This is one of my favorite scenes in the series. During Seaon 1 Episode 6, Claire visits her and Francis' former secret service bodyguard who is dying of cancer and receives a deathbed profession of love.
Bodyguard Steve: I hate your husband.Claire Underwood: A lot of people hate my husband.Bodyguard Steve: For the past 8 years, I watched over him but it wasn't him I was watching. Jesus what I would give. . .Claire Underwood: You know what Francis said to me when he proposed, I remember his exact words. He said,
"Claire, if all you want is happiness, say no. I'm not going to give a couple of kids, and count the days until retirement. I promise you freedom from that. I promise you'll never be bored.""You know he was the only man, and there were a lot of others who proposed, he was the only one who understood me. He didn't put me on some pedestal.
He knew I didn't want to be adore or coddled, so he took my hand and put on a ring on it because he knew I'd say yes. He's a man who knows how to take what he wants. You told me your truth and now you know mine."
At that point, she does something that solidifies her bid for entry into the Alpha female hall of fame. Francis and Claire are THE power couple. Women don't want to be pedestalized.
Pedestalization is objectification. And elevating someone's status inappropriately is idolatry. Claire didn't want to be another man's idol. That's the temptation of the male heart - to make women an idol
Francis was looking for a partner to pursue his plan of world White House domination and he found what he was looking for.
LORD, help me live fully in this kind of courage and conviction.
-Russ
