Has Clinton found her voice?

January 9th, 2008 at 11:17am Andrea Zimmermann

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton made an oblique reference Tuesday night to her emotional coffee break that gave her some much-needed publicity.

“I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice,” Clinton said.

But exactly what voice has she found?

Conservatives will likely rip her emotional display apart, and her competition, former Sen. John Edwards already has.

Also, leading women’s voices aren’t doing much to help her case either.

Women’s rights advocate and feminist magazine founder Gloria Steinem recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, “Women Are Never Front-Runners,” did more to hurt a woman presidential candidate’s chances than has helped it.

In it she writes:

The woman in question became a lawyer after some years as a community organizer, married a corporate lawyer and is the mother of two little girls, ages 9 and 6. Herself the daughter of a white American mother and a black African father — in this race-conscious country, she is considered black — she served as a state legislator for eight years, and became an inspirational voice for national unity.

Be honest: Do you think this is the biography of someone who could be elected to the United States Senate? After less than one term there, do you believe she could be a viable candidate to head the most powerful nation on earth?

Okay, so she argues that Barack Obama would not be enjoying the same success as a woman. Maybe that’s the case, but maybe not.

But Steinem’s rhetoric later in the piece is what makes this sort of dialogue regressive for any non-traditional presidential candidate — black, female, Catholic, Mormon, etc.

Then she writes:

Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House.

She lays out a competition of who has the toughest life – women or blacks – even though she denies it.

That way of thinking is what draws young people – including this year’s most desired demographic, young women – to a candidate like Obama.

Now the challenge for the Clinton campaign will be to see if she can “channel that fragile new perception of authenticity without smothering it,” as Politico.com wrote this morning.

Let’s hope voices looking to lend their support to a candidate’s bid will leave their divisive words at home. Voters have made it clear they want some sort of change, and Steinem’s words are just more of the same.

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