Barack Obama said it best a few years ago. Shortly after ceding the presidency to a serial misogynist, he said that America should elect a lot more women “because men seem to be having some problems these days. Not to generalize, but women seem to have a better capacity than men do, partly because of their socialization.”
Oh let’s generalize, shall we? Women in politics are more socialized to get things done; men in politics are more socialized to leverage power for the purpose of strutting their stuff. Not all women are saints, of course, and not all men are sinners. But let’s flip the script on Andrew Cuomo and ask ourselves:
How likely is it that a female political leader in her ’60s would suggest to a young male aide that they play strip poker?
Or to let it be known that she had a “crush” on the young guy?
Or to suggestively allude to a cigar box she’d received from Bill Clinton, knowing (and the young male aide knowing) what Clinton did with his cigars behind closed doors?
Or to ambush the young male aide with an unwanted smooch on the lips?
How likely is it that a female political leader in her ’60s would tell a male aide in his ’20s that she was hot to have sex with a guy in his ’20s?
Or to ply that twenty-something aide with questions about his personal life, and ask whether he’d ever had sex with older women?
How likely is it that a female political leader would go to a wedding, the kind of event captured by photographers, and zero in on a guy four decades younger – a perfect stranger – and find some bare skin on which to rest her hand?
Or to place both her hands on the guy’s cheeks and as if she could kiss him?
How likely is it that a female political leader would subsequently rationalize her behavior by insisting that “I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny”?
Or to insist that “some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted”?
Or to claim – only after being busted for preying on young men in her employ; only after it was clear she couldn’t make the story go away – that she’d suddenly experienced a revelation: “I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal”? Or to sorta apologize, only “to the extent anyone felt that way”?
Indeed, how many women in the ultimate power profession have ever behaved in this manner and sought to rationalize it after the fact?
Nuff said.