Hillary's double bind

Shirley Williams makes some very pithy comments about Hillary Clinton in a special report in the Guardian by Emma Brockes:

German culture, for example, welcomes the idea of there being a somewhat different, feminine leadership style, and likes the fact that Angela Merkel is a peacemaker and is always seeking consensus; it's what they expect from her. Americans might expect it and see it as womanly, but they don't like it. Which is why Hillary has had to try a style of leadership that is very male. And then she disappoints those who thought that having a woman would make a difference

It's an interesting comparison with Mrs Thatcher who came across as very tough. But she also had if you remember - like Hillary Clinton's tear - these uncalculated moments. Like 'rejoice rejoice rejoice!' After we won the Falklands, she came out and said that very passionately. She was like an extraordinarily emotional headmistress.

The article also quotes Melanne Verveer, who was Clinton's chief of staff when she was first lady and thinks that she can't win, whatever tone she adopts:

She has made it to a point that no previous woman has made it to in our country, in terms of being a really viable candidate for president. But I think in the process of demonstrating that one is competent and tough enough to be commander-in-chief, in the process of presenting that image, the reaction is 'well, perhaps in doing that she's not likable', yet if one presents herself as soft and likable, which she also is, the perception is she's not tough enough. So it's this double bind.