Read Write Speak

Women in the political arena the public and the media handles them differently. White House reporter, Anne Kornblut has followed Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin to examine how women are portrayed and how they handled themselves throughout their own respective campaigns. She has recently written a book called Notes From a Cracked Ceiling: Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin, What Will It Take For a Woman To Win.

Anne Kornblut joined students participating from the George Mason University Video Studio alone with Steve Scully, the political editor for the C-Span networks, and students from the University of Denver and Pace University.

Anne Kornblut worked at the New York Times and began following Hilary Clinton in 2006 as she was running for New York Senate. She then found herself at The Washington Post when Hilary began running for the presidency. Through following Clinton, this quickly led into other female politicians such as, Nancy Pelosi and Condoleezza Rice.

As women began to become more prominent than they had been in recent years Kornblat noticed that no one had covered these women before, “I thought it was worthwhile to take down what did happen because they were women, how they dealt with being women, which of course was historic for both sides and then to try and have some note for the future, lessons that can be relevant, if and when another woman runs.” Kornblat was a woman recording history so other women could succeed.

Kornblat noticed during her time watching powerful and important women in this country that they were treated very differently. During the moment when Hilary Clinton choked up right before the New Hampshire primary in 2008 Kornblat saw how the media reacted.

“And for just a couple seconds, it was very brief, she had tears in her eyes and she choked up” explained Kornblat, “Well, the incident was universally portrayed as her having melted down… And then there was a backlash because of it….She won the New Hampshire primary.”

Kornblat argues that the reason why Clinton won that primary was because she showed her personality at the moment. Clinton opened up and it made it possible for people to connect with her on a level that they had not done before.

Now the media went on a whirlwind calling Clinton weak and even John Edwards said, “That doesn’t seem very presidential to me”.  However, one candidate who would go on to win it all, President Barak Obama took a different attitude towards the women running against him in their respective campaigns.

Anne Kornblat saw from the press conferences where Obama was, that is the press tried to get a rude comment about either Hilary Clinton or Sarah Palin he would not do it. “And my understanding” states Kornblat, “is that he knew, that people would not respond well to a man attacking a woman.”

Kornblat argues that the media does that enough anyway: tearing down women. She explained the three different categories that a woman can be put into were an iron lady, a grandmother in pearls and a young mom were all short hand terms that would easily describe someone to the public.

“So yes stereotyping is bad,” defends Kornblat, “reducing anyone to a slogan isn’t always true to their complexities of who they are as a person, but that happens both to men and women in politics. So the trick really is for women to use that to their advantage.”

The distance learning course, which is produced by C-SPAN, is a unique opportunity for students to interview guests via video conference. The course airs on C-SPAN3 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and also streams online (http://www.c-span.org/distance_learning/).

Chuck Todd, the MSNBC White House Correspondent and Indianan University political science professor Marjorie Hershey joined students participating from the George Mason University Video Studio alone with Steve Scully, the political editor for the C-Span networks, and students from the University of Denver and Pace University.

Both Chuck Todd and Marjorie Hershey reinforce that the American people are still trying to find their balance within the political spectrum of what they want politically or who they want to represent them.

“I think it’s remarkable,” states Chuck Todd, MSNBC White House Correspondent, “that we could have our third straight change election.”

Neither the Democratic and Republican parties have a secure footing in the upcoming elections. The American people understand that mid-term elections are change elections.

“We know and have known for 70 years that what ever party has won the most recent presidential election is going to lose and sometimes lose pretty substantially the next time around,” explains Marjorie Hershey, Indianan university professor, “and we haven’t seen so far that is going to be anything different.”

The election of a Republican to Ted Kennedy’s seat is a possible preview to what could happen in the elections in November.

“Anybody is vulnerable at this point” explains Chuck Todd.

The possibility of a third party immerging from the economic turmoil and political anger is a possibility as it always has been, but it is not likely to take a majority for a long time.

“It’s that 19 percent of the electorate that is swinging back and forth for the last 20 years,” states Chuck Todd, “And that they’ve been providing the margins of victories sometimes. And sometimes they are populous, sometimes it benefited the Republicans, sometimes it has benefitted the Democrats. But they haven’t sorted themselves out.”

“I agree that the seeds are there, but the ground is inhospitable. There is very little sun and no water” argues Marjorie Hershey a political scientist professor from Indiana University.

“When we talk about third parties we have to be really frank about what it takes for either a third party or an independent candidate to succeed” states Marjorie Hershey, “And the fact that one has not since the Republicans in 1860. We have had a very long dry spell. And there’s a good reason for that, and that’s because the Republicans and Democrats are the ones who make the rules as to how you get on the ballot, and how you raise money, and how you do virtually everything in American politics.”

So the American public is going to have to deal with the Republicans and the Democrats in the upcoming election and the issues that are already on the table. It is as if the public is stuck between a rock and a hard place because there are no good solutions out in the political world right now.

The distance learning course, which is produced by C-SPAN, is a unique opportunity for students to interview guests via video conference. The course airs on C-SPAN3 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and also streams online (http://www.c-span.org/distance_learning/).

The Democratic Party was turned upside down when the “People’s Seat” was taken in an election by Republican Scott Brown.

The Democratic Party had been strutting around Washington DC for the past year considering what they were doing something for the people. The people, on the other hand, had a different idea.

The campaign of Martha Coakley, the democratic nominee in the Massachusetts election, was pasted together at the last minute and showed her in a different light than new-comer Republican Scott Brown. It was not a good light to be standing in.

“Steve Rothenberg a friend and a political handicapper said,” explains Chris Cilizza of TheFix in The Washington Post, “ that it is the biggest upset of his lifetime..so that spans about 50 odd years.”

“It is never just one thing,” comments Cilizza.

The myriad of problems with in Martha Coakley’s campaign, from her leaving to go on a ten day vacation during the campaign to meeting with lobbyists in Washington DC, were not helped by a great ad campaign run by Scott Brown.

“What he did,” said Cilizza, “effectively cast him as both a different kind of Republican and someone who understood the average concerns of the people of Massachusetts.”

Scott Brown portrayed himself as the outsider, and he effectively cast Martha Coakley as an insider who met with lobbyists and would do what the Democratic Party wanted her to do, instead of what the Massachusetts people wanted her to do.

This point was reinforced when President Obama went to Massachusetts to stir up support for Martha Coakley.

“So I hear her opponent is calling himself an Independent,” says President Obama, “well you’ve gotta look under the hood because what you learn makes you wonder.”

“It was in some ways a recognition by the president of how effective the ad has been” argued Cilizza, “The fact that the President of the United States 48 hours before voters were going to vote had to feel as though he had to rebut the image Scott Brown had set in the ad from the podium, shows the impact that it had in the race.”

In order for a political campaign to be successful the nominee needs to carry a continuous message from the time they start to the time the election comes around. It is necessary so the public will trust the nominee and understand his or her views.

Chris Cilizza is a blogger for The Washington Post and he joined students participating from the George Mason University Video Studio along with Steve Scully, the political editor for the C-SPAN networks, and students from the University of Denver and Pace University.

This is a distance learning course, which is produced by C-SPAN, is a unique opportunity for students to interview guests via video conference. The course airs on C-SPAN3 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and also streams online (http://www.c-span.org/distance_learning/).