Kate Spade "Halle" wedge
Sometimes, I know I like something, but I don’t know why. I could be enjoying a cabernet sauvignon, for example, and then someone with a better palate than mine says, “This is so deep and rich. So many tannins. Do you taste the chocolate?” And bingo! It all becomes clear.
And so it is with politics. For years I thought my interest stemmed from a sense of civic duty, a desire to make the world a better place, from wanting to hold my legislators accountable, demand justice, transparency and equality. But recently it’s become clear to me. I am interested in politics because I love shoes.
Shoes, you see, matter a great deal in politics. The voters in Colorado understand this. They just gave the GOP primary nod to Senate hopeful Ken Buck, the man who said he deserved the vote because he doesn’t wear high heels. He will face Senator Michael Bennet in the general election. Bennet is too frequently photographed from the waist up and so I need to learn more about his footwear. Florsheim? Cole Haan? Gucci? Time will tell.
Senator Michael Bennet
And Bennet should not take this scrutiny lightly. After all, you remember what happened in the Massachusetts Senate race, don’t you? After easily winning the primary, Attorney General Martha Coakley foolishly underestimated her “age-inappropriate Mary Jane shoes” and lost the general election to Scott Brown, who most likely learned the importance of shoes from Helen Gurley Brown.
Congressman Stephen Lynch gets it. He won’t make the same mistakes Coakley did. Not him. Lynch is paying close attention to the message Massachusetts voters sent in January. And that’s why he is touting his footwear as a reason to vote for him, not challenger Mac D’Alessandro. Fashion forecast for fall: red is the new black and work boots are the new barn jacket.
The New York Times gets it. Last week some women were upset about a story in the Times featuring Congress hopeful Reshma Saujani which dedicated half a sentence to her political goals and 13 paragraphs to her shoes. While I think the story should have appeared in the Style section and a separate, more substantive piece on Saujani is owed New York voters, I did find the article informative. Reading it I learned that the 3 inch high, $300 Kate Spade Halle wedge is the footwear of choice for women in politics. Wearing these shoes you can canvass neighborhoods, run to catch a flight and have “drinks at a new hotel lounge with tech entrepreneurs hungry to see their kind in politics.”
I am going to buy a pair. And then I am going to run for office. I may not be a shoo-in to win but I will certainly be a shoe-in.
Thanks Jo Anne.
Great read, Lady! And, if the shoe fits…