Remember the ladies,” wrote Abigail Adams to her husband John, the second president of the United States. Today, these words are immortalized in history books and taught to children in school. In her obituary, Adams was derided for undermining her husband’s role. “She had ideas on men and matters,” it read, “and she was not want to say them.” This reaction speaks a bold truth: The status of women is a reflection of their male counterparts. More than 200 years later, the criticism remains disturbingly familiar. The Teresa Heinz Kerry Factor refers to an exotic mix of privilege, political empowerment and outspokenness that has conservatives everywhere cowering in anger. Where does this woman come off voicing her views?

Portraying her as brash, Republican strategists use Heinz Kerry to question John Kerry’s manliness and resolve. If he can’t handle his crazy wife, how will he stand up to guys with bombs strapped to their backs? The assumptions are that a strong wife and husband are mutually exclusive and that a 65-year-old billionaire needs to be “handled” like a disobedient puppy.

Spouses have always been fair game in political mudslinging — all the way back to Ulysses S. Grant’s wife, who was considered a political liability because of her cross-eye.

Joan Ryan from the San Francisco Chronicle asked in a recent article why the wives are suddenly so important. Isn’t it ultimately a candidate’s record, not his marital choices, that qualified him for the job? Although true, the women of each camp are important for different reasons — they provide a looking glass into the values and approaches of their respective candidates.

Laura Bush, unlike Heinz Kerry, has the appeal of a statue. With a smile plastered permanently to her face, her expression hardly changes, and her lipstick and high heels always match. Everyone loves Laura because she is so strait-laced, conventional and, most importantly, quiet. She follows Bush all over the country with Stepford wife-like devotion and unflinchingly watches him flub up the English language.

In an interview with Barbara Walters, she admitted to not being a source of wisdom for her husband: “I don’t think George wants a lot of advice from me,” she said. This sounds about right. The last four years illustrate a consistent trend: President Bush doesn’t like advice, challenges, or any other indications that he might just be um … uhh … on the wrong track. He prefers loyal lemmings without a mind of their own to follow him out to sea or — worse — out to war.

Jenna and Barbara, the latest accessories to the Bush campaign, are proof positive that image, not substance, are at the crux of this administration. Their appearances are more like celebrity meet-and-greets than actual rallies, but their pretty smiles sure do bring out the boys. Contrasted with Vanessa Kerry’s informative speeches on health care and civil liberties, these two are like the political Olsen twins: stylish, but the comedic timing could use work.

Teresa Heinz Kerry stands beside, not behind, John Kerry and has become a political punching bag for this reason. “Heinz has made a feminist issue of her entitlement to express herself,” says Judith Thurman of The New Yorker, “and if she were a man, no one would denigrate her as opinionated.”

Unscripted and unabashed, she speaks her mind, and for some reason, Kerry supports her. Maybe it’s because he admires intelligence and courage in others. Maybe it’s because he is intellectually curious (unlike Bush, he does read the newspaper). Maybe it’s because he is a good listener. Or maybe he simply refuses to suppress his wife’s opinions, even if they are unpopular. Maybe we need to re-evaluate our John Wayne image of manliness. President Bush has referred to “a stronger America” countless times in the past year.

But does he really understand what this means? For a stronger country, each individual must feel enfranchised enough to know that he or she will be heard. As the clich‚ goes, strength comes in numbers, not self-righteous bullying.

Let’s hope that Bush is man enough to handle it when America borrows a line from Teresa and tells him to “shove it” on Nov. 2.

Zoya Arora is a senior in finance from Morgantown, W. Va. She is a member of the ISU Democrats.