Electable

I just found this book while browsing my library catalog and was immediately taken in by the title. I remember the name of the author from msnbc too, so it was an easy choice to pick up the book, without even reading the premise.

I didn't realize the author was embedded in the 2020 campaign, so this book is an interesting rehashing of her experience traveling and interacting with the many democratic women candidates for President in 2020, the unique challenges they face due to their gender, and what does it mean that none of them made it as the nominee. The author tries to analyze both historically as well as the prospect of running against 45, and how that impacts an electorate's decision making about voting for a nominee, and how this electability question always seems to only affect how the women candidates are perceived.

It was interesting to see how the candidates tried to balance their campaigns to be about their policies vs the issues they face as a woman running for the highest office in the country. However, it was inevitable but also sad to see that the double standard is very much front and center because the position of the president of USA was never envisioned as something a woman could helm, and the electorate even now in the 2020s seems to think that women are more emotional and not tough enough to handle such a position during crunch times. I also thought the author made some good points about how any woman who is ambitious and open about it is depicted in negative terms and we've gotten used to that across media and real life, but how can we ever get a woman as president if she can't be ambitious enough to fight for it.

Overall I think despite the history making slate of women, POC and LGBT+ candidates who ran for office in 2020, it seems like it's hard for the people to imagine someone in that position whom they've never seen before. I hope having Kamala Harris as VP has changed perceptions some but I don't really see that. But I also hope the increasing diversity in media and newsrooms impacts the way women candidates are talked about and perceived as, and there'll come a day when they can run as candidates who are the best person for the job and not have to defend their gender or clothing or ambition.