Can we please just stop playing the 'man card'?

Cross posting from GDP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512069129

Donald Trump’s warning that Hillary Clinton supporters should not play the “woman card” in this election has been generating a slow burn in my psyche. The real problem is that the “man card” has been played for so many centuries — in businesses, homes, schools, religious institutions and governing bodies — that when we consider a candidate for our highest office, even many women are incapable of judging a female candidate’s qualities without comparing her to all the male-only candidates in America’s 240-year history.

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Instead of facing these prejudices, we make up all sorts of bogus reasons why it’s just this particular candidate that we are not comfortable with:

She’s too establishment. What could be more establishment than electing another male president? Isn’t 44 in a row glaring enough evidence of gender inequity in our society?

You can’t trust her. Give me a break. We’ve observed this woman for 25 years. What’s not to trust? We’ve observed her as first lady — both for a governor and a president — as a senator, the secretary of state, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a supporter of human rights, a lawyer. She has devoted her life to public service. She sat for hours on end testifying about her personal e-mail system that she used as secretary of state — which, incidentally, was also the practice of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, but you don’t see them testifying about it before congressional committees ad nauseam.

She’s too guarded. You would be a little circumspect about what you said and how you said it, too, if you had suffered 25 years of brutal verbal abuse, lack of respect and outright degradation by the opposing party. If I were she, I’d be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Wouldn’t you prefer a president who thinks about the ramifications of her statements before she speaks, rather than someone who blurts out what is expedient at the moment, then changes his stance, so that you can never rely on what he says?

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She’s not exciting, it’s the tone of her voice, her pantsuits, etc. Come on, folks. We are interviewing candidates for the most important office in the United States, arguably the most important world leader. We are not interviewing a candidate for “The Bachelorette” or “The Apprentice.” Do you want someone who has traveled to 112 countries, met and established rapport with their leaders, or someone who doesn’t even know the names of these leaders or what country they are from?

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I wonder if anyone is keeping track of the amount of time on all of the news stations that is being spent on each candidate. I observe glaring differences that constitute a subtle but definite indication of preference given to male candidates, in a media establishment that is substantially owned and run by males.

It is high time we stop playing the man card.

Coleen Carlstedt-Johnson is a retired attorney in Brooklyn Park, MN

http://www.startribune.com/can-we-please-just-stop-playing-the-man-card/380888531/