Wanted: A Graceful Exit

Obama's next task: Heal rift with female voters

This article discusses why white female voters are so distressed with Obama. "'Obama himself must heal the rift with women,' said Clinton fundraiser Susie Buell of San Francisco, 'or a new brand of "stay-at-home moms" might sit out the election.'"

Could they have quoted someone perhaps slightly less partisan?

Truly, I just don’t see it. First of all, polling right now on this topic is a waste of time, as it doesn’t allow for all that Mr. McCain can do to enrage white female Democratic voters (or for that matter, white female Republican voters) in the next five months. My guess: plenty.

Second, the whole premise of this article assumes that women would vote solely based on gender, the very obstacle they’ve been up against for, oh, ever. (The 15th Amendment, which allowed nonwhite men to vote, was ratified February 3, 1850. The 19th Amendment, which allowed women to vote, was ratified August 18, 1920, 70 years later. I’d like to think we’ve progressed in the 158 years since we thought leaving it to someone else to give us rights and ensure our empowerment was a good idea.)

This white female voter had a hard time listening to Hillary talk about things like job creation in the 90s during her hubby’s Administration. Know why? Because I lived through it. I can tell you right now that my newspaper is delivered by a grownup in a car, instead of a 12-year-old on a bike, b/c on Bill’s watch, people had to take two and three jobs to get the income they’d had before getting laid off. (And just an aside, two or three less-than-fulltime jobs means you don’t score any benefits, Starbucks notwithstanding.)

I don’t care who wore a pantsuit or a lapel pin. Hillary’s a bright woman with some sound policy objectives but she appeared opportunistic and insincere. In a weird irony, Hillary was empowered because she essentially screwed herself, and frankly, I think more of my fellow Caucasian female voters than to assume they’re as one-dimensional as this article suggests.

But just to argue the other side, assuming we were truly that one-dimensional, we’d merely have the memory and attention span of so many other citizens of this nation, and thus come November it wouldn’t be an issue anyway. Take your pick, either way it’s a moot point.

Note to any female white voters who will only vote based on gender: none of your choices come November will be women. If that's enough to keep you home, you suck.

Sources:
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am14
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_on_el_pr/obama_angry_women