In an interview with The Huffington Post's Lesley M.M. Blume, Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell had this to say on the topic of women in politics:
I was disturbed by what I read about Hillary before she lost the nomination.There were editorials about, 'yes, we want a woman, but she has to be the right woman.' The standards that we are trying to impose on someone who's just a person are enormous. I think we have to let go of the idea that we have to have a woman who's perfect to every woman. She just has to be good at what she does. When we talk about male politicians, we don't hold them to mystical standards of perfection.
I certainly do not agree with Sarah Palin's politics, but at the same time, as an American citizen, she is entitled to her beliefs, just as all women are entitled to their beliefs. We don't all have to agree. One of the things that's interesting about these campaigns is that - guess what - women are as different from each other as men. We allow for all different kinds of male types. We need to allow for all different kinds of female types as well.
The revered National Organization for Women begs to differ from Bushnell. In a statement released by NOW's chair Kim Gandy, the organization not only declines to support Palin but also fails to give credit to any of her credentials or life experience as factors that would in any way promote the advancement of women. In doing so, NOW chooses wording reminiscent of some of the feminist(?) attacks on the Hillary Clinton candidacy: Palin has officially joined Clinton in the ranks of not-the right-women-to-be-supported group of female politicians. Cosmos anyone?
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