On Politico's "Female pols in 2010" article

This morning, in the elevator on the way up to the office, still in a post-oscars sleep deprivation stupor, I glanced at the front page of the office subscription of Politico. 

"Female Candidates Line up for 2010" reads the head of the story which goes on to state, "A slew of formidable female candidates, mostly Democrats, are lining up to run for the Senate in 2010, enough to raise the prospect of a surge of women into a chamber that currently has just 17 women senators." WOW, a SLEW! A great SURGE! I grew excited enough to continue reading despite my bleary-eyed Monday stupor. 

How many, exactly, is "a slew"? If you stand by the oxford english dictionary definition, you would expect it to be "a very large number, a great amount." Sweet! So, like, at least 30 women in 2010 races. I mean, come on, there are like 500 reps in Congress (453 in the House and 100 in the Senate, to be precise. Plus non-voting reps). Reading about this amazing slew of female candidates stepping into the spotlight, I lapsed into a pre-caffeinated dream of a country where representation reflected the population. 

Turns out, this prediction of a "landmark year" for women candidates has been triggered by the presumed intentions of 12 women. TWELVE.  That, Josh Kraushaar, is a "slew" I can believe in. 

The tremendous in-depth reporting about women in Congress by the journalistic masterminds at Politico continues from there. (Side note, my roommate and I are convinced that the 30 Rock joke where Alec Baldwin goes "Thanks for telling me what I already know. You should work for The Huffington Post" should sub in Politico.)

Maybe I should check the sarcasm here. But, let's think about this. Currently there are 91 female members of congress. That constitutes a whopping 17%, up from 16% last Congress. We picked up 2 new female senators and 10 new female reps for the 111th. If all 12 of these proported candidates run and win, and all the female incumbents up for reelection retain their seats, that will constitute 103 congresswomen, 19%, less than one-fifth. Less than one in five. 

Of course I'm happy that our country is inching closer to demographic representation in terms of gender (let's not get into how many black men and women, latino men and women, gay men and women, single and unmarried men and women are reps). However, I'm not convinced that a percent a year constitutes impressive progress on this front. At this rate, maybe by the tricentennial 50% of our elected officials will be women. 

If the statistics alone were what irked me, I probably wouldn't be writing. It was more the after-the-jump business that got to me. Politico interviewed Karen O’Connor, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University (no relation), for the piece. Now, Karen O'Connor sounds baller, generally speaking. For better or worse, however, she delves into answering the "why" regarding the recent rise of these candidates. She points out that "female candidates have a better track record in elections where economic issues are at the forefront, which makes the current political environment especially alluring." Also: "In the post-Sept. 11 climate...women were vulnerable to perceptions that they weren’t as tough on dealing with terrorist threats." 

These observations, while evident, are heartily disappointing. One can't help but feeling, well, so these extremely qualified and ambitious women are pushing through, largely because the economy and Main Street are in the shitter and women are Queens of their domain, the home. It's like playing with a handicap -- does victory feel as legitimate when you're getting a bit of a head start?

Maybe I'm wrong and the path opening up for a handful more women is an incredible thing we should all be psyched about. It's politics, which everyone knows is 90% manuevering and misdirection and capitalizing on an open door. Maybe we should be thrilled  and grateful to the American people and the machinists of the political machine that now there is, as O'Connor described, a "farm team" of female pols. 

Maybe. 

I can't get one thing out of my head. It's the title of a book by, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY),also mentioned in this article, entitled "Rumors of our Progress Have been Greatly Exaggerated."