and it came to him there, at the telephone, in a whirlwind of fire and glory;
and to die for her, he felt,
was to have lived and loved well.
From FR's Word For The Day.
Posted on 01/29/2004 1:27:27 PM PST by NorCoGOP
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- President Bush wound up last week's State of the Union address by recounting a letter he received from a 10-year-old Lincoln, R.I., girl who had written to him expressing a desire to help "save our country." Whereas Bush's commentary earlier in the night on homeland security sent the cameras gazing on Secretary Tom Ridge, the President's discussion of young Ashley Pearson's letter, no doubt intended to be the night's most heartwarming moment, precipitated a screen shot of Laura Bush, glowing and clapping.
The camera's gaze on Mrs. Bush at that moment reaffirmed the image of her as the consummate First Lady: A symbol of warm, unthreatening, subjugated June Cleaver-style wifehood, who smiles primly at adorable letters, while her man -- and ours -- leads us fearlessly into war. In 2004, it is still difficult to conjure up in the public imagination anything but the same old image of a manly president with an unstintingly devoted first lady at his side. Consider the Jan. 13 New York Times story on the unwillingness of Dr. Judith Steinberg Dean, wife of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, to abandon her medical practice for the campaign trail. The story appeared, disturbingly, on the paper of record's first page, with reporter Jodi Wilgoren spilling nearly 1,700 words worth of ink on the subject.
Even worse was the media firestorm that ensued and the manipulation of the "story" by other candidates for their own political gain. On the night of the Iowa caucuses, John Kerry declared that a candidate "cannot run for president without the support of his family," apparently ruling out the idea that Dr. Steinberg could support her husband while remaining devoted to her own job. By this time, Dr. Steinberg Dean had made her first and only trip to Iowa, right before the caucuses, so her non-presence on the trail would not loom too large. But the trip only gave the pundit circle more to crow about.
What is supposed to shock us even more than Judith Steinberg Dean's hesitation to campaign is her declared intention to continue practicing medicine if her husband wins the presidency. Even Hillary Clinton, demonized as she was by the Right, at least threw herself fully into the role of first lady rather than continue to practice law.
Then again, Clinton wanted to play a major role in crafting policy, which was nearly as outrageous as not wanting to be first lady at all. Laura Bush, conversely, provides the perfect norm between uninterested and over-involved. "A lot of the business of the presidency occurs through interpersonal relations, and the first lady needs to be by the husband's side," Penn State professor and first lady expert Molly Meijer Wertheimer told The Washington Post. "Remember when Laura Bush spent all that time down at the ranch in Crawford early on, and people wondered what she was doing there? Well, she was creating a place that was a comfortable retreat, and now a great deal of diplomacy has taken place there."
Pundits used Gov. Dean's disappointing third-place finish in Iowa to once again proclaim in careful code that voters needed to see his "softer" side. And so the candidate quickly shifted gears, from saying that he would not use his wife as a prop on the campaign trail, to appearing with her on ABC's "Primetime" with Diane Sawyer. Wilgoren of the Times now wrote, "Mrs. Dean sat, smiling wide in a brick-red sweater set, as her husband fielded most of Ms. Sawyer's questions on topics including Saddam Hussein and the couple's first date."
Not only did we get to hear about the Dean courtship, but we also got a little reassurance that Judy, in spite of her careerism, knows her place: Look at that adorable sweater set! Look how she sits there with her hands folded while he does all the talking! The Times even noted that the female Dr. Dean even made the rare decision to wear lipstick and redden her cheeks, but there was not a word of description of how her husband was dressed.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd was disturbed by a very different image of Dr. Steinberg Dean in a photo accompanying Wilgoren's first article. "In worn jeans and old sneakers, the shy and retiring Dr. Judith Steinberg Dean looked like a crunchy Vermont hippie," Dowd wrote, "blithely uncoiffed, unadorned, unstyled and unconcerned about not being at her husband's side -- the anti-Laura. You could easily imagine the din of Rush Limbaugh and Co. demonizing her as a counterculture fem-lib role model for the blue states."
Judith Steinberg Dean did take again to the campaign trail this weekend, in the final days before the New Hampshire primary. She received attention in Monday's Providence Journal, though with a more encouraging twist: Reporter Scott MacKay suggested that the rarity of her campaigning, explained as it was by family and job responsibilities, might make women voters across the state identify with her situation and possibly help Gov. Dean's candidacy. Still, like Wilgoren before him, MacKay thought it necessary to mention Judith Dean's clothing -- another sweater set -- but noted only what her husband said, not what he wore.
and ping to the rest of ya!
And a very unappealing prop at that - I'm sorry, but voters look at BOTH of them, and no one will want a "Plain Jane" first lady.
Appearance does count for something in campaigns, as superficial as it sounds.
I highly doubt we want a first lady hosting state dinners and other White House functions whose guests reactions to the same is "ewww!" Evil though she is, even Hillary managed to have "image" or "presence" as first lady - Mrs. Dean doesn't even come close....you'd almost expect to smell petrouli oil in her presence....
From FR's Word For The Day.
She's actually better then Hillary in that she's not some power hungry mad woman, she just wants to practise medicine and be left alone.
Part of me thinks she might just be to good for him. Maybe she should just leave him.
Your doubts are warranted, however, she has made it clear, that she wouldn't be following any at all of the traditional first lady duties. She has made it clear (and until mad howie forced her to actually show her face and campaign) that all she wants to do is practise medicine and be with the family.
Ironically, her anti-hillary appeal is that she's not a power hungry monster, she comes across as the smarter Dean. Is she naive? Probably, but the fact is, she is pretty likable, she just wants to "treat the sick and help heal people". She could even appeal to moderate women as somone who won't subjegated by there husbands job, and who espouces choice by choosing to work and practice medicine.
There are of course natural problems here, but its highly unlikely they would be campaign weaknesses as much as they would be strenghts.
She operated on the premise that "this too shall pass."
She has never been a hostess. When Dean was head of the Governor's Association, he had Susan Bayh, wife of then-Governor Bayh, hostess the annual meeting. I thought this an odd choice, myself, since Susan is a knock-out, photgenic blonde. It seems he could have contacted a New England First Lady, but who knows?
The position of the First Lady (not First Wifey as you so condescendingly put it) has evolved into an unofficial but important part of any administration. The First Lady does more than hostess dinners. She is in charge of the White House Christmas, Easter Egg Roll, and a host of other traditional White House events. She also uses her position in order to advocate one or two important causes (as Laura Bush does for reading and literacy).
Granted, the country could function without this role, but we would be the poorer for it.
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