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POLITICS & COMMUNITY Bob Dole: Ladies' Man? by laurie ouellette Don't miss Laurie Ouellette's other Adwatch columns on Campaign '96.	With only a few weeks until the election, the Dole campaign seems to be making a last-ditch effort with women voters. During the recent debates, both Bob Dole and Jack Kemp made a real attempt to use both masculine and feminine pronouns, and to pat themselves on the back for it. Commentators agree Dole's been downplaying his conservative stance on abortion and other issues women care about. And yet, no matter how hard he tries, something about Dole seems to scare off female voters from both parties. Perhaps that's why he was conspicuously absent from his own TV ad aimed at women. Instead of the abrasive former Senator, the ad features Dole's polished and personable wife, 59-year-old Elizabeth Dole, speaking about her husband's integrity and honesty. While Mrs. Dole doesn't discuss policy issues, she does manage to mythologize Dole as a beacon of benevolence and equality, largely due to her own self-assured persona and comforting speaking style. In contrast to her husband's gruff demeanor and often incoherent ramblings, Mrs. Dole has a no-nonsense Southern attitude that cuts through the familiar sound of campaign speak. At one point in the ad, she looks the viewer squarely in the eye and assures her that Bob Dole thinks both sexes at the same company should have equal retirement benefits.
Dole is presented as a one-man father figure, a "protector" of all women.	While such talk does not really acknowledge the structural gender gap, it does present Bob Dole as a warm and fuzzy champion of women's equality. Obviously, the point was to score some points with working women. But make no bones about it -- Bob Dole is no militant feminist, nor was he presented as one. In the ad, we see that Dole is really the same old-fashioned war hero we've come to expect, only slightly updated for a more feminine context. Over and over, his wife presents him as a one-man father figure, a "protector" of victims of domestic violence and, implicitly, of all women. Within this patronizing logic, women's issues are redefined within the context of what Bob Dole thinks "is right for America." And why discuss the point any further? After all, promises Mrs. Dole, "If it's right for America, Bob gets it done." An Ivy Leaguer who married late in life and has served on the Cabinets of two presidents, Elizabeth Dole is hardly the woman she appears to be. In fact, while she plays the deferring wife on camera, she just might be her husband's last shot at getting elected. In contrast to Hillary Rodham Clinton, a "political lightning rod" who was banned from campaigning with the President due to her controversial public image, Mrs. Dole is non-controversial, pleasing, and more popular than ever. In her numerous appearances on her husband's behalf, the would-be First Lady plays down her intellect and opinions and projects empathy and emotion -- two traditionally feminine attributes, and qualities many believe her husband lacks. Speaking recently in Fresno, Calif., Mrs. Dole announced she would be focusing on "personal vignettes" from her husband's life, like an emotional encounter with a disabled child, or the time he invited some young people from a "tough neighborhood" over for Thanksgiving dinner. Between explaining that her husband was "too modest" to discuss these stories, she wandered the crowd and offered personal greetings and hugs to audience members.
Bob Dole must have seen a chance to create another Barbara Bush, that womanly prop extraordinaire.	While she too has been known to cater to her husband's career needs (what else can explain the haircuts?), Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is in some ways actually more traditional than Mrs. Dole, projects a rather different vision of gender equality and the role of the First Lady. During a recent speech in Boca Raton, Fla., she discussed a variety of campaign issues, including the environment, health care, education, and unemployment. Standing solo behind the podium, she appeared more serious than Elizabeth Dole -- and thus for some, more threatening. Finally, instead of making up for Bill Clinton's emotional void, she was forced to defend him from critics who, referencing the Family Leave Act, felt that "talking about parent-teacher conferences isn't really a President's job." Several months ago, Bob Dole suggested that the candidates for First Ladies have their very own debate -- an idea that both elevates and diminishes their presidential role. For Dole, the idea must have seemed like a chance to exploit Elizabeth's gender for his own purposes, perhaps even create another Barbara Bush, that womanly prop extraordinaire. While Babs played it best, few Presidential wives have been able to transcend that limited role, although a handful have tried -- Eleanor Roosevelt, for instance, who fought for anti-lynching laws and workers' rights, or Ellen Wilson, who spent her time in the White House trying to clean up slum housing. Until the day we actually see a woman inaugurated as President, we probably won't see the First Lady treated with more respect on her own terms. Laurie Ouellette writes about media and culture and teaches at the New School in New York City. Her work has appeared in "Utne Reader," "Afterimage," "Women's Review of Books," "Independent Film and Video Monthly," and various books and journals. © 1996 Laurie Ouellette. All Rights Reserved.