[Dialogue] Drapes of Wrath

[Harry Wainwright]

 <http://www.nytimes.com/>  <http://www.nytimes.com/> The New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/> 

 




  _____  

November 11, 2006

Op-Ed Columnist

Drapes of Wrath 

By MAUREEN DOWD
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/mau
reendowd/index.html?inline=nyt-per> 

Washington

The new Democratic sweep conjures up an ancient image: Furies swooping down
to punish bullies.

Angry winged goddesses with dog heads, serpent hair and blood eyes, unmoved
by tears, prayer, sacrifice or nasty campaign ads, avenging offenses by
insolent transgressors.

This will be known as the year macho politics failed - mainly because it was
macho politics by marshmallow men. Voters were sick of phony swaggering,
blustering and bellicosity, absent competency and accountability. They were
ready to trade in the deadbeat Daddy party for the sheltering Mommy party. 

All the conservative sneering about a fem-lib from San Francisco who was
measuring the drapes for the speaker's office didn't work. Americans wanted
new drapes, and an Armani granny with a whip in charge.

A recent study found that the testosterone of American men has been dropping
for 20 years, but in Republican Washington, it was running amok, and not in
a good way. Men who had refused to go to an untenable war themselves were
now refusing to find an end to another untenable war that they had
recklessly started.

Republicans were oddly oblivious to the fact that they had turned into a
Thomas Nast cartoon: an unappetizing tableau of bloated, corrupt,
dissembling, feckless white hacks who were leaving kids unprotected. Tom
DeLay and Bob Ney sneaking out of Congress with dollar bills flying out of
their pockets. Denny Hastert playing Cardinal Bernard Law, shielding Mark
Foley. Rummy, cocky and obtuse as he presided over an imploding Iraq, while
failing to give young men and women in the military the armor, support and
strategy they needed to come home safely. Dick Cheney, vowing bullheadedly
to move "full speed ahead" on Iraq no matter what the voters decided. W.
frantically yelling about how Democrats would let the terrorists win, when
his lame-brained policies had spawned more terrorists.

After 9/11, Americans had responded to bellicosity, drawn to the image, as
old as the Western frontier myth, of the strong father protecting the home
from invaders. But this time, many voters, especially women, rejected the
rough Rovian scare and divide tactics. 

The macho poses and tough talk of the cowboy president were undercut when he
seemed flaccid in the face of the vicious Katrina and the vicious Iraq
insurgency.

Even former members of the administration conceded they were tired of the
muscle-bound style, longing for a more maternal approach to the globe. "We
were exporting our anger and our fear, hatred for what had happened,"
Richard Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state, said in a speech in
Australia, referring to the 9/11 attacks. He said America needed "to turn
another face to the world and get back to more traditional things, such as
the export of hope and opportunity and inspiration."

Talking about hope and opportunity and inspiration has propelled Barack
Obama into the presidential arena. His approach seems downright feminine
when compared with the Bushies, or even Hillary Clinton. He languidly poses
in fashion magazines, shares feelings with Oprah and dishes with the ladies
on "The View." After six years of chest-puffing, Senator Obama seems very
soothing.

Because of the power of female consumers, some marketing experts predict we
will end up a matriarchy. This year, women also flexed their muscle at the
polls, transformed into electoral Furies by the administration's stubborn
course in Iraq.

On Tuesday, 51 percent of the voters were women, and 55 percent of women
voted for the Democratic candidate. It was a revival of the style of Bill
Clinton, dubbed our first female president, who knitted together a winning
coalition of independents, moderates and suburbanites.

According to The Times's exit polls, women were more likely than men to want
some or all of the troops to be withdrawn from Iraq now, and 64 percent of
women said that the war in Iraq has not improved U.S. security.

The Senate has a new high of 16 women and the House has a new high of at
least 70, with a few races outstanding. Hillary's big win will strengthen
her presidential tentacles. 

Nancy Pelosi, who will be the first female speaker, softened her voice and
look as she cracked the whip on her undisciplined party, taking care not to
sound shrill. When she needs to, though, she says she can use her
"mother-of-five voice."

At least for the moment, W. isn't blustering and Cheney has lost his tubby
swagger. The president is trying to ride the Mommy vibe. He even offered
Madame Speaker help with those new drapes. 

 

Copyright <http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html>
2006 The New York Times Company <http://www.nytco.com/>  

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20061111/669008f7/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 1810 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : /pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20061111/669008f7/attachment-0001.gif