Sorry, Michele Bachmann. We Are Ready for a Female President. And It’s Partially Because of You.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/21/sorry-michele-bachmann-we-are-ready-for-a-female-president-and-it-s-partially-because-of-you.html

Politics
02.21.14
Sorry, Michele Bachmann. We Are Ready for a Female President. And It’s Partially Because of You.
Eleanor Clift
The Congresswoman from Loonyville says Americans can’t handle a woman in the Oval Office—never mind her own presidential run.


As the only woman to win a delegate to the Republican convention in almost forty years, Michele Bachmann now says many Americans “aren’t ready” for a female president. “I don’t think there is a pent-up desire,” she told syndicated columnist Cal Thomas last week.

I’ve been in Washington a long time, and I’m accustomed to hypocrisy, mendacity, and good old-fashioned flip-flopping. What I don’t understand is a woman who ran for president, who asked people to give her substantial sums of money to advance her campaign, who now says the country isn’t ready.

The most charitable explanation for Bachmann’s assertion is that the voters rejected her, she’s a woman, and she now thinks any female contender is likely to meet the same fate. It’s a pretty big leap from a single data point, but Bachmann’s remarks, whether well-intended or a partisan jab, do force into the open an ongoing discussion about Hillary Clinton, and the extent to which gender will influence her expected bid for the presidency in 2016.

Bachmann’s suggests that Clinton will be at a loss because electing a woman doesn’t achieve the historical stature of electing the first black president. “I think there was a cachet about having an African-American president because of guilt,” she said. “People don’t hold guilt for a woman.”

Bachmann could use a refresher course on the 2008 election, and the circumstances that helped elect Barack Obama. It was not because of liberal guilt, but because the country—or a broad swath of the country—was looking for hope and change. He’s not been as successful as many would like, in large part because of GOP intransigence that has turned an opposition party into an enemy camp.

So her hypothesis is wrong. The people who made up the coalition that voted for Obama were pleased to demonstrate they could vote for a black man, and that their country would elect a black man, but they would have voted for almost any Democrat. Obama was not elected on the strength of crossover votes from Republicans seeking to assuage their guilt. Sorry, Michele.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/21/sorry-michele-bachmann-we-are-ready-for-a-female-president-and-it-s-partially-because-of-you.html