Novel explanation. David
On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 11:56 AM, Dr. Ernie Prabhakar < [email protected]> wrote: > I figured y'all would get a kick out of this... she may not be far off! > > -- Ernie P. > > http://slatest.slate.com/id/2258714/?wpisrc=newsletter > > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/29/AR2010062903997.html?sid=ST2010062904419 > > Obama: Our first female president > > If Bill Clinton was our first black > president<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402987.html>, > as Toni Morrison once proclaimed, then Barack Obama may be our first woman > president. > > Phew. That was fun. Now, if you'll just keep those hatchets holstered and > hear me out. > > No, I'm not calling Obama a girlie president. But . . . he may be suffering > a rhetorical-testosterone deficit when it comes to dealing with crises, with > which he has been richly endowed. > > It isn't that he isn't > "cowboy<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001326.html>" > enough, as others have suggested. Aren't we done with that? It is that his > approach is feminine in a normative sense. That is, we perceive and appraise > him according to cultural expectations, and he's not exactly causing anxiety > in Alpha-maledom. > > We've come a long way gender-wise. Not so long ago, women would be censured > for speaking or writing in public. But cultural expectations are stickier > and sludgier than oil. Our enlightened human selves may want to eliminate > gender norms, but our lizard brains have a different agenda. > > Women, inarguably, still are punished for failing to adhere to gender norms > by acting "too masculine" or "not feminine enough." In her fascinating study > about "Hating Hillary," Karlyn Kohrs Campbell details the ways our former > first lady was chastised for the sin of talking like a lawyer and, by > extension, "like a man." > > Could it be that Obama is suffering from the inverse? > > When Morrison wrote in the New Yorker about Bill Clinton's "blackness," she > cited the characteristics he shared with the African American community: > > "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, > born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving > boy from Arkansas." > > If we accept that premise, even if unseriously proffered, then we could say > that Obama displays many tropes of femaleness. I say this in the nicest > possible way. I don't think that doing things a woman's way is evidence of > deficiency but, rather, suggests an evolutionary achievement. > > Nevertheless, we still do have certain cultural expectations, especially > related to leadership. When we ask questions about a politician's beliefs, > family or hobbies, we're looking for familiarity, what we can cite as > "normal" and therefore reassuring. > [image: Click > here!]<http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v8/39ca/0/0/%2a/v;224369301;5-0;0;48118607;4307-300/250;35807895/35825749/2;u=o_2a_5bCS_5dv1_7c25E4689A0515984B_2d60000171C009EEFD_5bCE_5d;%7Eaopt=0/ff/65/ff;%7Efdr=226160758;0-0;0;33246178;4307-300/250;37367075/37384953/1;u=o_2a_5bCS_5dv1_7c25E4689A0515984B_2d60000171C009EEFD_5bCE_5d;%7Eokv=;ad=bb;sz=300x250;pos=inline_bb;poe=yes;orbit=y;del=iframe;qcseg=D;qcseg=T;qcseg=1651;qcseg=1649;%7Eaopt=6/1/ff/1;%7Esscs=%3fhttp://www.fool.com/fool/free-report/18/sa-stocks10-display-52217.aspx?aid=3505&logvisit=y&source=esawshbox0860003> > > Generally speaking, men and women communicate > differently<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/07/AR2008010702043.html>. > Women tend to be coalition builders rather than mavericks (with the > occasional rogue exception). While men seek ways to measure themselves > against others, for reasons requiring no elaboration, women form circles and > talk it out. > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community < > [email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
