The Fairer Sex and the Harsher Reality?

In what is rapidly becoming the real subject of debate in Democratic circles, Charlotte Allen may have put her finger on something. She may have pinpointed part of the reason why the "inevitable" woman is losing to the black man in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

I've been reading some of the online responses to Allen's writings. Many of them seem unduly harsh to me, but honest disagreement is part of the deal when you put your opinions out there for everyone to read.

Each person has to decide for himself or herself whether what is being said is true. And truth is not always a pleasant thing. But sometimes one must confront the unpleasant in order to bring about real change.

And "change" is the buzzword these days, isn't it?

Writing in the Washington Post, Allen says, "I'm not the only woman who's dumbfounded (as it were) by our sex, or rather, as we prefer to put it, by other members of our sex besides us. It's a frequent topic of lunch, phone and water-cooler conversations."

Speaking of Hillary Clinton's pursuit of the nomination, Allen writes, "By all measures, she has run one of the worst -- and, yes, stupidest -- presidential races in recent history, marred by every stereotypical flaw of the female sex."

I've read several blogs today that are written by women and chastise Allen. But I agree with Allen. Hillary Clinton has run an inept campaign.

When the campaign began, I expected her campaign organization to be a lot like her husband's campaign in 1992. That was a staff that was always ready, never unprepared. But Hillary's campaign failed to prepare for a campaign that went past "Tsunami Tuesday" in early February. Here it is, March 2, and Clinton has lost the last 11 primary contests to Obama. And polls suggest she may lose even more on Tuesday.

Allen goes on to give a rundown on Clinton's failings as a presidential candidate:

"She has proved that she can't debate ... She has whined (via her aides) like the teacher's pet in grade school that the boys are ganging up on her when she's bested by male rivals. She has all but wept on the campaign trail, even though everyone knows that tears are the last refuge of losers. And she is tellingly dependent on her husband."

And now, when Clinton needs the support of Hispanics to win Texas and (perhaps) turn her campaign around, observes Allen, she "finally fired her daytime-soap-watching, self-styled 'Latina queena' campaign manager ... known for burning through campaign money and for her open contempt for the 'white boys' in the Clinton camp. But stupidly, she did it just in time to alienate the Hispanic voters she now desperately needs."

Allen acknowledges that the basic strengths that men and women possess are different and that, while some women are suited for the kind of work to which Clinton aspires, many are not. It isn't something to be ashamed of, she suggests. It's a genetic fact.

"I don't understand why more women don't relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home," she says. "Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts' content and not mind the fact that way down deep, we can be ... kind of dim."

Now, I'm not sure I buy into everything Allen says. The bottom line is that people are people. Gender is part of the equation, but all the women I know aren't identical, nor are all the men I know identical.

When pondering the role that gender has played in the apparent disintegration of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, it might be just as helpful to recall the words of Sigmund Freud.

"The great question ... which I have not been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is `What does a woman want?'"

Or perhaps the words of Golda Meir are more appropriate.

"Whether women are better than men I cannot say -- but I can say they are certainly no worse."

Just something to think about when the voting returns are being reported Tuesday.