MSNBC - The Misunderstanding of Judy Dean

Web Search:

	MSNBC News
			Alerts \| Newsletters \| Help

The Misunderstanding of Judy Dean

Instead of finding fault with presidential hopeful Howard Dean's wife, the press ought to take a closer look—at themselves

WEB EXCLUSIVE

By Gersh Kuntzman

Newsweek

Updated: 5:24 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2004

Jan. 26 - Full disclosure: I don't know Judith Steinberg Dean. I've never met her, don't know any of her friends, haven't talked to her neighbors. And guess what—neither have the vast majority of my media colleagues. That hasn't, of course, stopped them from forming very strong—and often very negative—opinions about the wife of former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean.

advertisement
To the New York Times, the makeup-shunning, TV-avoiding Mrs. Dean is "unusual...the invisible political spouse" who has become "a potential liability" to her husband.

In the Washington Post, Ruth Marcus wrote condescendingly, "I wonder whether the country is quite ready for Judith Steinberg, with or without the Dean."

Newsday's Ellis Henican even took his shot, saying, "there's something odd" about Dr. Judy Dean. (Full disclosure: Although I don't know Judith Steinberg Dean, I do know Ellis Henican and he's a wonderful man. The fact that I'm attacking his recent column should not be seen as payback for some bad career advice he recently gave me, but merely to show that even the best guys in the media business are so utterly wrong about Judy Dean.)

Even the not-so-best guys in the business, like New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, are wrong. Did Dowd do anything more than read the clips on the spotlight-shunning Judy Dean before concluding, in a recent column, that she and her husband are "in need of some tips on togetherness?" Dowd went on to describe their marriage as "an unusual relationship."

Not since Hillary Clinton has a potential First Lady evoked such ire in the media. But there's something different here. Hillary Clinton was genuinely odious, a political creature whose marriage surely seemed a sham and who stood by her man only because term limits would get him out of the way soon enough. But Judy Dean has no ambition beyond being a good ol' country doctor, being a good mother to two teenagers, and letting her husband do what he does. Running for president is a dirty business and Judy Dean wants to stay clean.

Yet we in the media attack her. "While some Dean backers see Steinberg as a role model for independent women balancing careers and children, others in the campaign..." wrote the Times. Do a Nexis search and you'll see this paragraph—in some form or another—in every article about Judy Dean.

In what is supposedly an enlightened age for women, we in the media should be celebrating Dean's independence, not questioning it. Shouldn't it be refreshing to meet a woman who'd prefer to be a doctor than gazing longingly from the edge of the stage as her husband delivers the seventh identical stump speech of the day? (And how come all of my supposedly gifted media colleagues missed the irony of an independent, modern woman, who nonetheless has one foot in that bygone age of doctors who make house calls? That alone should have won her points.)

Nonetheless, my colleagues dismiss her with the sobriquet of "media shy." Well, I've got a secret for you: Most people are media shy. Most people don't want to have a conversation with a person who has no desire to get to know them, but is merely waiting for them to say something that will sound weird to 51 percent of the population.

In all my years as a reporter, the only people I've found who aren't "media shy" are people with something to sell. When the grieving mother slams the door in my face when I ask about her just-murdered son, I don't get my revenge in the next day's paper by calling her "media shy." I move on.

Most reporters never ask themselves why Judy Dean is "media shy" because most of us know the answer: Judy Dean is smart enough to know that members of the media are often embittered people who feel that true creative success—the riches of screenwriting, the intellectual credibility of novel-writing, the hot sex of songwriting—has been unfairly denied them. And Judy Dean knows that such bitterness encourages reporters to form negative opinions about people we've never met and make snap judgments on people whose lives are exemplary.

She was content to sit out the election until her husband's campaign ran into some trouble. So last week, Mrs. Dean was trotted out for that most ignominious of media confessionals: The one-hour interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC's "Primetime."

In The Interview, Mrs. Dean again showed us her humility, her professionalism, her dedication, her...what's that word?...her integrity (I almost forgot the word because it's such a rare sight on television). Every time Dean opened her mouth, I found myself hoping that my daughter grows up to be Judith Steinberg Dean.

Yet the more she spoke, the more "sins" she rang up.

"I don't watch TV that much," she said. Diane was visibly upset.

Advertisement
Hair! Mankind's Historic Quest to End Baldness
by Gersh Kuntzman
"I am kind of private...and I have a medical practice which I love," she said later. "And I think it's really important for me, and Howard knows it's important to me. But, I also love Howard, and I think he would make a terrific president...And, I think if I can help him, I will. And that doesn't mean he's going to disrupt my life, disrupt my patients, my son, but if he calls on a Saturday, and I'm not on call that weekend, I'll be out there Sunday." Imagine that, a husband and wife who support each other's careers. Diane was skeptical.

When asked about the time Howard gave her a rhododendron for her birthday, Judy Dean even committed the sin of non-conspicuous consumption. "We don't do that much with presents...What I always do for my birthday [is] a family bike ride with squished cupcakes in a knapsack...I'm not a very thing person. I mean, I have everything I want...and I'm not that interested in things." Damn this woman! She must be a Socialist!

The day after The Interview, The New York Times called it "reminiscent of Bill and Hillary Clinton's post-Super Bowl appearance" in 1992. Huh? The Dean interview was reminiscent in only one way: a husband and wife appeared together on a couch. In 1992, Bill Clinton was accused of adultery and of having the integrity of an e-mail spammer promoting low-cost Viagra. But what is Howard Dean accused of, exactly? All he did was give an over-the-top pep talk to a bunch of kids who've volunteered for six months and were bummed out after their man's third-place finish in Iowa. Sure, it looked weird on TV, but a speech like that isn't a grave enough sin, so the media pulled out the old "isn't his marriage strange?" routine—better still because Judy Dean, by not playing along, only inflames the coverage.

But admit it: Aren't you appalled that "Stand By Your Man" has replaced "It's the Economy, Stupid" as the requisite campaign slogan? Aren't you angry that a presidential candidate's wife is forced to go on TV to tell the world that her husband is "very kind, very considerate"? Aren't you livid that the only choice you're given in a First Lady is Mamie Eisenhower's "Ike runs the country, I turn the lamb chops" or Hillary Clinton's "Two for the price of one" approach?

Fight back. Accept Judith Steinberg Dean for who she is. Howard Dean clearly does: "She is a huge influence on me," he told Sawyer. "Our marriage is based on respect...She's a real life partner. Plus, she's a lot smarter than I am."

Well, that seals the deal. I'm still supporting Dean for president, but now it's Judy, not Howard.

Gersh Kuntzman is also Brooklyn bureau chief for The New York Post. His website is at http://www.gersh.tv