May 10, 2007 12:08 PM

Melinda Henneberger on women and politics

Journalist Melinda Henneberger travelled the country - including a stop in Denver for a tense meeting between then-candidate Bill Ritter and a group of pro-choice women - and interviewed 234 women about their political lives and what they want in a President.

The result, If They Only LIstened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear, is a brisk and splendidly-written examination of the country's majority voting block. Henneberger, who has reported for The New York Times, been a contributing editor at Newsweek and blogged for The Huffington Post, reports about why so many women feel Democrats look down on them, why black women are so strongly opposed to gay marriage and why the "security mom" is a myth.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Welcome Melinda. What was the genesis of your book, "If They Only Listened to Us."
Melinda_Henneberger(A) After the last presidential election, I wondered why the Democrats had lost some support among women, and decided I would just hit the road, go out and ask them myself. So over 18 months, I traveled to 20 states and talked to women of all ages, races, tax brackets and points of view about their political frustrations and longings, and what they'd like to see in '08.

Mark_Wolf(Q) You found that so many women's political lives are "unexamined terrain." Why do you think that is?
Melinda_Henneberger(A) Unlike sex or religion, politics is still relatively off-limits, a conversation we shy away from because we don't want to offend. I can't tell you how many women, when I'd ask if their friends felt similarly about this issue or that candidate, would say, "Oh, I wouldn't know; I never talk to anybody about this stuff.'' But one result is that we then don't know how to talk about it; we have such little experience of the middle ground between silence and screaming. Another is that we then aren't processing the information in a way that would help us figure out what WE want from our government, instead of watching people who smile at inappropriate times debate non-issues on cable.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Part of your reporting was done in Denver. You attended a tense meeting between then-candidate Bill Ritter and a group he described to you as the "strident pro-choice money women." What brought you to this gathering and do you think pro-life Democrats such as Ritter could assuage pro-life liberal voters who have switched sides over the issue?
Melinda_Henneberger(A) In all the years I've covered politics, I'd never been to an event where the conversation was so raw and real and fraught. I came to the meeting with Ritter, who at the time was nobody's choice as the Democratic nominee, solely because of the abortion issue. It was such an interesting window into the challenge the Democratic Party is facing, knowing that it needs religious swing voters to succeed but not wanting to betray its own principles -- or its donors. There are so many more women out there than the Democrats realize who are voting Republican over this issue but are all but desperate to find a way home to the party they consider home. What these voters are looking for is more support for candidates like Ritter.

Mark_Wolf(Q) John Kerry did worse than Al Gore with both blue-collar women and college-educated women - and black women. What did you hear in your interviews that explained those shifts and do you think they are temporary or more lasting?
Melinda_Henneberger(A) Despite deep unhappiness over the war in Iraq, the social issues are still going to play a huge role in '08. The abortion issue has been very good to the Republican Party, and there is plenty more where that came from. One of the surprises was the intensity of opposition to gay marriage among black women, even those for whom it was not a religious issue. Black women are both the most Democratic voting bloc and the most opposed to gay marriage, so it's a tricky issue for Democrats. (One woman I met in Oregon, for instance, said that Bush scared her more gay marriage, but once he's out of office she might switch to the Republican Party.) I also found that the fairness argument was a non-starter for some of the African-American women I talked to, who did not want to hear gay rights compared to civil rights. And yes, I think these problems are enduring ones for the party, which must find ways to make those religious swing voters feel less excluded.

m._e._sprengelmeyer(Q) Among the current crop of Democratic candidates, how can some of the male candidates score points with women? Do you think they are conceding the women's vote to Sen. Clinton, or do you see particular Democrats using specific messages aimed at cutting into her base?
Melinda_Henneberger(A) One thing I heard again and again from women across the political spectrum was the desire for authenticity, for less pandering and intellectual dishonesty from candidates. In fact, many women suggested it was more important that candidates come across like THEY believe what they're saying than that we agree with them! And though women almost unversally said they would love to see a woman in the White House, they also expressed doubts about Hillary Clinton's sincerity. On the left, there is such deep unhappiness over her support of the war that I'm honestly not sure whether I heard more criticism from liberal or conservative women. Of the women I've stayed in touch with from the reporting, most Democrats seem to be supporting either Barack Obama or John Edwards.

Mark_Wolf(Q) You also reported in Denver about what you call "Bad Catholics For Kerry." What did you discover?
Melinda_Henneberger(A) That's the name of the chapter, which talks about the cross-pressures on Catholic women who feel, as one Denver woman put it, "literally ripped in two. How can I choose betwen the poor and the unborn?'' Women talked about feeling swayed by the statements of their local bishops, statements that came close to declaring a vote for John Kerry a sin -- even when they were none-too-pleased with their church leaders for making those statements.

Observer(Q) So I have to ask, just why are so many black women against gay marriage?
Melinda_Henneberger(A) For many, of course, it's part of their religious faith. But as one secular black woman told me, "Anything that takes men out of the marriage pool, we're against.'' So many black men are incarcerated that the demographic reality is that there are many more women in the marriage pool, and the "down low'' phenomenon of hidden bisexuality in the African-American community has also contributed to the feeling among some women that gay men are the competition.

Mark_Wolf(Q) What did you learn from your conservation with servicewomen who had served in Iraq?
Melinda_Henneberger(A) I spoke to some Navy nurses who had just arrived back from Iraq, and also some who had been back for a while. The interesting thing I thought was that some of them had lost respect for President Bush and had a lot of questions about the mission and whether troops were as well protected as they ought to be, none of those shifts had convinced them to VOTE differently. Guess what? Even after risking their lives in this war, they were still planning to vote not on that but on abortion. That was true for those who were pro-choice and pro-life.

Melinda_Henneberger(P) Thanks so much for having me.