News You Need
Does Hillary Have an Inner Bella?
by Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom,
The Women's Media Center
In thanking her supporters following her dramatic comeback win in New Hampshire January 8, Hillary Clinton said, "Over the last week, I listened to you and, in the process, found my own voice." And for that moment at least, she banished the cantankerous, frustrated candidate who acted as though passion and competence could not coexist in a leader. The nation saw a woman who apparently had turned around thousands of voters, most of them women, over the course of a few short winter days by finally showing, rather than telling, how much she cared.
Things happen quickly in politics. It was almost as dramatic as the turning point in the career of another controversial woman from New York three decades before, only that time the moment was decidedly unplanned and politically disastrous. Many things have changed since then, but the obsession with acceptable behavior for women seeking political power has not let up.