This book packs a lot of punch into 145 pages.  

 

The eleven 2019/20 Presidential debates allowed more women than ever before to stand up and be heard.  While women have been running for President at least since Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R. ME) threw her hat into the ring in 1964 (there were two in the 19th Century), female names usually only appeared on primary ballots or under third party labels in a handful of states.   The televised debates exposed a large, national audience to women’s rhetorical skill.

 

This book has one chapter on each of the six women who participated in the first two debates.  Gillibrand and Williamson didn’t meet the threshold for polls and money to participate in the other debates.  Gabbard was in four.  Harris was in five.  Warren and Klobuchar lasted through ten.

 

The debates defined the candidates, but the book is about rhetoric, so Gutgold looks at a lot of campaign speeches, statements and other TV presentations as well as the debates.  She examines each woman’s style, delivery, message and command of the many topics they had to address.

 

These six women were very different.  Tulsi Gabbard was a young Representative from Hawaii, who was a member of the National Guard.  Kirsten Gillibrand came from upper New York state, where her family was political aristocracy that sent her to the “best” schools.  Kamala Harris was a Californian, born to immigrant parents who came to UC Berkeley for their graduate education and stayed.  Amy Klobuchar was a Minnesota pragmatist who went to Ivy League schools.  Elizabeth Warren morphed from a third-grade teacher from an Oklahoma Republican family into a very progressive Harvard Law professor.  Marianne Williamson was the only one without a political career and slim political credentials.  As a spiritual guru who produced best-selling books, she had a national following but had never won an election.

 

All told stories from their lives to illustrate their themes.  None were rags-to-riches stories.  Nor did they go into politics the old-fashioned way, by inheriting an office from a male relative.  They worked their way up the political ladder, though some had doors opened for them while others had to pound on those doors.

 

Along the way the women were often attacked, though not so viciously as when they ran for President.  Trump called Warren ‘Pocahontas’. The press said Klobuchar was a mean boss.  Williamson was dismissed as an aging hippie.  Some of the women handled these attacks better than others – but that’s true of men as well.  Above all, they had to deal with the issue of “electability” – could a woman, any woman, beat Trump.  Each had to tell her audience why “this woman” could.

 

None won, of course. While some rose in the polls, at the polls the best that any did was third.  That would be Warren.  Harris, whom Biden chose to be his running-mate, dropped out in December so didn’t appear on any Democratic primary ballot.

 

In her final chapter Gutgold asks “Did Six Women Running for President 2020 Change the Rhetoric of Women and Presidential Politics?”  To find out her answer, you’ll have to read the book.

 

© 2021 Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com; Jo Freeman: www.jofreeman.com