…..what exactly IS normal these days, anyway?  Biden, the moderate, silver haired, handsome male stereotype….?  (Damn!  That guy could host a game-show!). Is that the normal we want?  Might be.

I listened to them all but especially Biden, Sanders and Warren and, quite frankly, I liked Warren better….’cept for one thing.  She was slim.  She was old.  Her voice was higher-pitched.  She looked and sounded frail.  Her words were NOT frail but the image was just that of a ‘feisty old lady’.  NOT a power image.  NOT a strong image.  Smart.  But NOT strong. 

AND, even if she WAS strong, her image would be seen by other ‘strongmen’ as one all too easy ‘to challenge’. 

That is NOT fair.  That is not logical, either.  Not in the least bit.  In fact, it MIGHT even be a bit sexist.  (The counter to that accusation is that a thin, old and high-pitched-voiced male would be seen as weak, too).  Warren was, in my opinion, the better contender in brains and morals…but NOT the better contender in a bar-fight.

But that is NOT a reasonable way to pick a presidential candidate, is it?  But it is ‘visceral’.  It is common.  It is Joe-six-pack.  And it is the standard-of-choice for the deplorables.  It is totally unfair and likely totally wrong.

We’ll never know about Warren.  Too late to ‘go again’.  Mind you, Amy Klobachar had some cajones.  So did Kamela Harris give ‘that impression’.  But the female-female in Warren’s persona and even Tulsi Gabbard’s ‘presentation’ lacked that ‘balls’ metric.  And it seems to count.  In fact, it DOES count.

That is too bad.  First, the female-female point of view in the halls of world power would be a refreshing change and the female-acting-macho is NOT the same thing.  Honest women don’t/can’t do that.  They really should not have to.  If they try to be men-in-skirts, they are seen as either ‘weird’ or not honest.  Angela Merkle is the closest to what ‘works’ with our sexist political point of view.  She is real.  (Maybe the Queen….but, well, there is a licence given a ‘queen’).  She is female.  She is NOT a male in her thinking.  But she is definitely strong!  I think Merkle is the best example of a strong female who didn’t fake being macho in the so-doing.  Theresa May did a good job as well but got ‘stymied’ by circumstance and eventually turfed.  Hillary Clinton did everything right except ‘be human’ and so she was dumped.

“Sometimes it’s hard being a woman….”

We hold women to a higher standard.  And maybe that is a good thing.  We need higher standards.  Obviously the standard of photogenic, tall, silver-haired, well-clad, rich male lawyers is NOT doing the job and so we might TRY a better, more reasonable person that is female.  ‘Course, for that matter, why not TRY a better, more reasonable male?

Genitals really should NOT make the leader.

But, so far, it seems to play a role.  And much of that, of course, is primal.  Much of that is ‘historic’ and much of that is, it seems, influencing both the female and the male voter.  Seems females prefer males as leaders.  Well, Republican/Conservative women do, anyway.

Me? I honestly do not care the gender of the ‘dear leader’ so long as that so-called leader has integrity, ethics, intelligence, honesty and the ability to ‘appeal to the masses’.  Gimme Oprah.  Gimme Greta Thunberg.  Gimme a decent ‘guy’ like say, George Clooney or even Stephen Colbert.  I don’t care.  Hell, I’d take Robert De Niro.  If the person is good, then they are a contender in my books.

But normal?  The ‘usual’?  The latest ‘product-of-the-system’?  I dunno….the next REAL leader has to show some ‘differences’ and some ‘convention’ all at the same time.  Right now, it seems, that – when things get tough – genitals are too much of a variable in the political arena…..we can’t handle too many variables, too much choice.  So, we choose ‘strong men’.

It’s traditional.  It’s a ‘no-brainer’.  Emphasis on NO-brainer.

And that is why the deplorables chose Trump.  He was ‘different’.  He is stupid.  He is selfish.  He is insane.  And he is a lying crook.  But, for some reason, that was seen as a form of strength.  And, it is, I guess.  It is a primal form of strength – like an ox.  Like the village strong-bully type from the jungles.  He is the bull-in-chief.

I would prefer some one smarter.  Some one better.  Some one good.  I do not think I am normal.