The allegedly bluest of blue states is like the Gobi Desert for female statewide candidates.
No woman has ever been elected governor of Massachusetts. Jane Swift held the post as acting governor in 2001, but only after Paul Cellucci resigned. She was quickly dumped by the Mass. GOP when Mitt Romney said he wanted the job; Swift was put out on the doorstep with the trash.
When Lt. Governor Evelyn Murphy ran for governor in 1990, pictures were published of her jogging, and much discussion ensued about her thighs. She had a fine record and wonderful policy papers. Do quads really matter in politics? Apparently, if they belong to a woman.
No woman has ever been elected senator from the Bay State. Martha Coakley was supposed to be a shoo-in for Ted Kennedy's seat, but Scott Brown showed up with his pickup truck, great looks and friendly demeanor. Coakley, a sharp prosecutor and the state's attorney general, ran a lackluster campaign. The voters apparently thought she'd rather slap cuffs on their hands then shake them.
But many Democratic women have taken heart from Elizabeth Warren's campaign. (Remember, Massachusetts was the state that hung with Hillary in the Democratic primaries when everybody else was totally smitten with Barack.)
This time, maybe it's a woman, not a guy, who comes riding in on the white charger, and for a lot of women that's a nice change. So many times, just when it seems a woman is about to reach the finish line, out of nowhere comes the white knight who scoops up the prize.
Warren is the real deal. She's riding in with top notch -- credentials. Nobody can say people are backing her just because they want a woman, and so they'll just overlook her résumé.
Come to think of it, this was what the women's movement was all about: no special pleading, no chivalry; just the chance to stand toe-to toe with the big (male) dogs to slug it out. For so long, women couldn't get to that point, because they couldn't get the degrees, the mentoring, the good first jobs, or the promotions that would move them up the line.
Elizabeth Warren didn't emerge, like Athena, fully formed and armed to the teeth, from the head of Zeus. If she wins the senate seat, Mass Dems may indeed think of her as a goddess, but she did it the hard way.
Her father was a janitor, and when he had a heart attack, she got a job as a waitress to help keep the family going. It's the kind of Horatio Alger story Americans love, but this time, Horatio (sometimes) wears high heels.
The noted scholar of mythology, Joseph Campbell, who writes about the hero's journey, once commented that women couldn't have a quest -- they were simply meant to be the object of the male quest, "In the whole mythological tradition the woman is there. All she has to do is realize that she's the place that people are trying to get to. When a woman realizes what her wonderful character is, she's not going to get messed up with the notion of being pseudo-male."
In that line, women hear echoes of "penis envy," "ballbreaker," "bitch," and a whole vocabulary list of words that tell women to stay in their place. And that place certainly isn't politics.
But Warren's journey does indeed fit the Campbell model. She traveled from what she calls the "ragged edge" of the middle class to the ivied walls of Harvard. One good thing about her, from a political observer's point of view, is that she brings as much Oklahoma as Harvard Square to her persona. As the New York Times rhapsodized:
"Ms. Warren talks about the nation's growing income inequality in a way that channels the force of the Occupy Wall Street movement but makes it palatable and understandable to a far wider swath of voters. She is provocative and assertive in her critique of corporate power and the well-paid lobbyists who protect it in Washington, and eloquent in her defense of an eroding middle class."
On her Website, Warren says, in a no-nonsense style:
"Middle class families have been chipped at, at hacked at, squeezed at, hammered for a generation, and I didn't think Washington gets it. I'm going to do this. I'm going to run for the United States senate and the reason is straight forward...I grew up on the ragged edge of the middle class and I know it's hard out there. I fought all my life for working families and I've stood up to some pretty powerful interests."
That may sound like the political spin of the moment, but she's got the deeds to back up the words.
Here's another Campbellian touch. Like Athena, she's a warrior. But while the Greek goddess hurled a war cry at the heavens, Warren spoke to Congress in measured terms. She was effective as the point woman in arguing the case for the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. So effective, in fact, that Barack Obama thought he couldn't appoint her to head the agency she basically created because she'd been so tough. (I wish he'd just have said, "Screw it, she's my choice, and if you don't like it, you can shove your opinions up your keester!" But that's another conversation.)
Warren will have a tough opponent in Scott Brown, who is handsome, likeable, and moderate (for a Republican.) He's no dummy. He romanced the Tea Party for a while but scratched them from his dance card once he got elected. Right wing lunacy doesn't fly in Massachusetts.
But this time, it's the woman, not the guy, who has the experience and the résumé, and, by the way, is no slouch in the cojones department.
It's been a long dry spell, but at long last, Massachusetts Democratic women think they have a winner.
Boston University professor Caryl Rivers is the co-author, with Dr. Rosalind Barnett, of The Truth About Girls and Boys: Challenging Toxic Stereotypes About Our Children (Columbia University Press)
Their ARE Women who can Think and Speak Freely and Intelligently and not just to 15 second Sound Bites!
Hope she wins in Massachutes!
Uh, what experience? Her résumé is pretty limited. She's a law professor. And she is a consumer advocate who did a fine job setting up the consumer protection agency. But she has zero experience in elected office at any level. I can hear some people saying, "that's a plus!" No, it isn't. You can't just waltz right into a Senate seat and expect to be an effective legislator.
You may not like Scott Brown, but he is the one who has the experience and the résumé here. He has a long history (more than 20 years) of working for the citizens of Massachusetts in local and state government, as a member of the board of assessors, board of selectmen, state House of Representatives, state Senate and U.S. Senate. He has also a long history of working with other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
And why didn't you mention Kerry Healey, the Republican nominee for governor in 2006?
"Blue Oyster Cafe".
It has become glaringly obvious that Warren supporters don't feel she can win a clean race against Scott Brown. That's why they are resorting to such lies and distortions.
The Peter Principle At Work Again...
Elizabeth qualifications to hold office should not be based upon gender but her views on the role of government. Considering that many of her views are progressive or should I say neo socialist I would have to say that she is not qualified.
Her vision of government is about control and about taking the freedom of choice from individuals because she feels that the right people in government knows better than the individuals. This vision has been attempted in many countries and has failed. So what makes anyone think that such policies based upon that vision are going to make things better for America?
So please stop trying to make her into a some super human. The progressive media made that mistake by building up our current President only to find that he was elected to a position that was at least four levels above his competency....
Warm regards,
Michael Winters
Also, her views that people should not be fleeced by unethical business practices is not the same as taking away the freedom of choice from individuals. The freedom of choice based on facts and information benefits us all.
Thank you for the response. Although the constittution never mentioned the were capitalism, it did provide for a free market. Free markets are generally relate to some form of an economy that allows each individual to pursue their self interest freely while interacting with others who are pursuing their own self interests....
There are many forms of governments that have tried to control the individual actions of people and the economy; these controls have ended up causing more harm than good....
I would suggest that you read Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. Afterwhich then we can have a meaningful discussion about socialism...
Warm regards,
Michael Winters
So you think that America is finished-then why are you here? More importantly you are suggesting that we embark on so form of govrnment that has been tried in the Soviet Union numerous eastern European countries and in China. It wasnt until China eliminated it socialist policies governing its economy did it improve its standard of living...
What economy and form of government would you suggest that we pattern ourselves after to make things better?
Warm regards,
Michael Winters
That is a *really* refreshing sight.
5 painful health-care lessons from Massachusetts
Lesson 1: The Massachusetts plan does not control costs.
Lesson 2: Community rating, guaranteed issue and mandated benefits swell costs.
Lesson 3: Huge subsidies for low-to-medium earners could prove extremely expensive
Lesson 4: The exchanges reward people for working less and earning less
Lesson 5: The generous plans and added mandates give employers an incentive to drop health insurance
http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/news/economy/massachusetts_healthcare_reform.fortune/index.htm
and ObamaCare is heading right in the same direction..