Feminism and Power(s)

I'm sorry, I'm going to need a minute. I am very upset about the announced resignation of Samantha Power as a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama. For those of us who follow foreign policy and human rights policy in particular, Samantha Power is a fascinating and inspiring figure - a brilliant woman who has lectured and written equally from her heart and her head. Her Pulitzer-prize winning book A Problem From Hell is a passionately argued and beautifully written description of America's at times shameful and always complicated history during the genocides of the 20th century - it remains my favorite non-fiction book; the first one I will recommend to friends and colleagues and has inspired more than one of my own written works. (I'm currently reading her newest book, Chasing the Flame about Sergio Vieira de Mello - I also recommend.) Her profession, and her approach to it, makes her a somewhat undiplomatic politcian, but I was still absolutely thrilled that she joined Obama's campaign, and was one of the first reasons that I became an Obama supporter - clearly he was attracting the top minds, many of whom were critical of the practices of the past (Power, like myself, is very critical of the Clinton years - the inaction on Rwanda, the ignorance of the power of strong leadership in the Balkans). Her statements were in this undiplomatic vein, and however much some of us may agree with her statements, they weren't in the best taste. Certainly, though, they weren't any worse than the Clinton campaign trying to paint him as America's "hip Black friend".

More after the jump...

Power's resignation probably wouldn't have happened if the Clinton campaign hadn't taken such offense to it and pushed for her to be fired. But this is all part of a trend, and a strategy which I think is insulting. It's very unfortunate that Power is a casualty of it.

I lament that my first three reader blog posts on TPM have all been very pro-Obama and anti-Clinton posts. I remember very clearly a time, early in this race, when I said - whoever wins, we'll have the best candidate we've had in 30 years. This race of juggernauts will serve only to sharpen the arguments for the Democrats, and excite the electorate to get involved (isn't Celebrity Jeopardy so much more exciting than regular Jeopardy?). But as this race has been dragged into the rough, Clinton's strategy has become maddening and damaging. Every time someone has made a political push against her, rather than engaging (as is the norm, in politics), she throws up her hands and plays the victim, either herself or through one of her surrogates. It's as if she is saying that she must be judged by different standards than other candidates, and her strategy of victim-hood and "all these people are ganging up on me" is working - her supporters, especially women, run to her aid. Unfortunately for women in this country, if she wins the nomination using this strategy, it will not be on feminist terms, but on anti-feminist terms.

If Hillary is such a fighter, and has spent most of her political career trying to downplay the negative stereotypes of women in politics, she now has no trouble embracing them. By portraying herself as the weak woman who must be protected from the big bad Obama campaign, or the big bad media, she is praying on the kinds of psychology, both among women and men, that have repressed women in Western societies for the last century. Even her statements that she eluded to in the debates about being "tested" were perceived (at least in the media and it seemed by the audience in attendance) to be sympathy-drawing statements about her marriage to a no-good man. Feminism is not about playing the victim, it is about your womanhood being a source of power. Feminism is not asking to play on a different level from the men but by being treated as equal to men. Ultimately, any power that is achieved through shows of weakness or helplessness, or is granted because of "special rules" is not real power. It is merely temporary support that can be removed as easily as it is given.

(You have to wonder how it would look if Obama framed his campaign and his responses as being victimized by Clinton, the same way Black men are victimized in America.)

Feminism is very important, and recognizing it, as opposed to false feminism, is vital. Feminism is not claiming that everyone is against you and trying to play by different rules. It's challenging yourself to become a major intellectual, challenging male-centric foreign policy circles and bringing a respected and distinctly feminine voice to the practice of human rights advocacy. It's certainly becoming a major Democratic Party figure defined more by your actions and positions than by the fact that your husband was president.

Feminists fight the stereotypes of weakness. Not by acting too weak to play with the boys.

(This post previously appeared on TPM's Readers Blog.)