Barack Obama‘s win in Iowa was the latest upset in the long, discredited history of gender assumptions. A large and apparently decisive bloc of voters widely thought to be Hillary Clinton‘s – young to middle-aged women – preferred Obama.
This may prove critical. Women are more likely than men to turn out to vote – and more likely to vote for a Democrat. In Iowa, that Democrat was more likely to be Obama, giving him a victory and momentum going into other states. In a Lifetime/Zogby poll last month, a quarter of New Hampshire female voters said they’d base their choice on the Iowa results.
Yet it’s not only Obama’s policies and strategies that appeal to women. He is like a woman: slim, good looking, with long elegant fingers, appealingly dressed – all terms more typically ascribed to female candidates.
Those shots of Barack and Michelle sitting with Oprah on stools had the feel of a smart, all-women talk panel: Obama fit right in for reasons beyond race.
Hillary has long been accused of androgyny – trying to sound like a man, flexing her rhetorical muscle – but on Thursday night it was Obama who won the androgyny sweepstakes.
None of the other ’08 candidates has the inherent, subliminal male-female appeal of Obama. He’s physically attractive, but not in the way Bill Clinton was – the way that drew women in search of oral sex and grotesque fame to the White House.
Women are gravitating to Obama out of a different urge – the desire to invite him to our book club, join him for coffee or have him coach our child’s soccer team. He embodies many of the positive characteristics we tend to regard as feminine: sensitive and empathetic, seeking to find common ground and minimize conflict, not taking power for granted. We’ve yet to catch Obama beating up an opponent.
Androgyny has long had its place in popular culture – in fashion, in rock (from Jagger and Bowie to The Strokes), even in sports (Tom Brady’s cologne ad in Sports Illustrated). Now it has a growing value in politics, as female participation rises. (Census data show that women have voted at ever-higher rates than men in every election since 1980.)
Beyond Obama, though, none of the current crop seem able to play the androgyny card. Mitt Romney is the CEO with movie-star looks, John McCain the war hero and straight shooter, Mike Huckabee the parochial religious orator and weight loser. Yes, Rudy Giuliani famously cross-dressed – but only for laughs at charity fund-raisers. And John Edwards’ appeal to female voters is more as a cute 8-year-old boy.
Obama alone offers a compelling blend of masculine and feminine. Bill Clinton, who was famously dubbed America’s first black president, provides a useful typecasting precedent. By the end of this year we might indeed have our first woman president – but not necessarily Hillary.
Lucy Berrington is a former staffer for The Times of London, now based outside Boston. Jeff Onore is a Mass.-based poet and playwright.