* Here is what Hillary Clinton said on the “Humans of New York” Facebook page today. My only comment is: as a woman, boy can I relate!
I was taking a law school admissions test in a big classroom at Harvard. My friend and I were some of the only women in the room. I was feeling nervous. I was a senior in college. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do. And while we’re waiting for the exam to start, a group of men began to yell things like: ‘You don’t need to be here.’ And ‘There’s plenty else you can do.’ It turned into a real ‘pile on.’ One of them even said: ‘If you take my spot, I’ll get drafted, and I’ll go to Vietnam, and I’ll die.’ And they weren’t kidding around. It was intense. It got very personal. But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t afford to get distracted because I didn’t want to mess up the test. So I just kept looking down, hoping that the proctor would walk in the room. I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that’s a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’ And sometimes I think I come across more in the ‘walled off’ arena. And if I create that perception, then I take responsibility. I don’t view myself as cold or unemotional. And neither do my friends. And neither does my family. But if that sometimes is the perception I create, then I can’t blame people for thinking that.
* Alexandra Petri does a little Trump-trolling.
“Well, I just don’t think she has a presidential look, and you need a presidential look.”
— Donald Trump, Sept. 6Trump is not wrong that Hillary Clinton does not have That Presidential Look. She is, after all, female, something that no prior president has had the misfortune to be.
And if there is one sort of content that women need more of, it is an article about how to look a certain way. So here is a quick guide to getting That Presidential Look.
I didn’t count, but I think she drew tips from all 44 male presidents on “the look.” For example, here is what we learn from Harry Truman: “To Get This Look: First, announce that you have the nuclear bomb. Then, ask whether anyone thinks your glasses are right for your face.” And from the current occupant of the White House: “To Get This Look: Enter office comparatively young and spry. Then try running this place for eight years.” I’m sure that Hillary will find this tremendously useful.
* The other day, Brian Stelter provided us with these numbers:
Here’s the stat I just shared on TV: Trump’s site has 9,000 words of policy proposals. Clinton’s site: 112,735 words https://t.co/6czlLDNPCg
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 4, 2016
Perhaps that is at least partially a result of this:
The Trump campaign built a large policy shop in Washington that has now largely melted away because of neglect, mismanagement and promises of pay that were never honored. Many of the team’s former members say the campaign leadership never took the Washington office seriously and let it wither away after squeezing it dry.
* Just in case you are interested in some real-world news outside of the political campaign, there’s this:
Iran has kept to a nuclear deal it agreed with six world powers last year limiting its stockpiles of substances that could be used to make atomic weapons, a report by the U.N. nuclear agency found.
The confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seen by Reuters did not point to any violations in Tehran’s observance of the deal which was opposed by hardliners inside Iran and by skeptics in the West.
* Finally, those first two items require a little musical accompaniment (and yes, as much as I love James Brown, I need to hear a woman sing this one today).
