Clinton as woman

Hillary Clinton's numbers have been slipping in early state polls recently, her campaign hitting somewhat of a rough patch since her initial stumble fielding a question about drivers licenses for illegal immigrants at a Philidelphia debate. There are many reasons for this fallout and it by no means diminishes her likelihood of nabbing the nomination; she still is in command of national polls and is locked in dead heats in the early states. But her flagging support has been partially attributed to a growing unease of voters with the "negative turn" her campaign has taken. It plays into the narrative that she is cold and politically calculating and puts off kind-hearted Iowans who eschew dirty politics. But could the reaction to Clinton's "attacks" be harsher because she is a woman?

There's really no arguing that her attacks have been a mismanaged blunder--she brought up kindergarten essays and one of her prominent staffers made some awful insinuations regarding Obama's past drug use--but there's a sense in which any way she went about critiquing Obama would rebound negatively on her. To put it more bluntly--when a male Presidential candidate (Mitt Romney, for example) lobbies a complaint against another, it's considered part of the game; when Hillary does it, she's a bitch. One could even make the argument that when Mitt Romney releases negative ads about Mike Huckabee, it reflects negatively on his campaign, not on him, whereas Hillary's attacks have the result of tarnishing her personal image. It's the same dilemma women face as bosses in the workplace.

That being said, her attacks have been ridiculous and overtly contrived. And she's a bitch.