Opinion Piece: After Palin, real female leaders

From New York Daily News: After Palin, real female leaders
by Stanley Crouch
We usually learn more about the inner workings of human nature from the arts than we do from politics. Writers have long told us that evil, fraud and corruption move freely, with no interest in religion, politics or ideology.

That is why women were very lucky that the film “Game Change” — the story of Sarah Palin, John McCain and the 2008 race for President — came out recently on HBO and was spoken of incessantly.

What “Game Change” did was make it clear that while women becoming candidates is obviously very, very important, that alone will not necessarily cut it.

With extremely fine acting, the film showed how unintentionally vile a woman — like anybody else! — can be if she is incompetent. It was a dangerous blunder for McCain to so quickly choose to have Palin on the ticket in order to create a surprising moment, a maverick full moon.

At the same time — and this is crucial — Palin was not shown as a villain. She was shown as a woman sophisticated and ambitious enough for the governorship of Alaska, but unprepared to be McCain’s running mate. She remains embittered by her limitations.

The film’s arrival coincided with Rush Limbaugh stepping into a big pile of it as he tried for three days to transform a young woman into an irresponsible libertine but instead created unforseen blowback.

Women need not be political targets and ought not be political pawns. They can, instead, be top-shelf leaders.

The likes of Sens. Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Kirsten Gillibrand make it perfectly evident how well women can set the pace for the doing of good things for themselves — as well as for the entire nation.

To do this, they must beat back the hustlers and hucksters in their midst. Even Ann Coulter — a woman not expected to provide insights and facts — sees this point clearly.

At a Republican Party dinner in Florida, this is what Coulter said, in reference to a conversation about Palin and others like her:

“I think our party and particularly our movement, the conservative movement, does have more of a problem with con men and charlatans than the Democratic Party. The incentives seem to be set up to allow people, as long as you have a band of a few million fanatical followers, you can make money. The Democrats have figured out how not to do that.”

She went on: “All the Republican nominees for President, I want them to sign a pledge saying, ‘If I lose the nomination, I pledge I will not take a gig with Fox News or write a book.’ ”

Women have shown that they are and can be leaders in all fields — not to be defined or dominated by their sex, but to be judged by what they say and do.

Case in point: In the arena of public education, Danielle Lee Moss of the highly successful Harlem Educational Activities Fund and Eva Moskowitz, head of the Success Academy charter schools, have proven how exceedingly well things can be done to get students learning at the highest levels.

Yet Randi Weingarten, of the American Federation of Teachers, and Hazel Dukes, of New York’s NAACP, are willing to protect incompetent teachers instead of facing the need to remove them in the interest of bettering public education.

No matter the group, one must make sure to not be hustled by a greasy pig in a poke eager to run a game, as Tawana Brawley did.

If women, on the move as a group, actually figure that out with the necessary clarity, they will have done far better than any “special interest group” I know of, or have ever seen.