American Maggie

There are different types of leadership. By example. By coercion. There’s bad leadership if no one follows your direction. And of course, there’s just being a follower.

For most of its history America led by example, with the country’s economy, industry and culture putting it so far ahead of everyone else that the rest of the world could not help but follow. In an era of the country’s unquestionable supremacy, U.S. Presidents led in that first way – by trying to naturally bring other countries along in the direction of prosperity and freedom. Reagan led the Eastern bloc to democracy and capitalism, Clinton expanded free trade with NAFTA. And yes, America also used force to get its own way – it forced Milosevic’s army out of Kosovo, saving millions of lives. George W. Bush took down Saddam Hussein, freeing millions, but he didn’t manage to lead many allies along with him, or to convince the world to pursue his vision of a democratic Middle East. But whether it led well or badly, America has always led.

Obama, however, is putting America in a position it’s never been before: that of the follower. And not by accident: this Administration seems satisfied, almost proud of letting America slip out of the lead, as if the President’s role was to humbly shepherd the nation to realize its supposedly ‘proper’ place. Obama has let France – of all countries – take the reins on chastising Iran for its nuclear ambitions.

On the domestic front, the health care bill is hardly the innovative new direction one might expect from America’s private sector and great universities. Will the Baucus bill really inspire anyone? Vast national programs and czars are expanding federal powers across the country, but California is still headed for disaster. It used to be you turned to America if you wanted the responsible, practical and effective solution. Today, when it comes to energy policy, the Administration has brought the land of Edison only as far as passing emissions requirements that follow Europe’s, instead of taking the energy debate beyond environmental ideology.

Of course, Obama’s only been at this less than a year – not long enough to overcome challenges like decades without real reforms to health care entitlements. Yet twelve day was long enough to gain the approval of the international community: as if all this time America had been a misbehaving child, whose parent tries hard to make it clear it has finally matured, the Nobel Prize is awarded to Obama, and America gets a pat on the head. Last week’s disappointing NASA explosion and the loss of the Chicago Olympic games seem fitting symbols of America’s new mediocrity in realms in which it always pioneered.

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Christine Nikol writes from London, UK where she works as a business consultant.  She has previously written for The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. and as an intern for the Paris office of Newsweek.  She has a Masters in English Literature from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in Government from Harvard College, where she was Editor in Chief of the Harvard French Review, an annual journal of transatlantic politics and culture.  She is originally from Poland and Canada and has also lived in France, Nepal, and Singapore, but America is by far her favorite.

Who ever thought that a 140-character Twitter message could be so controversial? But then, who ever thought that a woman would Tweet about her miscarriage while in a meeting, describing ever-so-succinctly: “I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a f—– -up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin,”?

 If ever there was a time to take pause and consider the etiquette of social networking, this is it. The Tweet, posted late last month by one Penelope Trunk, founder of the website Brazen Careerist, caused those in the Twitterverse to stop mid-type in shock, offense, and outrage. Then it spread around the internet, around the blogs, and onto the primetime news programs.

In an interview with CNN’s Rick Sanchez, Trunk defended her Tweet “heard ‘round the world,” saying she didn’t understand what was so outrageous (didn’t you know- miscarriages and abortions are totally normal?). “Well, 75 percent of women are having miscarriages,” said Trunk. “So, it’s just a natural part of women being women. I mean, if women can’t talk about that, they’re not really talking about the female experience.”

Trunk continued: “And I actually thought a miscarriage at work is no big shakes — 75 percent of women have miscarriages, and they last about three weeks. So most women who have miscarriages have them at work, so it’s not — it’s not like it’s that big a deal.”
But the real kicker was when she went on to say that the only thing people should be offended about is the fact she was going to have to drive to Chicago to get an abortion. Apparently there’s a three week waiting period in her home state of Wisconsin. Oh, the plight of the oppressed woman!

While everyone is entitled to their own moral codes, and has the right to express them in any way they so desire (within the limit of the law, of course), there is a reason things as personal as miscarriages have never been discussed so audaciously, openly, and unemotionally in the workplace, let alone in such a public forum like Twitter.

But Trunk’s main point- that if women can’t talk openly about miscarriages on the job (or any other venue for that matter), they’re not discussing the real “female experience” or on a level playing field- epitomizes everything that is wrong with the modern feminist movement.

Trunk, who in the past, regularly wrote for the Huffington Post (she once wrote an article about why Christmas should not be recognized in the workplace because it undermines diversity), managed, on national television, to turn her Tweet into a pro-choice public announcement. 

Instead of recognizing that to a lot of women, her dispassionate expression of gratitude for her miscarriage was offensive, Trunk turned the finger around and pointed it at those who are pro-life. Like it or not, said Trunk, having an abortion is a right, and the hoops women have to jump through with insurance companies are a “joke.”  But today’s feminism, of which Trunk belongs, reduces personal, female experiences to the level of a facebook message, blog post, or Tweet. As a result, the feminist movement is being hijacked by liberal ideologues that harp on how abortion is a right for all women; as if any woman who is pro-life has just been brainwashed by the male patriarchy.  Meanwhile, feminism becomes devoid of any and all meaning or significance.

But when did discussing (or celebrating) miscarriages at work become the meter for judging equality of women in the workplace? Or more importantly, why is it that today, feminists seem to only care about fighting to maintain the right to have an abortion?  Could it be because the issues past feminists like Betty Freidan fought so hard to change no longer exist in today’s America or resonate with the present-day sisterhood and thus, abortion is the only controversial issue that the movement can manage to gather behind?

On her blog post about the Twitter scandal, Trunk wrote, “the female experience is part of work…if work is going to support our lives, then we need to talk about how our lives interact with work. We need to be honest about the interaction if we hope to be honest about our work.”

 Yet for most women, reducing a miscarriage- something that for most women is a painful, horrible experience to a mere Tweet- isn’t honest or a noble statement for the pro-choice cause. It’s just bad taste; bad taste and a reflection of the sad state of American feminism, where the only thing that matters is that women might have to wait as long for an abortion as they do for a hair appointment. 

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Amanda Carey is the Editor of the The Tiger Town Observer at Clemson University.  She has previously worked for Robert Novak and has been published in Reason Magazine and The American Spectator.