by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

October 23, 2008

Although best known as press secretary in the Clinton White House, Dee Dee Myers is happy to share a few words in praise of Sarah Palin.

Myers complimented the Republican vice-presidential candidate’s willingness to debate her Democratic rival “after being on the national stage for all of five weeks.” 

“I think she deserves great credit for that,” said Myers, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and political commentator on NBC and MSNBC. “I think a lot of people would have been scared out of their boots, men and women. And I think she rose to the task.”

On the issues, of course, the two women could not disagree more. “I could never ever vote for her in a million years,” said Myers. “I disagree with just about everything she stands for and believes.”

And yet as someone who faced her own quota of slights and insults as a woman in politics, Myers said she is glad to see a woman on a presidential ticket.

“More women in positions of visibility and authority is a good thing,” said Myers, who has made women and power the subject of her new book, Why Women Should Rule the World.

Myers will speak about that subject at the National Council of Jewish Women Essex County Section opening event on Thursday evening, Oct. 30, at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange.

Ahead of the talk, Myers, 47, spoke with NJJN in a telephone interview, in which she discussed the upcoming election as well as some of the themes in her book.

The women’s movement, she said, is “at a crossroads.” Palin, whom she calls “more the heir to Anita Bryant than Gloria Steinem,” is just about as good a symbol of that crossroads position as anyone.

“How is it that she’s benefiting from a movement she surely would have opposed had she lived in a previous generation?” Myers asked. It’s a quandary she said even Palin herself acknowledged when she said at a rally, “‘I stand on the shoulders of Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro.’ Hats off to her for saying it, too, in front of an audience that didn’t want to hear it.”

In her book, Myers argues that women ought to be included in shaping Washington’s agenda and describes how women’s ways of leading are different from men’s.

She also offers scathing criticism of Washington’s treatment of women, from a press corps that focuses on a female newsmaker’s clothing and appearance, to bosses who offered her less pay and authority than they would a man.

Asked about the significance of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s run for president, Myers said it was “a huge step forward for women” at home and abroad. She spoke of Yoriko Koike, Japan’s first female defense minister, who plans to run for prime minister and has declared, “I’m going to be the Hillary Clinton of Japan.”

In the United States, Clinton managed to silence critics on the question of whether a woman could stage a viable run for the White House.

According to Myers, Clinton proved a woman could be as tough a campaigner as a man, and as qualified. “The question was, ‘Do I agree with her; do I like her?’ Those were still on the table…. If she had won — boy, she really would have changed things.”

‘Character an issue’

Comparing the two potential first ladies, Myers said, “Michelle Obama has been much more active and has a much more independent presence on the campaign trail” than Cindy McCain. Myers predicts that a Democratic first lady would have a more public presence than a Republican first lady.

One of the running themes in her book is whether women in power feel free to lead “as a woman” or whether they feel more comfortable following a male model of authority and leadership.

Myers said Palin is “running as a woman.”

“The way she brings her family around with her everywhere she goes and the way she integrated her work and family as governor in Alaska was very much how a woman would do that,” said Myers, whose own children are five and eight. “She’d sort of go from hockey practice to a budget meeting to a school play. I don’t think women compartmentalize their lives as cleanly as men do. It’s not really an option for women.”

As with every comment on Palin, Myers pointed out that not everything she does will work for all women. For example, winking during the debate.

“The first time, I said, ‘Did she just wink?’ By the fifth wink, I was undone.” Still, Myers said, “balancing femininity and authority is very hard for a lot of women, and she does it effortlessly.”

On the current tone of the elections, Myers called McCain’s rhetoric “appalling,” particularly with regard to character assaults.

“Sometimes character is an issue in politics,” and, in some cases, she said, “the implications are so obvious — as when Palin says Obama is ‘palling around with terrorists’ or that he makes company with people so dissatisfied with the United States they think it’s okay to bomb it…or ‘Who is Barack Obama?’”

Myers said she is especially disturbed by the candidates’ questions about Obama’s “American-ness” and their implications that ‘This guy’s dangerous.’”

Myers pointed out that recognizing such tactics from the number two position on the ticket has gained in importance now that the role of the vice president has evolved.

“For a long time, the vice president was there in case the president died and to break a tie in the Senate, period,” said Myers. “That’s no longer true. I think the job has gotten so big.”

The vice president has become someone whom the president has come to rely on, particularly if it is “a partner who is experienced and has a perspective that you might not have or who sees the world slightly differently or can just expand your reach….”

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