Careful, Joe! "Smart Woman" Jokes a Dicey Game
To begin with, let me say that Joe Biden was not my first choice for the number-two spot on the Democrats' ticket. First, he's not a woman. Second, he didn't do the job when it was his turn to grill the two most dangerous Supreme Court nominees (now justices) in recent times: Samuel Alito and John Roberts. Third, he's prone to making gaffes.
That said, Biden did a reasonably good job today in Springfield, Illinois, showing what he brings to the Obama campaign -- until he got the end. Speaking of his wife, Jill, he described her as drop-dead gorgeous. Nothing wrong with that. Who wouldn't want to be described as such by his or her partner? Then he said, that she "has her doctorate degree, and that's a problem."
It was obviously a failed attempt at humor. Or perhaps I'm just a humorless feminist. Either way, one can only hope this isn't a harbinger of gaffes to come.
The best part? Without a doubt, the sight of Michelle Obama and Jill Biden embracing, hand-holding and seeming to genuinely enjoy each other's company. How often do we get to see a black woman and a white woman like that? Black and white women have waded through a torrent of troubled waters in America. We've never quite recovered from the sexual politics of the plantation. Looking at the contenders for First and Second Lady, I caught a glimmer of redemption.
Follow Adele Stan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/addiestan
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Well he didn't call her a c****t like McCain allegedly called his wife.
Yup, you surely need to work on your sense of humour. Biden said he had a gorgeous wife and the comment you complain about was clearly a joke that fell flat and was meant to portray Mrs Biden as smarter than he is.
For men, a woman with a PhD IS a problem. I'm not insulted because it's the truth and yet he still married her. He got over it, mostly. There is such a thing as a woman being too smart. You can feel insulted. I can resent it all I want. Nonetheless, it is what it is.
Single PhD.
See Paul Peete's Profile
For some men, that is. I have no problem with intelligent women. I think men who do are weak.
They ARE weak. Yep. But I haven't met this un-weak kind. Not in anyone with was a) nice and b) unmarried. Might as well be talking about a unicorn imo.
Are you trying to prove something? Some men don't have to "get over it". Some men seek out smart women. I doubt Joe had to "get over it". He was joking. He is a freakin US Senator for goodness sakes. By whom does he feel threatened?
Sounds lonely.
I think part of the problem is, older couples with smart woman had to make up their own rules. Good old "one leads, one admires" does not work. Some people manage that with humorous sparring. They dont ignore the cliches, they make fun of it. If a man loses an argument, he feels losing face. Until he exaggerates the loosing mimics and sulks "womands with degrees.."
Or freedom is another word for nothing left to lose. Truth is it's both freedom and loneliness.
It was not a failed attempt, it was a light-humored compliment, you need to lighten up.
It's very easy to land on the extreme side of political correctness.
Even if you didn't find it funny there was nothing negative implied.
That's just the way Joe is; get off his back, please.
"It was obviously a failed attempt at humor. Or perhaps I'm just a humorless feminist."
It's both.
Good call
You seriously need a sense of humor. Lame joke, sure. Swipe at intelligent women? Take it easy.
McCane wife beating jokes are OK though?
Another overly sensitive woman! What a surprise.
Biden never quite finished the joke. What he probably meant was that she's more educated than him.
I'm so sick of overly sensitive women! No wonder all my friends are men.
All your friends are men because you want it that way. Unless you're saying ALL women are overly sensitive.
I agree with your assesment of being humorless. If a person cannot joke about how their spouse reminds them who is smarter then we got bigger problems.
You ARE overly sensitive. Part of being a feminist, is accepting that you are feminine..
THAT is what makes a great feminist..
Quote: "accepting a woman's role in society"
Yeesh. I'll agree that Ms. Stan's response to Joe Biden's lame joke shows a certain inability to get past, well, lame jokes. But where did you get the idea she's lost her femininity or that she's trying to compete with men or that she's intolerant of difference?
As for "woman's role in society," thankfully, there are now any number of roles to choose from and, as always, the option of defining your own role and charting your own course. That goes for women as well as men.
that reminds of me of a t-shirt i used to see sometimes back in the 70s:
a woman's place is in the house
and senate
I suppose if you're a humorless feminist, then self-deprecating humor from a man who came to Washington with civil rights as his primary concern and wrote the ground breaking Violence Against Women Act, might be a little hard to get. But, if you're a human being first and then a feminist, civil rights advocate or what have you, then you probably aren't at all afraid of what Joe Biden might say because you know where his heart is. My point? Can we PLEASE focus here people? This slicing and dicing is exactly what the opposition wants us to be doing.
Humorless feminist? Hey, I'm a feminist and I'm a f**king scream!
So am I! I was referring to Adele's comment that SHE may be a humorless feminist. And, her post seems to confirm that concern.
True.
Yes, I caught that, too. And, yes, obviously it was an attempt at humor (not quite sure "the problem" so not quite sure the joke--I'm guessing it's of the "my wife is smarter than I am" variety which I always find phony anyway. Let's hope that's the end of THAT!)
Biden may have some generational issues, some residual race biases, some residual sexism (helped by being married to a strong, accomplished woman). But I think he can get past all that--and NO ONE on the VP list was perfect in every respect (or even, imo, any BETTER--not even my own #1 choice, Wes Clark).
Biden needs a little tweaking but he's got the ability to be just what we've been hoping for--a "bad cop" to Obama's "good" one.
If he doesn't make any MAJOR gaffes in the coming weeks, he'll also be a real asset in governing, not only with insights on foreign leaders, but also in getting legislation through Congress (hopefully with Durbin as a new majority leader).
And, yes, I loved the image of Michelle and Jill, too. It would be great for America to see real interracial friends in the WH (Bush and Condi don't count--just because I make it a policy to discount everything Bush does).
He was great yesterday, overall,
Nothing would make me happier than for the Dems to replace Reid. (with the exception of the coming Obama/Biden victory)
I think what he meant by that is that his wife is smarter than he is, and he knows it.
I didn't see anything wrong with the comment.
biden is a good pick and he's going to do a good job.
"PERHAPS I'm just a humorless feminist"?? you've left no doubt about that.
One of the biggest problems facing this ticket is dealing with the sexist stuff directed to Clinton duing the primaries. There was a ton of it. Much of it revolved around morons who read teleprompters being afraid of smart women.
Biden's got a history of saying incredibly dumb things. The IQ remark ("my IQ is higher than yours" in response to a question), the unbelievable gaffe about how surprising it was that Obama knew how to bathe and groom himself early in this primary cycle.
In that context of eating shoe leather, a remark that probably works well at a cocktail party, where Biden's wife can slap him upside the head after he trots the schtick out does NOT work on the campaign trail. Especially not this year.
If you want this ticket to have a chance, you should hope Obama's team took Biden out to the shed after this and are teaching him to avoid saying anything off the cuff, and to run everything through grownups before he says it. The voters who are most pissed off about Clinton getting outmaneuvered are also those most likely to take offense at this.
Telling them "oh, you're a stereotypical humorless feminists" reinforces a whole lot of the things they're already seeing as problematic.
Biden occasionally says something stupid, he apologizes, then we all move on. It would be a serious mistake for the Obama campaign to try to muzzle him. He comes out with some of his best stuff off-the-cuff, such as the "noun, verb, 9/11" line about Giuliani. That was brilliant!
Try lightening up just a bit. There are far more serious things to worry about, like which direction this country is headed.
Perhaps I read too literally, but I saw this comment as a clever use of humor to reflect on the many who reject intelligence and science as a path toward solving our personal, family, community, and national problems. Jill's PhD is not a problem for her, for him, or for us, but the 30 percent of America rejecting science in favor of fundamentalism may create a problem for Democratic electability.
Oddly, in a previous era, his comment, "gorgeous", would have been rejected as labeling a woman by a meaningless, unearned, genetic characteristic, rather than one measuring her true worth.
Lighten up. Even "fanaticism in search of virtue" may be a vice - distorting Barry Goldwater's famous line.
Yes, we live in a country that has a lot of ppl willing to roll in manure because of their anti-intel
There were two gaffes in the speeches yesterday.
The joke Biden made about his wife's doctorate being a problem was CLEARLY a self-deprecating, and folksy way to suggest Jill is the smarter one in the household.
I understand that a lot of women out there wish Hillary would've won the nomination and I have no doubt that we will soon see a female president, but in this historic election, I am thankful that two men on the democratic ticket have strong, intelligent women to turn to for guidance through the election and hopefully the presidency.
You are of course entitled to your opinion, but in this case, I feel like you are crying wolf, and when you decide to sound off against what most people interpret as benign folksiness, you cheapen the charge of sexism.
Yeah, doofy attempt at self-deprecating humor.
And for the record...I see white women and black women like this all the time...but then, I do live in Delaware, maybe we are ahead of the game? It felt like it today!
Go Bidens! Great family.
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