Senators like Joe Biden should not be allowed to sell out women in the morning, and be heralded as their friend in the evening.
Based on the above quote by Elizabeth Warren, it's present day connotation, and her recent endorsement / seeming reversal of position, I find it stomach turning that female political representatives are now being media screen tested by fielding the "would you be VP if Joe Biden asked" question with different variations of the obligatory "yes, I would be honored."
This is just stoking-with-praise the ego of a man who already gets pleasure off of inappropriate interactions with women, and subjugating their contributions by either stealing their thunder (Joe's "I got you those votes" on Elizabeth Warren's consumer protection bureau) or belittling their ideas (what do you think of Warren's m4a plan? / "time to get real"). Encouraging sycophantic behavior as a result of Biden's ploy – for his advantage – of playing identity politics via a female VP ticket pick should not be tolerated.
"Yes, I would be honored" is not and should not be the obligatory response to a question regarding a prospective job interview. I would love for a female politician to recite her own qualifications and say, "All due respect, Biden would be lucky/in the best possible political position to have me and the voters whose policy interests I represent and here's why: A-Z merits. That's why he should ask me, and if he was serious about representing those interests, I would come to the table."
There are some scenarios in which political norms of politeness and decorum are overrated. Our political system is a car on fire driving the wrong direction on a four-lane highway; that is one such scenario. Hardball should apply, political figureheads - men and women alike - should scorch those kinds superficial media questions with pushback and reframing.
