Is being short a bigger obstacle to the presidency than being a female or a minority?

[rudy23]

Seriously--I don't think any human being should be written off for the presidency because of their physical characteristics. No one.

And I'm thrilled beyond belief that in 2007, two of the front runners for the presidency of the United States are set to break the chain of old white men in our most powerful position.

I just can't put into words how upsetting it is to watch the media coverage on Dennis Kucinich throughout this race so far. The majority of coverage pretends he doesn't exist. What little coverage he does get, consists of condescending, pejorative laced pats on the head that treat him like a child.

And most of the condescension is from Democrats.

Kucinich is one of the few candidates who acts with any courage whatsoever. He is the most fitting representative of the left (which is truly the majority) in this country. Yet every time he stands up to the neocons, he's brushed aside like a gnat.

I think some people just hate short people. It just angers them to even look at a short person, and since it's an acceptable form of prejudice, no one hides their feelings on the subject.

Why is shortness an acceptable reason to make a punching bag out of someone? It's encoded into a person's DNA from the time they're born--it's no reflection on the person's strength or weakness whatsoever. Wouldn't you want someone in power who's stood up to bullies all his life? I just don't get the "Kucinich is too short" meme--his character is clearly the biggest of the bunch. Why are we as DEMOCRATS missing this?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. No, being short isn't a dealbreaker.

OTOH, being a self-professed atheist would be.

[NotGivingUp]

2. it all depends on that 1% who control everything...they'll make or break you. nt

[Deep13]

3. Since the advent of television, the taller candidate usually wins.

Still, I've got nothing against Kucinich.

[Virginia Dare]

12. Tom Cruise has been able to build himself a nice little

career in film and he's quite short, I would think there could be ways to overcome this. It's a shame that the presidential race is becoming more and more like American Idol though, isn't it? Maybe we need Simon, Randy and Paula to start moderating the debates?

[Deep13]

16. That was the WORST exit strategy I have ever seen.--

Your premise is faulty. Your preparation is inadequate. You diplomatic effort is laughable. I'm just being honest. --Simon from Presidential Idol.

[Warpy]

4. WE aren't, the lumpen are

You know, the ones who keep reality TV going and believe it when some commercial says the oxymoronic "New and IMPROVED!" about soap. Some people are all surface with little depth and they like it that way and there is nothing we can do about it except manipulate the camera shots so that the candidates are never together in one shot and manipulate the set so that each candidate is exactly the same height above his/her podium.

Banning debates from TV and putting them into print or on radio would just ensure fewer people would hear a word from any of the candidates but make up their alleged minds from commercials, especially negative ads. Yeah, that'll work well.

[aquart]

9. Oh, look. Another way to say "sheeple."

Another way to be contemptuously superior to our fellow Americans.

Which of you is mindlessly ignorant, again?

[Warpy]

15. Oh, look, the ivory tower language police

sigh

Perhaps meeting some of your fellow citizens might be educational. I suggest taking a retail job some time. Stepping out of one's comfort zone of friends and family can be an eye opener.

I do know people like this. Apparently some need to.

Lumpen is a descriptive term and not necessarily a pejorative one. These people exist, they are a fact of life, and they have a right to exist. Our job is to learn how to deal with them.

I suggested how.

[Marr]

5. I don't think it's so much the height, as the stage presence. Michael Chiklis would

probably do fine on a stage with a bunch of tall people.

We haven't got substantive debate in this country anymore, and political campaigns never rise above the shallow TV impression.

[bryant69]

6. I don't think Kucinich gets condescended to because he is short

Just saying.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Cleita]

7. Wasn't Harry Truman a little guy?

However, historically, whenever a population had a choice to select a leader (the position wasn't heredity) they have tended to follow the tallest leaders. Maybe it goes back to the days when kings were also warriors and the taller you were, the better chance you had of defeating the enemy.(Although Napoleon proved otherwise.) It must be hard wired into our psyches.

That doesn't mean that woman haven't been leaders too. In matriarchal societies a women chief tends to be looked upon like a mother who will nurture the whole tribe and make the decisions that will result in them having plenty of food. But they also liked the female to be large if not in height in girth like the Alii of hawaii who were expected to be obese. I suspect that the chubby mother goddesses found in neolithic sites also promoted this model.

[aquart]

8. Yes.

[Virginia Dare]

10. It wasn't for James Madison...n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Being honest a far bigger barrier than either.

[Nikki Stone1]

13. Ding ding ding!

Yup.

[Greyhound]

14. Failing to do the bidding of your corporate masters is a larger barrier

to national office than height, sex, or pigmentation.