What About The White Guys?

As they analyze the Democratic primaries, pundits focus on women, African Americans and Latinos. What about the white male? In the privacy of the voting booth, where will the white men go in November? Hillary Clinton should be worried.

Look at the match-ups. Examine Democratic and Independent voters. Democratic women are not going to abandon their party regardless of the nominee. Nor will Latinos. African Americans may lose some enthusiasm without Obama. Young people, notorious for sitting on the sidelines, may as well. But what about white men? When given the choice between Clinton and McCain, I believe many moderate and conservative Democrat/Independent males will vote for the old soldier. His narrative, the maverick aviator, speaks to them. That may not be true if Obama is on the ballot. As he gains support among white males, the exit polls show the real hidden bias may be gender, not race.

As we examine shifting alliances and lay bets on the general election, my swing vote is the Democrat/Independent white male. To paraphrase Abigail Adams, "don't forget the laddies".

Read more Super Tuesday coverage on HuffPost

Comments

[happytrails]

Come on people, lighten up. The only thing you can say about MOST white guys is that they can't jump!

[singermuse]

I thought I'd qualify my previous post by saying that I was supporting either Edwards or Kucinich before they dropped out.
I thought that an Edwards/Kucinich ticket would have been a real boon to our flagging nation and a real contender against McCain/fill-in-the-blank. Too bad that won't happen now.
I am also a Green Party member who was lucky enough to be able to walk in my absentee ballot, since my precinct didn't have any Green Party ballots on hand and many others in my area didn't either.
As it stands now, I don't know who to vote for, since it's always been about ISSUES for me and not about race or gender, and neither Hillary nor Obama had a voting record on the ISSUES that I agreed with. Hillary voted FOR the war, and Obama's take on domestic policy was pretty lack luster.
So I'm back to square one trying to decide, even if my vote may not count anyway if the election gets "fixed" again.

[sunshower7]

Love you Catharine Crier,

but won't let you get away with your biased conclusion about Obama's white male supporters - that "the exit polls show the real hidden bias may be gender, not race."

clearly the same thing can be said about women who vote for Hillary, but that's another story - a rather sad one because they believe she will serve their interests - when in fact she has always first and foremost served those of patriarchal corporations and their lobbyists- which is demonstrated and proven by her record.

Obama's race or gender is not the reason he is gaining more and more supporters among men and women of all races, all ages and religious creeds.

I voted for Obama, I am a grandmother of six - my grandaughter in high school wishes she could vote for Obama like all her friends. All the kids I know who are old enough to vote are voting for Obama. All my peers are voting for Obama. All my black, white, asian, Indian - you name it - friends are.
All my Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindi and Brahman friends are.

Lovely Catherine -
you are more than smart enough to know that biasness - like beauty- is in the eye of the beholder.

[blueshift]

Let me provide a clue. As a white man who plays by the rules, I will vote for any candidate who provides the alternative to keeping Bill Clinton (whom I voted for twice) out of the white house. I love Hillary, but it's all about him. No. Third. Term.

[happytrails]

Come on people, lighten up. The only thing you can say about white guys is that most of them can't jump!

[saxmaniac]

StanQ -- flying an airplane badly shouldn't disqualify a presidential candidate. After all, George H.W. Bush (#41) was shot down BY HIS OWN WINGMAN, and all he did was cause a recession 1988-1991 and sired George W. Bush (#43). On second thought, being a rotten pilot is grounds for disqualification!

[realitytrumpsbull]

I'm a caucasian, and I don't care to be pandered to, I think there's enough of this 'white people are the devil' stuff being circulated that people will go ahead and practice their PC favoritism anyway, hyphenated-americanism IS profitable, you know, free government doughnuts, and we'll happily go trotting off the cliff o national bankruptcy at our current rate, which means that they won't be able to afford their political ads no more.
Sign up TODAY, and you, too, can become an entitlement-american! Free government doughnuts!
But wait, there's more, order today, and you, too, can have a personal government helpy-happy-buddy! Screw that. My 'vote' goes for getting the budget balanced. They need to stop the pandering, and actually train up for the job, or withdraw their apps.
I support Paul, but I think he's going to get plowed under.

[wrabbitt]

I am appalled that i'm being categorized again. Now i'm a white crossover voter. We have already seen Hillarys experience. If the unthinking party morons put Obama and hillary on the same ticket McCain will have a landslide win. I don't trust HRC, Obama has given no reason not to trust him. Health care is a big issue for me. 900$ a month is outrageous. Every American should have the same plan even our elected officials. And social security won't work anymore because our elected officials have adopted a much better plan of their own. Are they special?

[thepeoplechoose]

I prefer Obama for the simple reason he doesn't have the same huge bullseye on his ass that Hillary does. Republicans are sure to be blasting away at her for every second of her presidency. It is for this reason Obama has a much better chance of accomplishing things that need doing. And I think he will command more respect from rank and file republicans than Hillary. They may not like Obama but that is merely becasue he happens to be a democrat but they despise Hillary and will do everything possible to screw her over.

[mommadona]

Well, shoot.

They'll probably do what they always do, in their little linear-centric kinda way.

First, they'll vote for the person that will give them the most money.

Then, they'll vote for the person they'd have a beer with.

That's about the total of the attention span a majority of the WhiteGuys can handle.

"Don't bother me - I'm eating"......

[ibsteve2u]

By the way, if Hillary wins the Democratic nomination then I hope she wins the election itself - I'll sure vote for her, barring the Republicans illuminating some previously unknown flaw in her behavior.

If she does win, one of three scenarios will play out:

1) She will be an outstanding President

2) She will be a mediocre President - a "Republican Lite"

3) She will be a terrible President - a "Bush in skirts"

If she is the first, everyone wins. If she is one of the latter two, will I gloat because I could be in the camp of "I told you so!"?

Nope.

I'd be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief because America's males will no longer be the sole provenance of demonstrated incompetence and/or corruption in our highest office.

But in actuality it would be a disaster, as it would mean another huge barrier to putting a competent woman into the Presidency: "Remember the last one?".

[RMHK]

hopeless277 (See profile | I'm a fan of hopeless277)
Cheney will stage a terrorist attack. Bush will declare martial law. The Nat'l Gurard will be 'supplemented' by Blackwater and the elections will be 'postponed'. So see, it really doesn't matter who you support, none of them will ever get a chance to actully win the election. For the simple reason that there will be no election. Hide and watch.


I really would like to be able to call you a nut job, but your thoughts are always in the back of my mind. Don't feel alone, this question has surfaced at the townhall meetings with our congressman.

[mungley]

As a White male, I for one, am tired of white males getting to decide who will be President.

Anyone who would put this country through 4 to 8 more years of Republican corruption,graft, and endless aggression toward the rest of the world needs to be challenged.

Why don't the 65% of the population who are not white males just vote for gender or ethnicity, and then we won't be in this situation.

I am going to Vote for the DEMOCRATIC Nominee. Period.

[nihilon x]

I don't believe that this election is about race and gender, and if white males were voting on that basis alone then John Edwards might still be in the running.

I truly look forward to a day when all this talk of race and gender is behind us -- this is not an issue that should divide us going into the 21st century.

[sufi0828]

Since no candidate wants universal health coverage, this White Male
is writing in someone who does, as an act of conscience