Angry White Women
Since it became clear that Hillary Clinton would likely bow out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president, the dominant narrative has been the angry white women who are holding back from Barack Obama. Some even suggest that John McCain can make a major play for these disaffected Clinton supporters. The problem with this narrative is that it is mostly wrong, ignoring history and failing to understand Obama's real challenge among women voters.
No doubt, there are some Clinton supporters who currently find it difficult to contemplate supporting Obama, but most of these women are highly engaged, progressive Democratic voters; it is difficult to imagine them ultimately supporting McCain, who has a career-long, anti-woman record.
In fact, Obama is actually doing better than John Kerry with women voters; Kerry won them by 3 points, and according to polling from Democracy Corps research, Obama is currently winning them by 6 points. Obama's improvement over Kerry comes among college educated and younger women -- the most progressive voters in the electorate.
Obama's real struggle is with white blue collar women voters -- the same group that challenged Kerry. Currently, Obama trails McCain among white women without a college education by 19 points, 37 to 56 percent; according to Democracy Corps, Kerry lost these women by the exact same margin, 40 to 59 percent. Some argue that Clinton solved this problem because of her performance with white older women in the Democratic Party. But not only is it a mistake to extrapolate from primary results to the general election, Clinton would also likely lose to McCain among white women without a college education, albeit by a smaller margin.
The key to reaching these women voters is two-fold. First, Obama needs to communicate with them about who he is, including his values and his life story. He and his family actually have more in common with these women than they know. Second, he needs to address their real economic anxieties. As I noted in the American Prospect in 2004, Kerry actually led George Bush with older white women when his campaign was talking about healthcare, retirement and other domestic economic issues. But when he allowed the issue terrain to shift to Iraq and security at the expense of his economic message, he lost ground.
The economic situation is even more tenuous for these women today, with rising gas prices exacerbating their financial squeeze. John McCain has a history of opposing the very policies that would help these women -- including opposing pay equity and raising the minimum wage -- and supporting policies that are unlikely to appeal to these voters such as tax cuts for the wealthy and privatization schemes for health care and Social Security.
McCain is not going to win over women who supported Clinton in the primary and Obama can certainly improve his chances of beating McCain in the general election if he makes inroads among non-college educated white women voters. He can do so by offering a personal narrative that reflects shared values and a family background that's far from the elitist he is alleged to be, and delivering an economic message that highlights specific proposals designed to help ease the daily financial pressures of white working class women.
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"...the dominant narrative has been the angry white women who are holding back from Barack Obama..."
Yes, and that narrative has been matched with video of these same angry white women saying they would rather vote for McCain than Obama now. The media are full of these sound bites. And guess what's next? We'll see footage of angry white women calming down and throwing their support in behind Obama. The narrative then will be 'Hillary delivers White Women Voters to Obama'
(okay, someone will have to write a better headline than that double entendre, but you get what I'm saying...)
You can't force another person to vote for Obama, and for whatever reason they don't vote or write in Hillary or vote for McCain is no ones business, but theirs.
I do believe McCain has a lot more to offer as far as experience, etc. Obama just has rhetoric, and he is no where near the quality candidate that Hillary was.
Furthermore, it isn't about red and blue, it is about America. Obama doesn't represent the America I want to see. I don't believe in any of his rhetoric.
As far as people voting for Hillary just because she is a woman, is that why blacks are voting for Obama by 90%?
I will be voting for John McCain along with the millions of other women and MEN who have been unfairly respected by this Democratic Party. I feel much safer about who McCain will put in the Supreme Court then Obama. Obama will put in people like Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers, Meeks.
Congratulations for helping this country continue down the abyss!
I'm srue the GOP will welcome you.
You'll fit right in.
Your analysis is laughable. If Hillary's Experience was so important how did she blow an overwhelming lead in the nomination process? A "rookie" out organized, out campaigned not just one of the cleverest political operators but two of the most brilliant political minds in American Politics.
And you should keep in mind that experience isn't worth a damn if you don't have good judgment. Hillary's voted for the War in Iraq. How can a seasoned politician with her wealth of experience make such a blatant error in judgment?
But as you say. You are entitled to vote who ever you want. But before you commit yourself I would examine the issues first. You will find it is not in your best interests to vote for McCain.
I am sorry but just what the hell are you talking about. Mc Cain is the poster bot for a privleged upbringing> Naval academy father and grad. Tied up weith Keating scandal, voting against the interest of the common man and the soldier. Yet you fall into inneuendo and rumor rather than a reasonable assessment of the facts. The sad part about it is if you get your way, we will problably be in Iraq in 2012, be paying $9.00 a gallon of gas, have a another reactionary pn the Supreme Court, and be in the same mess we are in now, only for four more years. Good thinking idiot, I haope I don't have to raise my children in the country that Mush/McCain are tking us into thaks ti people like you
I am a GOP member, and I won't be wasting a vote for my party's nominee. There are a mass of us who have no desire to place McCain in office, he is a JOKE. And if you can't see that, then I have the phone number for a great Optometrist.
In all honesty, no one is every EXPERIENCED enough to be the commander-in-chief. It appears that you are as delusional as my father was. You want to believe that JUST b/c he was a POW that he will be a great leader. Wrong!
Hey ladies, ya wanna vote for McCain? His response to the Lilly Ledbetter case was that we don't need to be able to fight pay discrimination, we just need "more education and training." Now how do you feel about McCain?
Metry~
I'm with you all the way!
(Could I, however, suggest that you use the word "women" in place of "ladies".
Sincerely,
A "woman" for Obama!!!
LOL, sorry, I'm southern. I consider myself very much a lady, in which a lady is a woman with good manners. I meant no offense, though.
When did we all become this whiny? We lose and we just break our own toys like a bunch of petulant children and scream until we get our way? She lost. Life is tough. Put on a helmet and go back to life.
Her loss was fair and square !
Why are the women so up in arms at Obama ?
If they are mad ..get mad at Hillary for not winning !
It seems to me that there is a myth being perpetuated here that all the women who voted in the Democratic Primary voted for Hillary Clinton. I may be wrong, but I believe that I read somewhere that the vote among women in the Primary was pretty much evenly split between Obama and Clinton. Looks like a lot of Clinton's vote came from men (my guess is from many who are mis-informed and/or racist).
Thank you. I am a woman and a repub. I wouldn't have voted for her if she had been looking over my shoulder. However, I am an Obama supporter.
Guess the women changing their votes from Clinton to McCain must be c--ts themselves. No woman with intelligence or class could even consider a vote for McCain.
Sheesh! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
The poster was quoting a word that McCain used to address his wife publicly. I think he was trying to illustrate McCain's utter disrespect for women.
I am guessing you have a really tiny...shoe size.
Jerry~
Really!
I agree with you in principle, but not with the ugly, ANGRY, mean-spirited tone.
Male bashers and female bashers are equal in their lack of class.
OB'08
Is that why there are so many Hillary bashers from Abaminations in the archives.......no class? Bet if I looked you, "Couscioushope", would be well represented.
May I suggest you vote the Democratic party ticket and leave the Presidential box blank. That way you won't feel bad when he is elected by his supporters and not by Hillary's.And if he loses you still win.
Re the women we have seen on TV saying that if they can't have their woman candidate - they'll vote for McCain ( the man who publicly abused his wife in such a way, that most men saying the same thing in private would be expecting a rapid divorce !)
Imagine the scenario where you are a strongly feminist woman with a serious illness/disability being treated routinely by an experienced doctor, which maintains you. The doctor dies or leaves the district. A new hospital opens nearby that has a female doctor who will maintain the treatment that you've been having and also a young male doctor with a radical new treatment, that offers the chance of a cure.
Are the people rejecting Obama because they didn't get Hillary as their desired candidate really sayiong they'd stick with the female doctor to maintain them, rather that the male doctor who might just effect a cure ?
If that's true, then the first job Obama will have when he becomes President will be to open several new mental hospitals - as there are clearly a number of women out there who clearly need one !!
Bottom line is that the next President will most likely nominate (at minimum) two members of Supreme Court. John Paul Stevens is 88 years old and Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75. Not that I am wishing them ill health but I am a realist.
I hope these women, if they are are truly Hillary supporters, recognize it would be a slap in the face to Hillary's legacy on women's issues, for them to turn to McCain.
Democrats 08'
What legacy...........NARAL had the audacity to endorse Obama! What is his record........as limited as his record on other issues.
The question that remains is why are these "white women angry,"? Is it that they lack a higher paying job for lack of a college education? Or is it that the lack of a college education renders them with low intellectual skills, and they can't see the difference between a presidential candidate that rather continue squandering billions of dollars on a war based on a lie, rather than building the American economy, and a presidential candidate that is contemplating ending the waste of money in favor of a better future for the American people?
Somehow, I fail to see that it requires a college education to realize this logic. Lack of a college education does not mean lack of common sense. Or is it that white women who lack a college education also lack common sense.
Judging by the fact that women with a college educatin support Senator Obama, and those who lack it, don't, appears to support the contention that the latter also lack common sense.
But I don't think so. A college education braodens their horizons, and provides them with the opportunity for a change in an intellectual envirnment which adds to their natural common sense.
So it is not lack of common sense or intelligence tha keeps them in a quagmire of confusion and frustration, it is lack of intellectual environmental change. CHANGE is the name of the game. For this they must be exposed to the refreshing ideas of Senator Obama to change their mind-set.
"the lack of a college education renders them with low intellectual skills"
Elitist clap-trap..crap.
Since Hillary gave her speech Saturday the press still has not stopped the bashing about her and her supporters. On these blogs all I read is more bashing. Hillary supporters will probably mostly vote for Obama, but the negativity that the press/media has reported about her was uncalled for and biased. Never in the history of this nation have we seen the Press be so biased in their reporting. It was never news it was all editorial and people like Tim Russert, Keith Oberman and Chris Matthews were actually gleeful in their negative reporting. I think that set people off, not just women.
I do think it would be a great idea if they actually now would let us know exactly who Senator Obama is. No speeches, just the facts and no spin. I want to vote for him but to this day I don't know who the man is. He's either portrayed as a Savior or a Sinner. I'm sure now the press will calm down because the woman's out of the race, but it would be beneficial to know exactly where McCain and Obama stand on the issues. It would be nice to know their past and specifics about what they want to do for our future...with NO opinion or spin from the press/media please!
And enough with the "typical white people" and "angry white women" crap.
Pamela, re the issues - O.bama and Cl.inton are close to identical. Mc.Cain = B.ush. Guess you're new to the election.
HI Mcfried, I've read Senator Obama's website, I'm on his email list but still find that I would like to see not just what is written politically. I'd love to see him just sit down and talk about his life. I think it would be fascinating to listen to his story from his own mouth rather than the press or media who are either for or against him. I'd like the same thing from McCain too. Then the show can also go into specifics on how they each feel they can actually get Congress to pass their initiatives. It can also go into their past voting records etc..,
I just don't want the anchors or pundits opinions, I want to hear it straight from the candidates in a relaxed setting without all the political spin. I know this is probably a pipe dream, but still it would to me be a great way to determine who these two men are.
I'm not attacking either candidate, nor will I. I just hope and pray that whoever does become President will do a fantastic job because it's going to be a tough mess to clean up.
THANK YOU, FINALLY A VOICE OF REASON WANTS TO KOW. Please go to mybarackobama.com. He let's us know where he stands on the issues. I just went there to get a link for anyone who might be interested but I don't know if this site will allow it. You can go to the top the front page that's been there forever. Click on Issues and click on any dropdown link to read on any particular issue. This is pretty similar to Hillary's page in a lot of ways. I use his site the sam way I use Hillary's. I just noticed that he has added a link to the right of the page welcoming Hillary supporters including direct links to the Issues as well. Good luck. God Bless.
Since Hillary gave her speech Saturday the press still has not stopped the bashing about her and her supporters. On these blogs all I read is more bashing. Hillary supporters will probably mostly vote for Obama, but the negativity that the press/media has reported about her was uncalled for and biased. Never in the history of this nation have we seen the Press be so biased in their reporting. It was never news it was all editorial and people like Tim Russert, Keith Oberman and Chris Matthews were actually gleeful in their negative reporting. I think that set people off, not just women.
I do think it would be a great idea if they actually now would let us know exactly who Senator Obama is. No speeches, just the facts and no spin. I want to vote for him but to this day I don't know who the man is. He's either portrayed as a Savior or a Sinner. I'm sure now the press will calm down because the woman's out of the race, but it would be beneficial to know exactly where McCain and Obama stand on the issues. It would be nice to know their past and specifics about what they want to do for our future...with NO opinion or spin from the press/media please!
Pam1961~
Read my assistance to educate you above.
Free tuition and fee to you from me.
And, another thing, white women, about John McCain's character: Carol, John Mccain's first wife, did an interview with the UK Times, talking about her 23 surgeries she had, as a result of a car accident, she was in while McCain was away. She talked about how she gained weight, being immobile for six months, and how inches were removed from her legs. She said John McCain returned, divorced her, and married Cindy ONE MONTH LATER! Carol said, "My marriage ended because John McCain didn't want to be 40, he wanted to be 25". Cindy is eighteen years McCain's junior. Some of McCain's acquaintances portray the politician as a "self-centered womanizer who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to play the field". They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons. What a guy!!! I'm waiting for the media to stop sitting on the story about Cindy McCain's drug addiction. If this information had been released on Barack, Oh!! Boy!! We would be BOMBARDED with it.
THE JUSTIFICATION FOR BEING ANGRY
Not long ago the fear was for "ANGRY BLACK MEN", the reason being they were disaffected African Americans, responding to Federal and State prejudices. These "ANGRY WHITE WOMEN" are responding to the bitternes of the Obama campaign towards Hillary Clinton , that was supported by Governor Howrad Dean and the Media, especially MSNBC.
They have a right to be angry...you go girls!!!
yes, it does the "girls" so much good to be whiny and bitter, and besides, who cares about the constitution, the war dead, or abortion rights?
How about all you girls go an put on your big-girl panties and behave like women? Women who do not cut off their noses to spite their faces, no matter how angry they are?
Exhorting them to be angry girls, rather than grown up women, benefits no one but McCain. Way to go, yannaview.
Thank god for some thinking women today!
Let me get this clear -- you are comparing the systematic disenfranchisement of black men from the Federal government on down that has taken place over the last several DECADES, that has affected everything in their lives from being able improve the earning power to bettering their education to securing a more desireable place to live and so on -- to "the bitterness of the Obama campaign towards Hillary Clinton etc" that, even if I accepted THAT claim, lasted at most FOUR months?
THIS is your justification for the "Angry white women"?
And you are saying that the two are somehow equivalent?
Before I would evern seriously entertain debating such a highly questionable premse, I would require AT LEAST ONE concrete example of the "bitterness" -- FROM THE OBAMA CAMP. Howard Dean et al, are NOT within the Senator's control.
Calling "women" by "girls" is part of the problem.
Why shouldn't the Obama campaign be "bitter" towards Hillary Clinton?
They were ADVERSARIES!!!
Or do you believe a woman candidate should be treated differently? I bet you do.
Then why did Obama and his supporters cry uncle every time Hillary pointed out that Obama is an empty suit. She couldn't say anything about his deficiencies without his surrogates, supporters and MSM accusing her of giving ammunition to McCain. Well we shall now see how the MSM and surrogates protect him from the GOPhers.
All I can say is wait until they find out how McCain treated his first wife, and what he calls women. I would find it sad to vote for someone that stands against everything I believe as a woman.
Angry white women, hard working white racists, DINO'S, spoiled children who didn't get their way, etc. PLEASE. Leave the Democratic Party. You're not needed, you add nothing of substance or value to the mix, and you're bringing the rest of us down.
For every one of you who is nutty enough to defect to McSame and four more years of Bush insanity, two new 20 or 30 somethings with brains, idealism and commitment register to vote as Democrats, support the platform, and are more than happy to have a candidate a superior as Barack Obama.
Yep. I'm 28, and was an independent until this morning. I just changed my registration to Democrat. I'd been hesitant because I kept wanting to give Republicans a shot, and Democrats always seem to screw things up. But with the Dems decision to actually follow the rules in the primary math, and not bow down to the "he can't win cuz he's black" demographic I finally bit the bullet. Plus, I can't ever be a Republican, anyway. They wouldn't let me in!
Atheist, Feminist, unapologetic liberal - MetryJen
If you're 28, you haven't seen what Republicans have done to this country over the past 40 years.
If you're an "unapologetic Liberal" why would you possibly consider voting for the Republicans, America's real enemy?
I am a Republican, and will be voting for my first Democrat this fall. I am so damn excited.
Dad of Betty is being mean to you, Metry jen~
I wrote you another post welcoming you, but it is not here.
So, I want to say to you WELCOME, WELCOME!!! Bless you!! (No offense, I hope.)
There ya go and when Obama wins two states in November, you will be scratching your head crying and whining about racists.
Look in the mirror if you want to see why he loses.
dwt~
I am going mad with reading all these spiteful posts from "angry women (whatever color they may be), hard-working racists, and spoiled children , etc.also.
They are wearing me out just reading their rantings. How is it that they do not get it?! I just do not get that!!!
"hard-working racists"
Again accusations of racism. The GOPhers, 527s and swift boaters are not going to give a d*mn if you call them racists.
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