Salon: Stand By Your Man ’04 (Judy Dean vs Diane Sawyer)

(snip)

Steinberg Dean is toothy; she doesn't seem to use much hair product; her face shows her age. It was both fun and horrifying to imagine her dismay at being set on by a team of eager ABC makeup artists, dying to go where only Noxzema has been before. It was also sad to watch her being forced to look at a photo -- the only photo? -- of Laura Bush in evening wear. Sawyer, who didn't even bother to disguise her doubts, wondered aloud how the doctor might feel about having to dress up or look pretty in public.

But when Steinberg Dean opened her mouth to reassure Mrs. Mike Nichols, who was pretending to be confused about that crazy "feminist who uses her maiden name professionally and her married name personally" thing, "I'm Judy Dean," it was clear that Judy was going to be just fine. Yeah, her voice is nasal and straight out of Long Island. She sounded like my mom's best friend Diane, or as one friend said, "she's like my gynecologist from high school."

For someone who has never been in front of the camera before, she was remarkably cool. She giggled, and smiled a warm grin that lit up her whole face, exposed her healthy overbite, and had nothing in common with the icily perfect smiles of Elizabeth Dole or Nancy Reagan. She knew to look at the camera steadily; she didn't stammer or stutter; when she spoke to or about her husband, she looked at him. When cornered about whether or not he was "overcoming his reluctance" to ask his wife to join the campaign trail, he said he'd done that when he asked her to come to Iowa; he said he'd noticed that she'd actually had an OK time, and it looked like she agreed with him.

Dean should have been nervous about trotting this shy, untrained fawn into the blinking TV lights. He should have been worried that she would screw up; he should have been eager to maintain control of the interview. But he didn't interrupt her -- he let her talk until she was done with whatever she had to say. He looked at her with respect, nodded in agreement, and always checked to see if she had something to say before beginning to speak himself. It was clear that Howard Dean trusted his wife.

more…
http://salon.com/mwt/feature/2004/01/23/judy/index.html