Oct 19, 2012 | Journalism, Politics, Sexism, Women |
Should there be any doubt now that women can handle presidential debates, as well as men? That they can conduct a live television event that lasts for 90 minutes before an audience of 60 million viewers? That they can be smart, bold and professional in dealing with the men who would be president and vice president of this great nation?
No. There should be no doubt at all. CNN’s Candy Crowley and ABC’s Martha Raddatz have finally banished that old false notion that “men are better” to the R-I-P grave it deserves.
Of course, after former PBS anchor Jim Lehrer lost control of the first presidential debate in Denver, Raddatz and Crowleywere masterful in comparison. Lehrer, the journalist who was moderating his 12th presidential debate, at times threw up his hands in exasperation as President Obama–but mostly Governor Mitt Romney–ignored the guidelines on time limits for statements and rebuttals. The testy rivals literally wrested the debate away from Lehrer and he was pretty much reduced to the role of a potted plant.
Raddatz then moderated the vice presidential debate where she had been forewarned that Vice President Joe Biden might engage in some “funny stuff.” Biden found Paul Ryan funny and he found himself funny, but under the firm hand of Raddatz, both men did as they were directed. The vice presidential debate was not only enlightening but also enjoyable.
Poor Candy Crowley. She had to moderate the second debate in the town hall format, which became the most contentious presidential matchup in recent memory. There she was with a nervous audience of 80 undecided voters and two men who can’t stand each other. Obama and Romney could not be more different: in family history, socioeconomic upbringing, political ideology, social status, and of course, color. The only thing they have in common is Harvard Law School and nice families.
Obama blew the first debate by appearing disengaged and bored with the whole process. Romney, with an energetic and aggressive style won the debate “by a mile.”
The President was determined to change the public’s perception of him by changing his style, his answers, and his enthusiasm for the second debate. Romney was ready for the Obama makeover. Candy Crowley was ready for both of them.
I wouldn’t have traded places with her for anything. The candidates entered the arena; yes that’s what the debate floor became. The two men were already seething despite the plastered smiles and phony handshake.
This was supposed to be a debate dominated by questions from the undecided voters, but it quickly deteriorated into something that looked like a cockfight.
Throughout the debate Candy was juggling so many balls in the air: listening to the producer in her ear; calling on audience members; watching the time; asking follow up questions; paying attention to the candidates’ answers; deciding who had the next question or rebuttal.
She was doing all this with an up-close and too personal display of male bravado. I was waiting for one of the candidates to beat his chest or jump on the other’s back. It was that nasty.
Candy, with the utmost politeness, struggled to remain in control despite being insulted by Governor Romney. Did she retreat like a shy violet or burst into tears? Not her. She prevailed.
Candy raised two sons. I have to believe that she harkened back to those days when her boys misbehaved and she had to discipline them. Now before her eyes were the President of theUnited Statesand the former Governor of Massachusetts circling each other defiantly like naughty boys. She finally said, with all the power she could muster in her voice, “Mr. Romney, sit down.” And he did.
In 2016, the Commission on Presidential Debates should not hesitate to seek out women to be moderators. Candy Crowley and Martha Raddatz have proved that the best women can stand on equal footing with the best men. Thank you, ladies.
Mar 8, 2012 | Politics, Women |
Barefoot, pregnant and staying home. That’s where Republican men apparently want to see women of the 21st Century. They have begun their endgame by chipping away at women’s reproductive rights. Predominantly white male-dominated legislatures in 20 states have enacted onerous restrictions on women’s health, including Texas, which now forces women, who want an abortion, to submit to ultrasound probes of their vaginas. Cruel and unusual punishment for getting pregnant? I think so.
Didn’t we take care of all this in the 1960’s and ‘70’s? The birth control pill—approved for use in 1960—gave a woman, for the first time ever, the ability to control when she wanted to have a baby. It brought about major social change.
In the 1970’s, didn’t the Women’s Liberation Movement protest in streets across the nation calling for equal rights and reproductive freedom? In 1973, didn’t the Supreme Court rule in Roe v. Wade, that a woman’s right to privacy make the near nationwide ban on abortions unconstitutional? Didn’t Anita Hill put a human face on the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace, which led to new laws protecting women from being called “sluts” or “prostitutes?”
“It’s déjà vu all over again.” Yogi Berra’s famous line comes to mind as I watch this absurd drama, over a woman’s right to control her body, unfold on the national stage. Are the Republicans crazy? Do they believe they can win a presidential election by alienating the majority of voters inAmerica? That’s right. Women go to the polls in larger numbers than men. And they vote differently, too. A study byGallupshowed that 41 percent of voting age women say they are Democrats while only 32 percent of men say they are.
President Obama can thank women voters for his 2008 victory. While 49 percent of men cast ballots for him, 56 percent of women voted for Obama.
I can imagine the President and his staff chortling in the Oval Office about the Republicans’ stumbling efforts to wage a “war on women.” They are already working on a strategy for the fall campaign targeting women. As the President said in his first press conference of the year, “The Democrats have a better story to tell.”
You can bet that women will remember Rush Limbaugh’s hateful radio speak about Sandra Fluke, and the tepid responses from the Republican candidates. Mitt Romney brushed off Rush’s remarks as “inappropriate” instead of denouncing them in the strongest language, such as “gross and unacceptable.”
Women aren’t going to forget the Senators who voted in favor of the Blunt amendment, which would allow employers to opt out of providing certain health care benefits for their employees if they have religious objections. Viagra, yes. Contraceptives, no.
The amendment failed, but barely, 51 to 48, pretty much along party lines. The only Republican voting against it was Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, who a short time later announced her decision not to seek reelection. She couldn’t stand it anymore.
The Republican Party and its puppet master Rush Limbaugh have picked the wrong fight.
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Dec 30, 2011 | Being Black |
Add mine to the plethora of Top Ten lists that inundate us at every year’s end. Mine is different. It looks at men and women of African-descent, who unwittingly gave the image of black people a boost or a bust.
Topping my winners and losers is the inimitable, would-be President of the United States HERMAN CAIN. I knew he wasn’t about anything for my people because he was running as a Tea Party Republican. My God. The sex allegations, his annoying “9-9-9” mantra, his international insult to the nation he called, “Uz-beki-beki-stan-stan,” his song of praise to pizza, his brain freeze on Libya, and ending his farewell to the campaign with a quote from the “Pokémon” movie. All of these gaffes had me laughing in stitches until I realized that what America was seeing was a black buffoon. Thank you, Mr. Cain for nothing and I hope Gloria “whupped yo’ ass.”
Leave it to women to give us pride. The Nobel Peace Prize was conferred on two Liberians: ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF, the first woman elected head of state of any country on the African continent; and LEYMAH GBOWEE, a peace activist credited with helping to end the civil war in Liberia and for promoting women’s rights. After spending a good deal of time in Africa, I always felt the women in African countries would be their salvation.
Still on a good note, what about J.R. MARTINEZ winning ABC’s popular “Dancing With the Stars?” I was so proud that the Iraqi war veteran beat out all the contestants, despite having suffered burns over 40 percent of his body, including his badly scarred face, which some could find disturbing. What Martinez had going for him were dancing ability, a warm personality and a desire to win, no matter what. An exploding IED didn’t stop him nor could Ricki Lake.
Far be it from me to deny a black man a show on a cable news channel but the REV. AL SHARPTON? He has been hosting his “POLITICSNATION” on MSNBC for several months, but face it: if he were a white man, a white woman, a black woman or some other black man, he would be fired. Television host he is not. The Rev. Al struggles with the teleprompter, stumbles on his words and he doesn’t talk to the audience but barks at it like an agitated beagle. One night Sharpton showed some documents with black marker covering up large portions of the text. He said the papers had been “didacted,” not redacted. Again and again he used variations of “didaction.” Sorry to say, he’s an embarrassment. Surely, there’s someone else.
One of them could have been RUSS MITCHELL or T.J. HOLMES. CBS lost the multi-talented Mitchell, who for years anchored the “Early Show” news, the Weekend editions of that show and the Evening News. He apparently didn’t figure into plans for revamped CBS news programming, so he left to become anchor of a local station in Cleveland. T.J. left CNN certainly disgusted by his twin woes…being stuck on weekends and the never-ending wait to be given a promotion by CNN. Now he is off to BET where he is slated to play a major role in bringing serious news to the Black Entertainment network. Here’s wishing them both success. I expect they will continue to bring distinction to the television news industry.
The much-ballyhooed OPRAH WINFREY Network (OWN) seems to be headed for a bust. The Queen of Daytime TV, who was just about Queen of America, started her network a year ago, this coming January 1st. It was a tough year. Everything Oprah touches does not turn to gold. Her loyal fans did not tune in. Ratings were so low that Discovery Communications invested a quarter of a billion dollars into the fledgling network. Winfrey acknowledged that, “mistakes were made.” She’s optimistic about 2012 when she plans to produce and broadcast programs, which take her “on the road.” But OWN left a chink in Oprah’s formidable armor.
Emerson College in Boston, where I teach journalism, made history by naming its first black president, DR. LEE PELTON. The Board of Trustees appointed the Harvard-educated former president of Portland, Oregon’s Willamette University, to perhaps settle some scores. Before he arrived there had been two years of campus turmoil over the paucity of faculty members of color and the threat of lawsuits by two black professors who were denied tenure. Pelton started the job last July and is beginning to win over those who had doubts about the scholarship of black faculty and students.
Last, but not least, PRESIDENT OBAMA. It’s been a year of pounding from the right, recalcitrance by the Republican-dominated House, grindingly slow economic recovery, and prospects of a tough re-election campaign. But he has managed to keep a “cool hand.” He killed Osama bin Laden and several other Al Qaeda leaders. He brought our troops home from Iraq. The Republicans blinked and passed his bill continuing middle class tax breaks and extended unemployment benefits. So, he didn’t accomplish all he promised but admit it: he’s done a helluva lot under the circumstances. Thank you, Mr. President for giving not just black Americans, but all Americans a much-needed boost.
Have a healthy and Happy New Year.
Dec 16, 2010 | Politics |
It was an unbelievable sight. The Democratic President of the United States wandering into the White House Press Room followed closely by the former Democratic President of the United States. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton looked awkward as they situated themselves on the riser behind the podium.
The White House Press Corps knew that the two hottest tickets in the Democratic Party had a meeting, but they never expected what unfolded next. Reporters were hastily rounded up by press officers and told to go to the Briefing Room.
President Obama wanted everybody to know that President Clinton supported the deal—some would call the “unholy” deal—he made with Republican congressional leaders to extend tax cuts for the rich in exchange for extending unemployment benefits for the jobless.
It seemed of utmost importance that President Obama spread the word that the popular Bill Clinton agreed that Obama had negotiated the best deal he could get. Mr. Clinton said it might even work to improve the economy over the long term. But tax cuts for the rich? It’s alien to everything the Democratic Party has stood for historically.
But then came the biggest shock of all. President Obama left President Clinton in charge of the briefing to field reporters’ questions, because he said he had to go to a Christmas party. What??? He left the Grand Master of Communication to explain his bewildering cave to the Republican leadership; something Mr. Obama couldn’t make the public understand.
After that spectacle I was reminded of the great Louis Armstrong. Throughout the years Satchmo frequently said, every black man had to have a white boss to put his hand on his shoulder and who would say, “This is my n—–.” The words can be found in a biography published in 1983 called Louis Armstrong: An American Genius, by James Lincoln Collier.
Of course, Armstrong was born in the segregated South, lived under Jim Crow laws, and fought to get his music off the “chittlin’ circuit” into the jazz mainstream. He thought the only way he could do that was to have a powerful white man on his side.
Armstrong said, “If a Negro had the proper white man to reach the law and say, ‘What the hell you mean, locking up my n—–?’ Then quite naturally the law would walk him free.”
That was Louis Armstrong’s reality. But his words from long ago pricked my consciousness when I saw the Obama-Clinton dog and pony show at the White House.
Now, I’m not calling President Obama the n-word, nor am I calling President Clinton his white boss. I do not demean the real accomplishments the President has made over the past two years. I’m just saying…I’m just saying that by trotting out Mr. Clinton, President Obama did nothing to help the growing view our leader is weak. Republicans who want nothing more than to see his presidency fail, are dragging him around like “Bo” with a ragdoll. The President doesn’t appear large and in charge and he doesn’t seem to be able to get down with the people.
Barack Obama has only 2 years left. His New Year’s resolution should be to find his spine.
Nov 20, 2010 | Politics, Republicans |
No, they di-int! Yes, they did. Do Republican leaders have any ounce
of civility left? Obviously they don’t when it comes to dealing with
President Obama.
After the Democrats got what the President even called a “shellacking”
in the mid-term elections, Mr. Obama invited House and Senate leaders
from both parties to a meeting on November 18th and then dinner in his
home. Not just the White House, but dinner in the family living quarters
on the second floor of the mansion. Other than sleeping overnight in the
Lincoln Bedroom, that’s probably one of the most coveted invitations
you can receive from a president.
Mr. Obama said he was hosting the dinner to foster bipartisanship in
preparation for the January seating of the new 112th Congress, a session
in which the Republicans will have substantial control of the House,
and the Democrats, a slim majority in the Senate. The dinner was to be
a “can’t we all get along” affair.
But the Republicans snubbed the President of the United States! They
said they were too busy to attend, other pressing business and prior
engagements, you know. Republican leaders suggested November 30th
would be a date more suitable for them.
Get it? The Republicans will make the President wait. They will set the
agenda and its timetable. Can you imagine what the next two years are
going to be like?
I am sick of President Obama trying to reach out to the other party. He
has compromised, accommodated, negotiated and placated, and what
has he gotten in return? Nothing. Did he forget that Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell said after the mid terms that his primary goal
is to make Obama a one-term president and repeal the hard-fought
health care reform law? President Obama should be too busy for him
on November 30th.
It was my understanding that people voted in the mid term elections for
change, but change, which would provide them jobs, keep them in their
homes, and make their lives a little easier. The majority didn’t say, “Give
us our country back,” as if Mr. Obama took it to some presidential
hideaway to perform unspeakable acts upon it.
President Obama–who admittedly hasn’t done the best job of
communicating with the American people about the value of his
programs–needs to take off his finely tailored leather gloves and hit
back at the recalcitrant Republicans with every presidential power
at his disposal. He needs to spend more time in the bully pulpit:
holding press conferences, going out on the hustings and making news
every day. He should no longer play “Mr. Nice Guy” to those who are
determined to bring him down and make the first black president in
history, a failure.
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