What does a President look like?

I know it has been some time. With the new school year and teaching a course called "Women in Politics," I hope that lecture preparation will give some fodder for blog posts. This new one is a response to an interview with Donald Trump in which he stated that Hillary Clinton does not look presidential.

What does a President look like?

According to Donald Trump, in an interview aired Tuesday on ABC, he does and Hillary Clinton does not. In a similar vein to his comments suggesting Clinton’s “health” should be a matter of concern for voters, he stated, Clinton does not have the “stamina” or the appearance to be President. Working to boost the perceived success of his “appearance” on a stage last week with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Trump stated, “I just don’t think she has a presidential look, you have to get the job done. I think if she went to Mexico, she would’ve had a total failure. We had a great success.”

Of course the simple fact being stated by Trump is that Clinton can’t look presidential because she looks like a woman. Her problem, for him and as he would say to voters, is she is a woman.

You have to wonder, why he could claim a “success,” when the spectacle actually comprised of him speaking about how the Mexican people are wonderful following a polite but firm lecture by President Pena Nieto correcting him on his “misstatements”  (no matter how strongly felt) regarding Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrants in the U.S., and Mexico generally. However, the Donald does have a point. His “appearance” in Mexico was a success because it confirmed what is generally expected of such high-level international meetings. It met expectations of what the appearance of presidentialism should be.

This is interesting because the OED defines appearance as “the action of coming forward into view or become visible.” This is itself the action, the presentation of something like a self, it is not about doing anything else. It is not about “doing” Presidential. In appearing next to another President in front of a national and international press corps all the Donald had to do was “appear” in that context. Make sure his fly was up, don’t make any silly faces, look serious and interested; it’s really very easy (although how he gets away with the hair, bad toupee?, awful comb-over?, alien creature?, baffles me). This matches all expectations of what is taken as the reality of Presidential or political executives at work.

As an aside, success was also guaranteed because the “other/real President” was speaking a different language. While this might present a problem for a campaign strategy hoping to reach out to Spanish speaking Americans, the fact that within hours of his appearance, Trump in Arizona would contradict the “sentiment” of the Mexico City meeting by doubling-down on both his plan to build “the Wall” with the bill going to Mexico and to deport all suspicious Hispanic persons to Mexico suggest that this is not the Donald’s biggest concern. Plus, Trump is banking on the fact that 1) people would only be interested in the few minutes of the spectacle edited for quick consumption on the news, and 2) that people would pay little attention to the comments made by a foreign president in a foreign language and not read too closely the closed captioned translation. This is probably a good bet and probably an admission that he’s not too concerned with a demographic that wasn’t going to vote for him anyway. It might have come as a bit of a surprise when some of the few Hispanic republicans supporting Trump withdrew that support in disgust, but it doesn’t change the message that “he appeared Presidential.”

So what was achieved and why was this a success for Trump? It was because it met the general expectation of what a high level international meeting should look like. Clinton is at a disadvantage because if she is on that podium the shapes don’t match what we have come to expect.

When discussing women in leadership and executive position particularly as it relates to state-to-state meetings, I like to play a game called “Where’s Wanda?”  Pictures of G8, G20, U.N. Security Council, etc. are displayed and the trick is to pick out the women in these photos. You quickly see that at these levels women are few and far between (mind you the far between can change depending on the photographer’s arrangement).

For example: Here we have a meeting of the BRICS, i.e., Brazil, India, Russia, China, and South Africa. One woman, Dilma Rousseff who was President of Brazil until last month. After impeachment proceedings, which do have the appearance of a unceremonious putsch, she has been replaced by her white male vice-president and an all-male cabinet.  

 Here we have a meeting of the G7. I know we shouldn’t make comments about women politician’s clothes, but when she retires I will miss Angela Merkel of Germany because she brings a spot of colour to otherwise drab photos. (Although the Japanese P.M.’s suit is getting there.) Maybe if we start commenting on male leader’s attire we might get a bit more colour??

This is the 2015 G20 meeting in Turkey. I can find 3. Angela Merkel, Dilma Rousseff, and Park Geun-hye of South Korea.

When it comes to political executives the glass ceiling is also a one-way mirror, which continually reflects back a reality of chief executive being men. Such thinking goes along the lines of, “if it wasn’t the natural and healthy way of being that chief executives are men, then more women would appear in their number.” That is what Trump is saying when he states, “Hillary Clinton doesn’t look Presidential.” She quite obviously appears to be the wrong shape. He did also say he didn’t see Clinton’s running-mate, Kaine, as Presidential, but this appears to be an after-thought (if Trump is capable of them) to dampen the obvious gendered (sexist) nature of his comments. As for statements regarding Clinton’s health, particularly her “stamina,” this again brings attention back to her body and her supposed “natural” weakness and frailty. Of course this should be a concern for voters because she is suffering from an incurable and devastating political disease – she suffers from being a woman and even more concerning for voters a crazy women behaving like she might possibly be a man!

As a Canadian, I can take solace in that my Prime Minister understands that “it’s 2015,” now 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8OOIU7xQrk) and has made an effort to appoint 15 women to Canada’s top political executive. Women are now fifty percent of the Canadian federal cabinet. But in terms of general expectations we have to remember that these are appointed positions. The elected House of Commons as with the American Congress is still predominantly made up of white upper-middle class male lawyers.


To finish this off and try to remain hopeful I decided to look about on-line to see “where Wanda” might be. The following is not completely inclusive, but it is close. (Special call out and thanks to the women in international politics site, https://firstladies.international.) It should also be noted in some states, the President or Head of State is a ceremonial position with nominal powers. However, in other states the position can carry a great deal of power including appointing the Prime Minister and government. Prime Ministers are clearly heads of government, but they may defer to an elected President. A good guideline is if the Assembly/Parliament elects/appoints the head of state the position is less powerful, but if the head of state is popularly elected it will be more powerful.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar. State counsellor since April 2016. While prohibited from being President because of constitutional limitations on “foreign nationals” (her husband wasvand children are British) and stipulations made by the outgoing military rulers, she was named “State Counsellor,” a position much like that of Prime Minister in a President system. Due to her political activities, she was kept under house arrest from 1989 to 2010.

Michelle Bachelet, Chile. President 2006-2010 and since 2014. She was the first popularly elected female president in South America. She is also head of government.

Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Nepal. President since 2015. She is the second President of Nepal and the first woman President. Previously she was the Minister of Defence.

Doris Bures, Austria. Co-acting President since July 2016. She is one of three members of a council which holds office until a new President is elected.

Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Malta. President since 2014. She is a former Labour Party Member of Parliament.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Croatia. President since 2015. She is the 4^th President, but the 1^st female president.

Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuania. President since 2009. She is the first president to be elected to a second term.

Ameenah Gurib, Mauritius. President since 2015. She is the first popularly elected female head of state and was elected by the National Assembly.

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh. Prime Minister from 1996-2001 and since 2009. Her chief political rival, BNP leader Khaleda Zia, is also a woman. She has been occasionally jailed for her political activities.

Hilda Heine, Marshall Islands. President since 2016. First women in the country to hold elected office and also the first person in the Marshall Islands to earn a doctorate.

Atifete Jahjaga, Kosovo. President 2011 to April 2016. First female head of state in the Balkans and the 4^th president of Kosovo. Previously she was a police officer.

Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, Argentina. President 2007-2015. Argentina’s Hillary Clinton she is the widow of former President Nestor Kirchner. Her husband proposed she run after his first term as a possible strategy to circumvent the two term limit by alternating their presidencies. His death in 2010 resulted in her two term presidency which ended in 2015.

Saara Kuugongelwa, Namibia. Prime Minister since 2015. As Namibia has a semi-presidential system, she was appointed by the President.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia. Elected President since 2006. She is Africa’s first elected President and head of state.

Doris Leuthard and Simonetta Sommaruga, Switzerland. Both currently serve on the seven-member federal executive council. This is a collective head of state where one member is elected from the Federal Assembly and the presidency rotates among the seven members annually.

Theresa May, Great Britain. Prime Minister since July 2015. May is unelected as Prime Minister as she was selected by her party to take up the position after David Cameron resign in the wake of the Brexit vote. This is similar to the situation Canadian PM Kim Campbell found herself in after the resignation of Brian Mulroney. Campbell’s government went on to significant electoral defeat shortly after she took the office. The advantage for May is that her majority government is only one year into a possible 5-year term. Conceivably she will not have to face the electorate for another four years.

Angela Merkel, Germany. Chancellor since 2006. She has increased her party standing in each subsequent election. Forbes magazine lists her as the 2^nd most powerful person in the world. Her vibrant pantsuits are my favorite. It is nice to see colour and when you are the second most powerful person in the world you should be able to wear any colour you want!

Park Geun-hye, South Korea. President since 2013. Eleventh President of South Korea, she is the first elected female head of state n Northeast Asia. She is the daughter of former President and dictator, Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated in 1979.

Dilma Rousseff, Brazil. President 2011 to August 2016. Rousseff was jailed for her political activities 1970-1972.

 

Catherine Samba-Panza, Central African Republic, Interim President since 2014. Probably not the safest place to be an interim president as the country attempts to establish some stability as a state. Formally Mayor of the capital Banqui, she was elected from a list of non-partisan candidates.

  

Portia Simpson-Miller, Jamaica. Prime Minister 2001-2006 and 2012-March 2016. She is currently Leader of the Opposition.

Erna Solberg, Norway. Prime Minister since 2013. She is the second female PM of Norway after Gro Harlem Bruntland (1990-1996).

 

Lorella Stefanelli, San Marino. One of two Captain Regents since 2015. This is a shared or dual position with one each from the opposing parties. This is considered the supreme political office and has a veto.

Beata Szydlo, Poland. Prime Minster since 2015. Appointed by the President, she is the 3^rd female prime minister after Hanna Suchocka and Eva Kopacz who she replaced.

Tsai Ing-Wen, Taiwan. President since May 2016. She is the first woman elected to this office and the first female presidential candidate.