The political context in the UK was and is completely different. To start with the UK has had a female head of state for 60 years. Margaret Thatcher was most importantly for the UK context an establishment figure. She married into the British Establishment and did everything to be one of them (including voice training etc she basically ended up looking like the queen–which is pretty much as establishment as you can get around here). The fact that she was a woman is utterly secondary.
I can guarantee you that Margaret Thatcher would never have become Prime Minister had she been married to the high achieving son of a single Mother who just about managed to make ends meet and whose adoptive father was a violent alcoholic gambler.
No matter what one thinks of US politics, one has to admire the fact that highly intelligent and educated people like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama can win the highest Office in the land with hard work an determination–compare that to David Cameron and see the difference.
As to Teresa May–she was dumped with a poison chalice by the boys who are all eager to watch her fail–not the same.
EDIT: if same adoptive father had been an ARISTOCRATIC, violent, alcoholic, gambler the story might be different:)
the campaign in 2009 was effectively “Merkel, who else” and nearly content-free (2013 was a little bit better as the parties weren’t able anymore to ignore the Euro crisis and presented different options)
I am fully aware of the term and still believe your default reasoning “everything is worse in the US” is as obnoxious as “everything is better in the US”. Merkel is a born politician and decided her election strategy on purpose, no evil US overspill needed.
The intricacies of german domestic politics probably (?) are not of much interest for this thread or the rest of the audience but you could start a separate thread…
Of course that’s what you and I think. But it’s not how our subconscious works. You believe a lot of contradictory things - it’s impossible not to, at our level of complexity.
Study after study has shown that “objective, impartial, open-minded” people will treat a resume differently depending upon the gender or perceived race of the applicant’s name.
We WANT to be fair. We like to believe that we are fair and meritocratic.
And what about those of us that do “view women complexy” and still don’t like her? By the by, my spellcheck choked on “complexy”.
I am voting for a third party, maybe a forth. For those said that to vote for a third party candidate is bad, that’s no better then those places (usually communist paradises) which would have preselected candidates.
My vote is mine to do as I please. To vote for an evil, even a lesser evil, is still voting for evil.
What utter bollocks. People find H. Clinton unlikeable because she is unlikeable. She is slimey and self-serving. I regard this ‘piece’ with the same contempt I would if someone told me “to find Donald Trump likable, you must learn to view the obese rich complexly”.
