Sharp-tongued New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd is frequently as unfeeling as male writers who casually attack female figures using gender-biased language. On top of that, she's never held back in her criticism of Hillary Clinton.
So last week when Dowd wrote about "two of the most celebrated and polarizing women in American political history," it was heartening to read her actually praising Hillary Clinton and acknowledging that the Secretary of State has earned her stripes as evinced by her recent appearance on Meet the Press:
Hillary, who so often in the past came across as aggrieved, paranoid and press-loathing, was confident and comfortable in her role as top diplomat, discussing the world with mastery....But Dowd isn't Dowd unless she's got someone in her sights to take down with wit and scorn, employing a writing style a reader once described as "a teenage diary" characterized by "loaded words combined with a mean spirit." And in this piece, she goes after Sarah Palin and her farewell speech with a compare-and-contrast approach:[A]t long last in a job that she earned on her own merits, [Hillary] has lost that irritating question mark she used to carry around above her head like a thunder cloud: What is Hillary owed because of what she gave up, and went through, for Bill?...
Obama advisers say privately that the president truly respects the woman he ran against, and that they have a good relationship, so good it has even surprised Hillary.
Sarah, who was once a blazingly confident media darling, came across as aggrieved, paranoid and press-loathing in her new role as bizarre babe-at-large, a Nixon with hair extensions....Much of Dowd's criticism of Palin continues to dance along that fine line of gender bias. Dowd states Palin "benefited from Hollywood casting techniques" and was chosen as McCain's running mate for the same reason that "movie directors have beautiful young actresses playing nuclear physicists and Harvard professors, knowing the fusion of sex appeal and a heavyweight profession will excite."Sarah once criticized Hillary for being a whiny presidential contender, arguing that women who want “to progress this country” should not complain about being under a “sharper microscope,” but instead should just work harder to prove themselves capable. Now Sarah is a whiny presidential contender, complaining about the sharper microscope that women wanting to progress this country are under and rejecting advice to work harder to prove herself capable.
There's a kernel of truth in what Dowd says. But if she could be less of a mean girl in her critiques -- and even-handedly assess Palin without her trademark gossipy barbs -- she'd serve herself and women everywhere more effectively by using competency rather than gender to drive her points home.
Photo of Maureen Dowd
© Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Comments
Maureen Dowd has a knack for twisting a phrase and at the same time cutting to the chase.
She uses her words like a artist on a canvass with a brutal honesty that makes her a superb writer.
She has colored Palin for what she is, an attractive middle aged women of little substance. If she was 40 lbs heavier she would be working as a cashier.
It sounds like you’re asking Maureen Dowd to dull the knife blade because she speaks or writes of her own gender. Like she needs to lighten up and give the gals a bit of a break. I think because she is a woman critiquing women (in these instances) she can go for it and be full-on honest with how she sees it. Disagreeing with her content is one thing, but not because the girls need to stick together.
geek,
what’s that cat sound, (pssss) that’s you and so many other females that just can’t seem to respectful of those who have made it in the political arena. It’s as if these women got a free ride and not hard work to get to the positions of the few women that have run for President/V-President of these Great United States of America. I guess that’s it, the great US of A
and freedom of speech and thought. Next
I also forgot to mention, Sonia Soto Mayor.
Not sure if Dowd has had the opportunity to attack her too. Oh the guise of writer vs just being plain mean spirited.
Seems this female Dowd falls into the catagory of prefering Male Dominance so she hides this in the guise of writing like them. Can you guess I just do NOT care for this particular female basher.
Lionel B. Fletcher said: “It is easy to shoot a skylark, but it is not so easy to produce its song.”
I’m not sure how, when, or why shredding political leaders ~ on both sides of the aisle ~ became such a national sport. It’s ugly. IMHO, it tells us more about the critic than the person being skewered.
Caroline -
It goes all the way back to the election of 1800 – where do you think the first whispers about Jefferson and Sally Hemmings came from?
And American Democracy is tame… listen in on British The House of Commons sometime. Do you think the Brits were any more demur when the Iron Lady was Prime Minister?
This is the game…
Can we stop pretending that what was done to Sarah Palin by the press was in any way normal or acceptable? In what universe? Plenty of women hate her because she is so lovely (yet still an Alaskan roughneck) but it was never about that – it was pure political and character assassination from the word “go.” And like dogs with a bone, the press still can’t LET her go, but now they’ll try to make us forget what happened. Forget it, the press showed their true colors and the depths to which they would stoop, and we aren’t forgetting. We’re tuning out and seeking alternate news sources now and the MSM just better get used to their plummetting numbers. Maybe they can get a bailout – it won’t be a conflict of interest because they’re all already in the tank for one party anyway.