Richard Nixon had definite views about how the wife of a US presidential candidate should campaign. In 1992, he was watching a lawyer named Hillary Clinton aggressively defend her husband in New Hampshire. "If the wife comes through as being too strong and too intelligent," Nixon observed, "it makes the husband look like a wimp."
Now, 15 years later, strong and intelligent women are out in force on the campaign trail, and the focus is not just on how they reflect on their husbands but how they reflect on themselves.
These women are full partners in their husbands' campaigns while running mini-campaigns of their own, with hectic travel schedules, strategic agendas and a media horde in tow. Is it any surprise, then, that they can "make news" just as often as their husbands? Or that the "news" about them can be distorted?
Michelle Obama, the wife of Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, discovered this when news reports truncated a comment she made about keeping one's house in order. Her comment was quickly interpreted as a swipe at Clinton.
Modern campaigns almost demand that a wife speak up; they certainly give her plenty of chances. This is true even among Republican wives, who, like Nancy Reagan, often wield their power behind the scenes. Ann Romney, the wife of Mitt Romney, was asked what set her husband apart from the other candidates. "He's had only one wife," she replied.
David Redlawsk, who teaches political science at the University of Iowa, said that polls showed that most people do not vote for a candidate based on that person's spouse, although that might be different this year in the case of Clinton. But generally, he said, the spouses might as well say what they want. "It might get folks up in arms," he said, "but it also gets media attention."
Clinton, of course, could have excellent advice for the wives about how to navigate this universe. "Hillary is four laps ahead of them," Thompson said. "She knows how complicated this is. She would be a great mentor for them.
She was there, she knows their pain." Alas, she is probably the last person who wants to make it easier for them.
New York Times
