The macho image ("cojones" and "testicular fortitude") must be backfiring on Hillary

[ProSense]

Hillary's cojones

In a piece on Politico, I look at the odd fact that the would-be first woman president is, lately, being depicted metaphorically, as a man, and more generally at her latest incarnation.

INDIANAPOLIS — Evan Bayh was halfway through telling a story about "a steelworker in Northern Indiana" on stage beside his Senate colleague, Hillary Clinton.

"Anybody know what he said?" Bayh asked at the Saturday rally, starting to quote the
steelworker: "Our candidate is the one in the race –."

Clinton cut him off with a whisper and an urgent gesture.

"She doesn't want me to go there,” Bayh told the crowd. “OK. I won't. Alright, alright.”

Clinton may not like the story, but her supporters love it: The sheet metal workers union official in Portage, Indiana cited by Bayh had praised her "testicular fortitude" before lighting into unnamed "Gucci wearing, latte-drinking" opponents.

Also last week, a New York Post columnist wrote that she'd won the "cojones primary."

And James Carville, the Clintons' ubiquitous former aide, booster, and informal adviser made the point even more vividly, giving Clinton a two-gonad edge on her primary rival, Senator Barack Obama.

"If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two," Carville said.

The ballsy fighter is the newest persona for a woman whom public life has taken from a liberal policy wonk to a devoted wife, from a wronged woman to a cerebral senator.

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(emphasis added)

Obama on Carville: Famous for ignorance

Obama, on Nightline, was asked about James Carvilles line on the cojones gap:

"Well, you know, James Carville is well-known for spouting off his mouth without always knowing what he's talking about," Obama told "Nightline." "And I intend to stay focused on fighting for the American people because what they don't need is 20 more years of performance art on television. And that's what James Carville and a lot of those folks are expert at ... a lot of talk and not getting things done for the American people."