The College Voter

Adam Leitenberger is a correspondent and contributor for The College Voter from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

The debate began even before the democratic competitors announced their candidacy: who carries the heavier burden of bias? Barrack Obama, for being a color-coded Muslim by association, or Hillary Clinton, for being biologically incompetent for the position of commander-in chief? Are Americans more likely to express a racial bias in their primary votes, or a gender bias?We don’t know. The answer to this much debated question will be known soon enough. Nonetheless, it is difficult to deny the seriousness of this dilemma. Undoubtedly, the winner of the democratic nomination will have to overcome the lumbering hurdle of voter bias on either gender or racial issues.The score will be settled in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary. The allocation of super-delegates will definitively end this debate….a debate the media was far less bored with back in February. But considering that the momentum is on Obama’s side in the final lap of this historic donkeyrace, it seems finally safe to assume that Americans really are more “ready” for a black president than a female president.

Fair enough, but, lets pause for a moment of clarity.

Feminists claim that the second-ness of women pervades every societal structure: the labor market, health care, the military, etc. However, this concept of “second-ness” has become particularly evident in this race. Ms. Clinton certainly has to deal with harsh rhetoric from the pundits, but, even our everyday, conversational language became a stigmatizing barrier for Ms. Clinton.

It is difficult to overlook that Senators Obama and Clinton are addressed in very different ways: the former by his last name, and the latter by her first. There are certainly exceptions, but Hillary, as I have come to know her, is the only candidate that people regularly refer to by first name. Isn’t this an obvious sign of linguistic disrespect toward the only female candidate?

If this is a clear example of misogyny in the language of the political landscape, Hillary has certainly embraced it, attempting to spin it to work to her benefit. Her official campaign logo does contain her first name in big blue letters, after all. The argument has been made that the use of her first name offers a strategic advantage, distancing her from the drama attached to her husband’s presidency. But the counterargument has also been made: Is it fair for her to distance herself from the negativity of the Clinton presidency, and, at the same time, utilize her first lady status as experience to enhance her credibility?

Strategically forsaking the Clinton name could certainly end up backfiring, making Hillary look, essentially, like a bitch. Fortunately for Hillary (and for those of us who like to resolve conflict with kick-ass one-liners), the most competent arbiter of all this debate, Saturday Night Live, responded promptly: “Bitch is the new black.”

Luckily, the primary is days away. Finally, we won’t have to wait until fashion week to find out if this is true.

Adam Leitenberger is a native of the South Jersey/Philadelphia metro area in his early twenties, who is far less entertained by politics than he is by politicians. While most of his time is spent being a corporate wage slave, he tries to make time to go to class at Rutgers, Camden occasionally. He is also a die hard supporter of the Huckabee/Colbert ticket, despite the minor disagreements between his secular humanism and the evangelical church.