Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Alexandra Petri, columnist and blogger at The Washington Post: Well, I feel like there's always this undefinable thingness that any particular woman who happens to be in power is always lacking. And so people will say, well, in general, it's sort of like the generic candidate versus the actual president candidate, where you say, man, any generic Democrat would do gangbusters' business. But, then, the second you have a specific person, suddenly, they're fraught with problems.

But, with women, it's especially - the kind of line that you're asked to walk is incredibly difficult. It's something out of a fairy tale, almost. It's like you must be walking down the road, not walking but not riding and not naked but not clothed and, like, not in the road and not out of it. And, at a certain point, you have to say, huh, am I really as eager to welcome a women to lead as I've been saying I was all this time?
Barbershop: Some Democrats Oppose Pelosi's House Speaker Bid

This comment stood out for me, because it reminded me of a conversation that had taken place at work, where one of the resident Conservatives had taken issue with the commitment of Liberals to women candidates; because they hadn't bothered to stipulate a preference for Liberal women candidates, as opposed to simply any woman candidate.

But while it might seem obvious to someone that partisans might consider a commitment to their ideals and policy priorities more important than simple gender diversity in a situation where it's clearly and either/or situation, it's worth keeping in mind that the logic can also apply to a situation like the one that House Minority Leader Pelosi finds herself in today. After all, the Democratic Party is not completely defined by a narrow Progressive agenda that everyone follows. While conservative Democrats have been pretty much purged from the party's ranks, there is a still a centrist/left divide at work, and it's understandable that any given Democrat would find a certain level of agreement with them on which side of the party should be in charge to be of more immediate importance than any given woman leader.

And this is where Ms. Petri's comment puts people into an uncomfortable box, with the implication there is no valid reason, other than gender, to oppose Minority Leader Pelosi becoming Speaker of the House again. If the only choices are Speaker Pelosi or misogyny, that's something of a problem. And it's a problem that plagues a number of organizations, even while it's an advantage for people who find themselves in Representative Pelosi's situation. They're the only "acceptable" choice. If there were more women running for the speakership, that would give room for people to pursue both their policy and diversity priorities. It would also deny the Minority Leader the ability to blame opposition on sexism. Now, of course, this isn't to say that there isn't a certain amount of discomfort with the idea of women leaders to outright misogyny in play here. But with a polarizing figure like Minority Leader Pelosi as the subject, it's hard to separate the two.