Hillary Clinton has been speaking in public for decades. But recently, political observers have called her voice “loud, flat, harassing to the ear.” They have said she has a “decidedly grating pitch and punishing tone” and called her “shrill.”
“I think a lot of it with Hillary Clinton has to do with style and delivery, oddly enough,” said Bob Woodward, the veteran Washington Post editor, on MSNBC on Wednesday. “She shouts,” he said, adding that there was “something unrelaxed about the way she is communicating.”
Mrs. Clinton, who admits she does not have the natural oratory skills of her husband or President Obama, has been tailoring her voice and tone for years. But only in recent days has her speaking style been thrust back into a heated debate about women, sexism and public speaking.
Mrs. Clinton’s allies berated Mr. Woodward for what they viewed as a gender-based critique of her impassioned tone on the campaign trail, pointing out that the stock in trade of her Democratic rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, were his rousing remarks delivered in forceful tones.
“It is 2016 and I cannot believe — cannot believe — we are having this conversation,” said Stephanie Schriock, the president of the group Emily’s List, which works to elect female candidates, in an interview. If Mrs. Clinton is shouting, “what is Bernie Sanders doing?” she asked.
Even Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor whose 2004 campaign became immortalized by a widely mocked scream, said the criticism of Mrs. Clinton was sexist. “If she were a male and she were making these kinds of speeches, would people be criticizing her?” Mr. Dean said on Fox News.
Mrs. Clinton can be partly credited for igniting the debate.
After the first Democratic debate in October, when Mr. Sanders said “all the shouting in the world” would not fix the country’s problems with gun control, Mrs. Clinton said, “sometimes when a woman speaks out, some people think it’s shouting.” The campaign later blasted out that line on Facebook and in fund-raising emails to excite female voters.
Asked Thursday about Mr. Woodward’s comments to MSNBC, Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, directed a reporter to the outraged response on social media from many women.
“In today’s America, when a woman is loud it’s ‘shouting,’ when a man yells = enthusiasm. Where am I? Sudan?” Joyce Karam, the Washington bureau chief at the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, wrote on Twitter.
In general, Mr. Fallon said, “that type of criticism gets leveled at women more than it does at men.”
Asked Thursday about Mr. Woodward’s comments to MSNBC, Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, directed a reporter to the outraged response on social media from many women.
“In today’s America, when a woman is loud it’s ‘shouting,’ when a man yells = enthusiasm. Where am I? Sudan?” Joyce Karam, the Washington bureau chief at the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, wrote on Twitter.
In general, Mr. Fallon said, “that type of criticism gets leveled at women more than it does at men.”
Source : The New York Times
“I think a lot of it with Hillary Clinton has to do with style and delivery, oddly enough,” said Bob Woodward, the veteran Washington Post editor, on MSNBC on Wednesday. “She shouts,” he said, adding that there was “something unrelaxed about the way she is communicating.”
Mrs. Clinton, who admits she does not have the natural oratory skills of her husband or President Obama, has been tailoring her voice and tone for years. But only in recent days has her speaking style been thrust back into a heated debate about women, sexism and public speaking.
Mrs. Clinton’s allies berated Mr. Woodward for what they viewed as a gender-based critique of her impassioned tone on the campaign trail, pointing out that the stock in trade of her Democratic rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, were his rousing remarks delivered in forceful tones.
“It is 2016 and I cannot believe — cannot believe — we are having this conversation,” said Stephanie Schriock, the president of the group Emily’s List, which works to elect female candidates, in an interview. If Mrs. Clinton is shouting, “what is Bernie Sanders doing?” she asked.
Even Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor whose 2004 campaign became immortalized by a widely mocked scream, said the criticism of Mrs. Clinton was sexist. “If she were a male and she were making these kinds of speeches, would people be criticizing her?” Mr. Dean said on Fox News.
Mrs. Clinton can be partly credited for igniting the debate.
After the first Democratic debate in October, when Mr. Sanders said “all the shouting in the world” would not fix the country’s problems with gun control, Mrs. Clinton said, “sometimes when a woman speaks out, some people think it’s shouting.” The campaign later blasted out that line on Facebook and in fund-raising emails to excite female voters.
Asked Thursday about Mr. Woodward’s comments to MSNBC, Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, directed a reporter to the outraged response on social media from many women.
“In today’s America, when a woman is loud it’s ‘shouting,’ when a man yells = enthusiasm. Where am I? Sudan?” Joyce Karam, the Washington bureau chief at the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, wrote on Twitter.
In general, Mr. Fallon said, “that type of criticism gets leveled at women more than it does at men.”
Asked Thursday about Mr. Woodward’s comments to MSNBC, Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, directed a reporter to the outraged response on social media from many women.
“In today’s America, when a woman is loud it’s ‘shouting,’ when a man yells = enthusiasm. Where am I? Sudan?” Joyce Karam, the Washington bureau chief at the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, wrote on Twitter.
In general, Mr. Fallon said, “that type of criticism gets leveled at women more than it does at men.”
Source : The New York Times
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