Political analyst Carrie Lukas says Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been “misserved” by several of her surrogates, including her husband and well-known feminist Gloria Steinem.
Steinem has been campaigning for Senator Clinton (D-New York) in Texas, where she sparked controversy at a “Women for Hillary” rally in Austin by knocking Senator John McCain’s (R-Arizona) five-and-a-half years as a POW in Vietnam. “I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don’t think so,” she remarked. Steinem also accused the media of displaying gender bias against Clinton. According to the feminist icon, Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) has been receiving more favorable press coverage because Americans view racism more seriously than sexism.
Carrie Lukas with the Independent Women’s Forum says Steinem may be correct about the media bias, but calls her a “throwback” whose message does not resonate with younger audiences. “The legacy of racism does have more of a scar on the American conscience than this idea of sexism,” Lukas maintains. “And certainly … the Clinton campaign has some reason to complain about the media coverage that Barack Obama has received …. [But] I don’t think it’s so much of a race thing. I think it’s that he’s a very likeable fellow and the new fresh face and doesn’t have a lot of the baggage that a lot of people associate with the Hillary Clinton candidacy.”
According to Lukas, if Clinton is trying to wrestle with Obama to be the candidate of change, dragging out an “old-school feminist” like Steinem is not in her best interest. Lukas says although the senior vote is important, Clinton needs to look beyond the “gray-haired set” and reach out better to other demographics.
Lukas says these incidents show the “clumsiness” of the Clinton campaign, and that Steinem’s comments demonstrate that the feminist not only has a “tin ear” but also hostility toward the military.
