Larson's Criticism of Braun Hypocritical

To the editors:

Lia C. Larson ’05 is right on one point in her recent column (“Glass Ceilings and Hypocrisy,” Nov. 21): “relentless gender politicking” has overshadowed Carol Moseley Braun’s presidential campaign. However, it is the media, Larson included, that has engaged in this unceasing emphasis on gender. Ambassador Braun has brought her innovative and exciting message for a better America through single-payer health care, sweeping civil rights advances, logical tax policy, and a global, cooperative foreign policy across the country. The media, however, has largely disregarded her candidacy and the issues she rightly raises, and instead focuses on Ambassador Braun’s gender.

Carol Moseley Braun is not running for president because she is a woman. It is true, however, that Ambassador Braun has consistently spoken of her gender as it relates to the importance of broadening the range of participants and perspectives involved in American government. As Braun said during her Hardball interview, “If you can tap the talents of 100 percent of the people, you have a better chance of a better outcome than if you can just tap the talent of half of the people.”

While one may not support the policies that the ambassador espouses, it is difficult to argue that adding new perspectives to debates on difficult problems is bad for this nation. Expecting Ambassador Braun not to cite at all the new outlook she would bring to American leadership, as Larson demands, is not only unreasonable, but also reflects persistent and destructive public biases that must be overcome.

RYAN P. MCAULIFFE ’06

Nov. 23, 2003