6 NEWS Controversy of the week
Warren: Did sexism doom her campaign?
“Maybe next time, ladies,” said
Michelle Cottle in The New York
Times. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren
suspended her presidential campaign
last week, it formalized the collapse
of “the most diverse presidential field
in history” to a pair of 70-something
white men, and delivered a depressing
reminder of “the challenges women
candidates still confront in their quest
to shatter the presidential glass ceil-
ing.” By any measure, the eloquent
and passionate Warren dominated
the Democratic debates. Her policy
proposals put her rivals’ to shame,
both in number and in detail. Most
valuably, she had an Obama-like gift
for translating complex problems into
clear moral choices that could electrify a crowd. Inevitably, she
was dismissed as too “shrill,” “strident,” and “hectoring,” even
as many voters fell back on the familiar protestation “Of course,
I’d support a woman for president; just not that woman.” All
voters demand of a woman running for president, said Elie Mystal
in TheNation.com, is that she be “strong, sweet, tough, flexible,
brilliant, accessible, fiery, motherly, and attractive, but not dis-
tractingly so, all at the same time.” It’s undeniable: “Sexism sank
Elizabeth Warren.”
That’s strange, said Katie Herzog in Reason.com. I could have
sworn Democrats nominated a woman as recently as 2016, and that
she famously beat her opponent by 3 million votes in the general
election. Warren actually shot past Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to
the top of the polls in October, but
then she made a catastrophic “series
of political miscalculations,” the
most damaging being an egregious
flip-flop on Medicare for All. That
tortured attempt to win over Bernie
Sanders supporters without losing the
moderates alienated both moderates
and progressives in one fell swoop. It
also made Warren seem inauthentic.
Warren is no doubt brilliant, said Jill
Lawrence in USA Today, but most
Democrats aren’t looking for a far-
left “disrupter” who would “shake
things up.” They’re “weary, anxious,
and looking for salve” after four
years of President Trump.Warren’s fans find her terrible performance in the primaries
incomprehensible, said Christine Rosen in CommentaryMagazine
.com. To “well-educated, progressive-leaning white people”—
a demographic that happens to include many women opinion
writers—a passionate, articulate Harvard professor with stacks
of policy proposals was a “fever dream of a presidential candi-
date” come to life. But those very same traits were a turnoff to
the “nonwhite, non–college educated” Democrats who dominate
the primary electorate. Warren’s haughty academic demeanor and
her “scolding” manner turned off voters outside the coastal elites,
said Joanna Weiss in Politico.com. Yes, there may be some sexism
in that reaction, but American politics is having “an anti-elitist
moment.” Warren’s attempts to sound “folksy” came off as fake
and condescending.Only in America
QAn Alabama lawmaker
has proposed lifting a ban
on yoga in public schools.
Democratic state Rep. Jeremy
Gray wants to repeal a 1993
law that called yoga a “Hindu
philosophy” and barred it.
Yoga, Gray insists, is “a great
way to work on your posture,
flexibility, and balance and
to strengthen your core.” To
mollify opponents, his bill
requires that yoga be taught
with English terminology.
QA Louisiana high school has
backed off its demand that all
prom dresses be approved in
advance. Dr. Kim Pen dle ton,
principal of South wood High
School in Shreve port, asked
for photos of all proposed
female prom attire, warn-
ing that only “wholesome”
dresses that do not show
“excess cleavage” would be
permitted. The school district
canceled the policy after pub-
lic pushback.Russia steps up
election meddling
The Russian government is
inciting racial violence to sow
chaos in the U.S., The New
York Times reported this week.
Ahead of the 2016 election,
the Russian government cre-
ated fake Black Lives Matter
groups and sought to depress
black voter turnout in order to
benefit President Trump. This
year, officials believe Russia is
trying to goad white suprema-
cists and black extremists
into violence, using private
Facebook groups and fringe
message boards to avoid
detection. Intelligence officials
told Congress last month that
Russia is again seeking to
boost Trump, but backed off
that assessment this week and
said that Russia had no clear
favorite after a furious Trump
fired his national intelligence
chief, Joseph Maguire.Castelvetro, Italy, where for three hours red wine flowed from
domestic faucets, following a malfunction at a local winery. “At a
time where we have very little to smile about, I’m glad we brought
some levity to others,” said Deputy Mayor Giorgia Mezzacqui,
whose town is near the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus outbreak.
Automation, with the news that the Lehigh, Pa., YMCA is
installing a robot lifeguard at its swimming pool that uses artifi-
cial intelligence to detect if a swimmer is at risk of drowning. The
device issues a high-pitched alert if it “sees” someone in trouble.
Legacy media, after the Australian newspaper NT News printed
a special edition with eight blank pages for use as toilet paper, cur-
rently in short supply due to coronavirus-inspired hoarding.Contrition, after former President Bill Clinton explained in an
upcoming documentary on Hillary Clinton that he began his affair
with Monica Lewinsky as a way “to manage my anxieties.”
Home remedies, after the French government was forced to
debunk an online rumor that snorting cocaine “kills” the corona-
virus. Actually, said the French health ministry, cocaine is “an
addictive drug that causes serious side effects.”
Spiking the football, after Maisie, a wire-haired dachshund
who won Best in Show at Britain’s Crufts dog show, paused during
her victory lap to defecate on the show-ring floor. “It’s something
you dream of and you don’t ever think will happen,” said Maisie’s
owner, Kim McCalmont, referring to the first of those events.Good week for:
Bad week for:
GettyA plan for everything, except winning over voters