ociety has names for men they feel are overshadowed by their wives or partners, and they're not terms of endearment; cuck, p-whipped, and simp are among the nicer ones. As women's economic and social power has risen, some men have felt that theirs has receded, and have responded by doubling down on machismo. Masculinity has become contested ground.
So when at the Democratic National Convention, he had to walk a fine line: gushy without being slavish, supportive but not submissive, a true partner but completely self-sufficient. Fewer than half the countries in the world have ever had female heads of state, and many of those women were unmarried, so there are not a lot of models for how to be the husband of the lady who might become the leader of the free world. Emhoff's speech was a benchmark.
How does a man handle this? How does a man talk about a strong ambitious woman gunning for arguably the most powerful job in the world, without making her look a nightmare or a nonentity? And without himself appearing to be a buffoon or puppet master? Emhoff—and his speechwriters and his son Cole—pretty much nailed it. When he stepped down from the stage, he had given a little master class in how to be a guy's guy as well as a wife guy. First, he telegraphed that he was dependent on no one.
He'd done name-tag jobs at McDonald's and the valet stand when he needed to. He had partly put himself through college but wasn't too proud to admit he had help. He had a successful career with sk.