Women, Know Your Place

Pat Boone's got news for strong-willed women: even at your most capable, you're still only second-best.

I'm tempted to call this treatise "Weak Men Make Strong Women."
Consider the women, in our day, who have become the heads of state in India, Pakistan, Israel and Great Britain. Question: Is it likely that these very accomplished and brilliant women would have attained these positions if there had been men in evidence who seemed equally or perhaps even better qualified? Or was the ascendance of these women made possible by the public perception that there weren't men of sufficient stature, integrity and experience available?
Don't get all defensive, ladies; hear me out. I'm praising and complimenting you here. Thank God for you!

Yeah, stupids! Don't get the boxers-you-stole-from-your-husband in a twist. Pat's just pointing out that the only time women get elected is when all the men suck. It's a very special kind of backhanded compliment, sort of like saying, "the only way we'd let a black or a Jew in our country club is if all the WASPs start being total embarrassments (or poor)."

Pat has more:

As we look at the current political situation, we see Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House, women senators and representatives, and a certain lady senator from New York state actually considered to be the front-runner for the Democrat nomination for president of the United States. We're getting used to seeing women as chief executives of huge international companies from Hewlett Packard to Xerox, Lucent and eBay.
These women have not only occupied positions of power, they've been doing man-sized jobs... Is it likely that women would be chosen for our leaders in politics and government and business, if men assumed their traditional, time-honored and expected responsibilities of leadership and direction? Or is the phenomenon largely explained by the growing wimpiness, indecision, compromise and laxness of character among our men?

Apparently Golda Meir, Nancy Pelosi, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher- whatever their skills or qualifications, ultimately they're just a symbol of white males becoming emasculated. Heaven forbid any people (including, say, women) actually vote for people they LIKE, no, clearly a vote for a woman is nothing but a vote for the lesser of two evils, which really just means that men's capacities for leadership and responsibility are going downhill. In Pat's world, politics (and business, apparently) is a zero-sum game. If people vote for women, they must not think much of men. Frankly, I'm surprised he isn't blaming the liberal media or cable TV for all this- just look at how the Simpsons has led to the delegitimization of the father as patriarch of the family!

Pat concludes by ripping off a story from the book of Judges (a personal favorite):

In the book of Judges in the Bible, there's the story of Deborah, who described herself simply as "a mother in Israel," though she was a judge and prophetess who delivered God's directive to General Barak. The word was "The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you," and the command was to take 10,000 Israelites and attack the greatly superior army of the Canaanite Sisera. God would give Barak the victory.
But Barak wasn't sure; he told Deborah he'd only obey God's command if Deborah went with him. And the prophetess said, "Very well, I will go with you. But … the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman."
And that's exactly what happened. When Barak's men completely routed the enemy army, and Sisera ducked into a tent to hide, a woman named Jael gave him some milk and covered him with a blanket – and while he slept, she took a tent peg and a hammer and drove the peg through his temple into the ground! Jael and Deborah were national heroines, celebrated to this day by the people of Israel.
And that's my observation. As men, who are the obvious candidates for leadership, abdicate their responsibilities and sell their birthrights for personal gain, strong and dedicated women will – please, God – step into the gap, rally their fellow citizens, and point us back toward the prize of the high calling.

That's right, Pat's happy there are strong women, because they're the only ones that can save us from Pussified men. He's counting on being able to galvanize the Soccer Moms of America in order to push the Christian Right's agenda. Good luck to you, Pat. May the best woman win.