Did Juan Williams go too far by slamming Ann Romney as 'corporate wife'?
Juan Williams is drawing a lot of heat for calling Ann Romney a 鈥渃orporate wife." The Fox News commentator made the remark after watching Mrs. Romney鈥檚 generally well-received speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., 聽on Tuesday night.
鈥淭he stories she told about struggles, it鈥檚 hard for me to believe,鈥� said Mr. Williams in the midst of a Fox panel discussion. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a very rich woman. I know that and America knows that.鈥�
Asked what he meant by calling the wife of the GOP nominee 鈥渃orporate,鈥� Williams continued by saying she 鈥渓ooks like a woman whose husband takes care of her, and she鈥檚 been very lucky and blessed in this life. She鈥檚 not speaking for the tremendous number of single women, or married women, or separated. She did not convince me that, 鈥榊ou know what, I understand the struggles of American women in general.鈥� 鈥�
Hmmm. We鈥檒l say this in Williams鈥� defense 鈥� it鈥檚 hard to have an instant and profound opinion about every political event you see, and doubly hard if you know that opinion is being televised. It would have been one thing if he鈥檇 simply said that he did not believe Romney鈥檚 speech would sway many votes, or that struggling single moms might not relate to her.
But the 鈥渃orporate wife鈥� label, the 鈥渉usband takes care of her鈥� judgment 鈥� that鈥檚 going further. Those assertions are going to drive some people nuts.
Conservatives were quick to pounce on the implication that the spouses of business executives tend to be pampered automata. Maybe that subtle denigration would make sense if Mitt Romney had divorced Mrs. Romney and married a younger trophy spouse, writes editor Ed Morrissey on the conservative Hot Air! website. But Romney has been by her husband鈥檚 side from the beginning of his career.
鈥淢aybe Juan Williams needs to start listening with his ears rather than his agenda,鈥� .
Commentator . 鈥淎nn Romney = Class,鈥� she tweeted. 鈥淛uan Williams = [rhyming expletive]."
Democrats, of course, have long portrayed the GOP candidate himself as a rich buy-out artist who doesn鈥檛 care about the troubles of everyday folks. And there鈥檚 evidence that US public agrees with this depiction: Mr. Romney鈥檚 favorable numbers are very low for a major party nominee. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that only 35 percent of US adults have a favorable view of Romney, with 51 percent holding an unfavorable view.
But Mrs. Romney polls better, to the extent that Americans know about her at all. A USA Today/Gallup survey released this week has her favorable rating at 42 percent, with 24 percent unfavorable. Fully a quarter of respondents said they had no opinion about Mr. Romney鈥檚 spouse.
And Democrats are unlikely to make much electoral headway by trying to portray Mrs. Romney as a mirror of her husband, Richita Rich. The voting public distinguishes between politicians and their spouses, and as long as the spouse does not take overt policy positions, generally gives them a pass. That鈥檚 one reason why Michelle Obama鈥檚 favorability ratings average about 9 points better than her husband鈥檚.
But for those conservatives landing on Juan Williams today, remember that once the right defended him against what it perceived as the forces of political correctness. Two years ago he got fired from NPR after saying that he got nervous on airplanes when he saw people in Muslim garb.
鈥淐learly, NPR only wants opinion journalists that agree with the opinions of NPR, and I mean totally agree,鈥�
