In my last
post, I said I would not watch the presidential debate Monday night, and
essentially, I did not. Interestingly enough, some friends and I decided early
in the evening to watch the pilot of “Commander in Chief,” the now ten-year-old
television series about the first woman President of the United States.
In the first scenes, Mackenzie Allen, played by Geena Davis, is Vice President; when the
President has a stroke, his last
words to her express the wish that she step down so that the difficult,
conservative Speaker of the House (played to a tee by Donald Sutherland) can
become President. She is on the fence about following the President’s wishes, but
when the Speaker utters horrifyingly misogynist comments, she tosses aside the
draft of her letter of resignation. The episode ends with the audience in no
doubt that Davis’s character will be a strong and decisive President. After
watching it, I petted my friends’ cat, got ready for bed, wrote in my journal,
said a brief gratitude prayer to the Universe, and was asleep before ten.
OK, so I’ve
missed one rather important detail. For literally about one minute, I watched
the split-screen debate on “mute.” Hillary Clinton was speaking, clearly
responding to the moderator’s question; I watched in horror as the other
candidate repeatedly tried to interrupt her.
This little
vignette felt like a metaphor for my life, and I suspect the lives of many
brilliant women. We’ve been interrupted by men (and often other women.)
Ignored. Corrected. Condescended to. Teased. I’ve
actually reached that moment in life where I know I am on the right track when a man’s reaction to me
is most intense. I was proud of Clinton’s apparent ability to continue on,
undaunted.
Both women
candidates for President, Hillary Clinton (Wellesley) and Jill Stein, are
super-intelligent graduates of Seven Sisters colleges (Stein’s bachelor’s
degree is from Harvard, but in 1973, when she graduated, Radcliffe still had a
partially independent identity.) This would mean that these two pioneers are
the first Presidential candidates I’ve ever really related to on a deep level.
Barring extraordinary events, there is no debate. This Smith graduate will vote
for one of them.
