A Year to Change: Conversations with women on choice, connections, and clarity in midlife

My whole life I’ve wanted to hear those words: “Kerchner elected president!” As a kid, I thought being president would be the coolest job. I have, lucky for all, seen the error of my ways.

However, while I was waiting in line at the pharmacy Monday afternoon, I heard the news guy talking about the new president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

My ears perked right up because when they call her by her last name, they call her Kirchner. HEY, that’s the same as my last name at birth. OK, so it’s spelled differently. But when you hear it, it’s definitely the same. So you can imagine that I was kinda excited to hear about her win.

But here’s what got me. I believe I heard Lou Dobbs repeat AT LEAST THREE TIMES, that “Kirchner is remarkably bright and beautiful.”

I must confess that when I checked the transcript from CNN. It shows only: “That’s an interesting report on Cristina Kirchner, remarkably bright, attractive woman.” So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he did say it only once. Maybe I was so surprised that the words got stuck in instant replay only in my brain… and maybe the transcripts aren’t really every single word spoken?

She is beautiful. I’m sure we are twins separated at birth. I’ll have to ask my mom about that. See for yourself…

Here’s the Argentine Kirchner

and here’s me
If you squint and the pictures are small enough, we’re nearly identical, doncha think?
But I digress.

Kirchner just got elected president of a whole freakin’ country! I hope she’s more than remarkably bright. (I, too, am more than remarkably bright. Hmmm, another reason to think we’re twins?)

Dictionary.com defines remarkable as “notably or conspicuously unusual; extraordinary.” Why is it conspicuously unusual that a woman is bright? Or is this to imply that it’s unusual that an Argentinean woman is bright? Man, I am NOT going there!

Look, I must admit that I don’t know a whole lot about Argentina. But I hear they have pretty many “issues” down there, issues that will probably require a person a whole lot more than just bright—even remarkably bright–to run the country.

I wonder if they ever called the president of the US remarkably bright… I mean ANY president. It seems condescending to me.
People might be surprised to find that some athletes are remarkably bright. Our culture doesn’t expect them to be smart. There is certainly nothing precluding the possibility of brilliance. The ads during the Final Four basketball games highlight the scholar athletes who will probably not go on to pro ball, but who just might discover a cure for cancer.So why are people surprised that women in power are smart? I’m sure some women get power in less than admirable ways. (Some men do, too.) But why can’t the media figure out what to do with the smart woman stories? When Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House, they talked about her wardrobe. They talk about Condoleezza Rice’s hair styles.

Did the press talk about how cute JFK was? They sure didn’t announce it on the 6 o’clock news! My friend Mary Klotz says, “They didn’t need to. Everybody knew it!”

I wish I had the opportunity to meet Lou Dobbs in person. I think I might like to screw a light bulb into his head and see if might BECOME “remarkably bright!” Maybe he could become a shining example to the rest of the media.