Tuesday, January 08, 2008
American Politics - The Taboo against Tears
Some Americans have a thing about display of emotion by political candidates. To them it is a sign of weakness! The reasoning is that if a person becomes emotional in public then he or she will be not be able to deal with crises and, therefore, unfit to hold political office. It is a load of crock.
The media ran with the story and pictures about Hillary Clinton who became teary on Monday while speaking at a roundtable discussion at a coffee shop in Postmouth, New Hampshire.
She is not my favored candidate but her appearance at the roundtable discussion on Monday certainly did not lower my opinion of her.
Other political candidates were subject to ridicule and criticism in the past for becoming emotional. Edmund Muskie and Pat Schroeder come to mind. One would think that in today's America voters with such Neanderthal attitudes are in the minority. Let's hope so. We do not need more lying bullies like the ones now holding high offices.
