Why female leaders don't cut it

In the last presidential primary, Democrats had two choices, a man, Barack Obama, and a woman, Hillary Clinton. They chose the man as their nominee. He went on to beat the snot out of the Republicans. Yet, columnist Kathleen Parker insists that grooming women for leadership positions at the national level will pave the way for Republican political victories.

Yes, a 'gender gap' does exist for the GOP. More women vote than men, and the women who do vote tend to vote for Democrats. That means there is a huge army of men waiting to be recruited into politics, which the Republicans ignore, because they take the advice of pundits like Parker.

People respond to masculine leadership in a way that they do not respond to women. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a political nobody and a neophyte. Yet, he won the governorship of California on his first try in politics. He did not succeed because he went to Harvard. He succeeded because he projected, with his bodybuilder physique and film personality, bold and vigorous masculinity.

The same can be said of his buddy, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who as a Libertarian won the governor's office in Minnesota, a traditionally Democrat state. Today, in the world arena of politics, female heads of government, like Angela Merkel of Germany, preside over flaccid and timid states. No one fears Germany. No one fears France, no one fears Britain, no one fears Canada, no one fears Norway - states run, at all levels, by women and feminized males.

The nations that inspire fear and appeasement are run by aggressive, high testosterone men in male-dominated societies. International politics demands a personal understanding of male dominance hierarchies and a psychological make up prepared to compete in them. Estrogen just won't make the cut.

George Kocan

Warrenville