No Frenchperson would say, «C'est je». «Moi» or "me" serve as disjunctive (or standalone) pronouns, as well as objective (or accusative) pronouns.
She's acknowledging that women have more options in how they present themselves, and she's trying to argue that that's a bad thing. No man is going to take that argument seriously.
Lazarus: AA wrote, "This is an effort to display the capacity to serve as President of the United States."
I take that to mean *before* assuming office (like AOC), and not after being elected. That's why I wrote Bush I, the resume candidate, filled the bill.
But I agree with your questioning the question.
Is there really power in women rejecting the blazer and pant suit style? Is it a political power, as opposed to some idea of sex power? Professors and exotic dancers will tell you that strippers have some power over men, but what do the strippers really get from that? Sarah Palin rattled the bars of the pantsuit prison with lipstick and some feminine touches and was mocked for it. The pantsuit model endures in politics because women who challenge it are thought unserious -- by women as much as by men (if not more than by men). A woman in politics doesn't want to be thought a bimbo or a twinkie (a slang term which has taken on new meanings since my day).
Sweeny-Daddario 2028!
Kyrsten Sinema rejected the usual strategy of dress for a female politician. Her public image relied on bright colors, bold prints, sleeveless dresses, and unusual accessories. I really enjoyed watching her in the Senate. A principled Democrat with a flair for style.
Wouldn’t she make a great Press Secretary for President Trump?
Needs a "Politics as religion" tag. Good lord that passage sounded downright new agey spiritual.
Michael Fitzgerald 8:52---Damn right!
So, Nixon? Ford? Interesting.
AOC is now on camera freezing her eggs, thus allowing all of us to inquire often, "When do you plan on fertilizing those eggs, and with whose sperm in whose womb?" It's no longer a private matter between her and whoever else might be party to the pregnancy. Is she going to promise on the campaign trail to get pregnant, or impregnate a surrogate, if elected president? It was an idiotic move from a nice-looking idiot.
Jupiter said...
"When is the last time the people of the United States voted in a human being who demonstrated a true capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency?"
Donald Trump certainly seems to have the capacity to deal with the responsibilities of the Presidency. The guy is a fucking machine, he never stops. Are you suggesting he lacks **true** capacity?
He is no Kennedy or Nixon or Ford apparently. Much less any of the other people that have been president.
It is still shocking to see people ascribe their classist tribal confirmation bias as some sort of judgement on Trump.
He is a true historical anomaly as a leader of a Nation. There hasn't been anything like him since George Washington.
Lazarus said...
AOC is more attractive than previous female presidential candidates. She just has to remember not to show her teeth and gums when she smiles.
Compared to Hillary or Harris yes.
Palin was better looking than AOC. She can smile without the crazy eyes. AOC can't smile without looking like she is possessed by a demon.
But obviously democrats treat female Republicans differently.
“ It's an old idea — that feminine beauty is powerful and that power-seeking women can implement beauty to rise in the political world. Cleopatra, etc.”
But you have to start early.
“ Cleopatra was about 18 years old when she became Queen of Egypt in 51 BC. Cleopatra was 21 years old when she first met and began her relationship with Julius Caesar in 48 BCE. Julius Caesar was about 52 years old at the time.”
An American president has to be 35, and by then the rose is fading fast.
So a few weeks ago, there was a spate of stories criticizing Republican politicians for having children. Vicious editorials denounced them, as if younger elected officials and their spouses were colluding in some plot to bomb Washington with baby strollers. Now AOC not only takes steps to ensure that she can become pregnant in the future, but she exploitatively does so on tv, and suddenly it's a transformative and unique act of female political empowerment?
I despise her as a politician, but I hope she is blessed with a healthy child, or more.
Good point, Smilin' Jack.
a woman experimenting with baring her belly, along with her reproductive journey.
I'm sorry, this is a dumb take
Her homemade video was very asexual.
No make-up, looked dumpy, shot it herself. She was showing her girlfriends how easy it was to freeze your eggs
"don't be weird," she said, because it was a little weird
not hot or sexy.
she wasn't trying to be hot or sexy
Now check out her ABC interview (link at 8:10). She's wearing a black suit coat. Very professional. But under the coat? She's wearing a black tube top, or very low-cut T-shirt. Sexy!
She's now using her sexuality to appear attractive to strangers, old people, the Boomer Democrats who still watch network TV. She definitely knows how to look sexy, when she wants to, and it affects people subconsciously.
Another time she played with her image was when she went to that Met gala wearing a very expensive gown with the words Tax the Rich in red graffiti on the back of the dress. "Yes, I'm going to a gala, and I'm playing dress-up in a designer gown, but I'm going in there with a socialist message to upset the upper class."
She is way, way better at politics than Hillary Clinton ever was. You remember when Trump went to a McDonald's to serve fries? This is the flip-side of that. She knows her audience and she plays to them, a lot.
"Politics is show business for ugly people."
I would have voted for Sarah Palin in the primary in 2012. The media went insane to stop her. They were targeting her family, her daughters. I think that's why she elected not to run, to protect her family. But she was definitely sexy, and she had stadium crowds.
McCain was jealous of his own veep.
Polymarket odds, Democrat nominee for President, 2028
AOC 21%
Gavin Newsom 17%
Jon Ossoff 15%
everybody else is way down in the single digits
#4 is Kamala at 7%
Can the times stop being stupid or evil rhetorical
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