'Global Expectation'                     [Excelsior, Mexico]

Le Temps, Switzerland

Hillary: The Risk of Breaking

With Her 'Iron Lady' Image

"All indications are that after her defeat in Iowa, she seems to have cracked. But for a female politician, it may also prove a persistent difficulty to show that her expression of emotion is not a measure of her incompetence."

By Stéphane Bussard

Translated By Kate Davis

January 10, 2008

Switzerland - Le Temps - Original Article (French)

Will the sudden outpouring of emotion from Hillary Clinton be a turning point in the American presidential campaign? Under the bright lights a few hours before the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, the senator from New York expressed her commitment to America with a tremor in her voice and eyes on the verge of tears WATCH . The country’s media has dissected this moment in the battle for the Democratic nomination, since up to that point, Hillary Clinton was perceived as a cold and calculating politician -  an attitude that contrasted with those of Barack Obama or John Edwards, who don’t hesitate to talk openly of their family woes. Now Hillary has broken with the image of an American Iron Lady, stoic in the face of her health care reform failure or the scandal of the Lewinsky affair. This radical change in style, whether spontaneous or calculated, played a role in the candidate’s victory, which contradicted very unfavorable polls. But it doesn’t explain everything.

Fascinated by Obama, who in comparison to George Bush most fundamentally reflects a new beginning, we too-hastily brushed aside the aspects related to race and gender. According to Gloria Steinem, America's leading feminist figure, Hillary Clinton could never have been able to adopt the public style of Obama - or of her husband Bill - without provoking the ire of the Washington establishment. When a woman cries in public, it's a sign of weakness. For a man, it is a sign of courage.

Hillary’s toughness could perhaps be a result of a pathological thirst for power. All indications are that after her defeat in Iowa, she seems to have cracked. But for a female politician, it may also prove a persistent difficulty to show that her expression of emotion is not a measure of her incompetence. Her support for the Iraq War is, according to some, is a way to prove her “masculinity.”  

The drama of the Clinton-Obama duel is that it pits race and gender against one another - two factors that are handicaps on the path to being elected to higher office. The massive turnout of women for Hillary in New Hampshire exposes a feminine rebellion - after the Iowa caucus, where only 30 percent of women voted for the senator.

A woman or Black man? For Democrats, the choice is Cornelian.

[Editor's Note: This is a literary reference to French tragedian Pierre Corneille, and refers to a situation where love and duty conflict ].

SEE ALSO:

Financial Times Deutschland, Germany

Hillary's Quest: Between

Tears and the Throne …

http://worldmeets.us/financialtimesdeutschland000050.shtml

Click Here for French Version