Sunday, March 02, 2008
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The Price of Identity Politics
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
1:04 PM
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This morning, "Fox News Sunday" featured an exchange between Chris Wallace and Clinton supporter Dianne Feinstein that was remarkably illuminating:
<i>WALLACE: You talk about women. Do you think there's been gender bias in this campaign?
FEINSTEIN: I do. I do. I read the newspapers. I read a lot of newspapers. I read a lot of columns. I'm amazed at the number that are spent on really picayune things about Senator Clinton — her hair, her suits. And I think some of this just drives toward the insecurity of having a woman running for this office. </i>
Dianne Feinstein is a clever woman. However critical the coverage of Clinton, she must understand that the members of the press haven't been the ones casting ballots against Hillary Clinton; Democrat voters are. So, in effect, she's actually calling members of her party a bunch of sexists (or else, people who are "easily led" by the press, hardly a more flattering characterization). The problem with the "gender bias" approach, of course, is that it's hard to win over potential supporters by telling them that they'll be deemed to harbor invidious motives if they <i>don't</i> support your candidate. Not surprisingly, people don't enjoy being characterized as bigots.
No doubt some around Obama (not the candidate himself, who's far too smart to make this mistake) will try the same gambit in the general election -- implying, if not saying, that opposition to Barack's candidacy is tantamount to racism.
But those who engage in identity politics -- and really believe that the mass of voters are motivated by unworthy prejudices -- pay a cost. Their willingness to blame electoral misfortune on gender or race blinds them to the real problems of their candidates, and what can't be identified can't be fixed.
Anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton has fallen short just because she's a woman -- discounting her air of entitlement, malleable ethics and distinct lack of likability -- is blinded to reality by their own preconceptions about the character of the American electorate. Anyone who believes that Barack Obama's big problem will be race obviously is paying no attention to his radical politics and gaping lack of experience holding high office.
Democrats love playing identity politics against Republicans. But there's a cost to them, and not just for the Dems' opponents.
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The trouble is squaring the private Hillary--Bill's doormat--with the public macho mask that Hillary so often wears. The two Hillarys don't fit together. Both can't be authentic.
On the other hand, I have a feeling that if old Dennis Thatcher ever cheated on Maggie--unlikely as that seems, for many reasons--he'd first be looking for a doctor (when he came to,) next for a place to live, and finally for someone to help him fish his belongings out of the Thames. That's the difference between authentic and inauthentic.
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painting someone as a victim. I guess she thinks this will create sympathy for Clinton. The bottom like with Hillary is she just has an unappealing personality. Men can't stand her because she reminds them of their nagging shrill wives.
There still has to be a lot of hand wringing among Dem voters trying to calculate who will do better in the general election. The problem is either of these two will have a problem due to simple paradigm thinking by the average voter. Most people are comfortable with a white male as president,like it or not. So yes there are gender and race biases against the Dems but that's just life. Romney had to suffer through Mormon bias and didn't get an ounce of sympathy from the media about it. In fact they used it to help kill his candidacy. The Newsweek story on him last year was brutal. |
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Anyone who's had an economics 101 class knows that anytime there is a demand for something, the supply for this demand naturally follows. In this this year's general election, conservatives everywhere are demanding to have a conservative candidate to vote for. McCain, Clinton, nor Obama fit that bill. Given the large void of conservatism in this presidential field, I would think that it would only be a matter of time before a real conservative emerges either as an independent or 3rd party candidate. Based on the large dissatisfaction with McCain, I think this soon-to-be named candidate could pick up a healthy percentage of the popular vote. Heck, even Ralph Nader has stepped forward to fill the small be present demand of socialists! |
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1. Folks remember that she stole the furniture and silverware when her and Bill left in 2001.
2. Hillary and the Dem/libs have convinced the folks to quit being racists and give a brother a chance.
3. Folks just don't like Hillary, bless her heart. |
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or so she thinks. It must be the voters and media are just too dumb to know that she is the savior of the planet.
Her ideas were formed in the 60's and if Government pay for it they should. The Government should provide for us all from birth to death, CAN'T YOU PEOPLE SEE THAT-she will say.
So it is not her fault if the American people don't get it. She tried and it is THEIR fault she will not be their caretaker and provider for us all-so she thinks.
She just cannot, make that will not, accept that SHE is why the voters reject her. |
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For all liberal Democrats, please listen carefully.......
The vast majority of voters in this country have no problem with the idea of a woman as POTUS. What you fail to understand is..... just not THAT woman! |
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It is most interesting that senator Feinstein cannot see the error on the side of those that would vote for senator Clinton because she's a woman! There is not a person running for office whose intellect is so limited as to think they could escape the ravages of scrutiny for anything and everything under the sun! We don't let our male football and basketball commentators get away with a bad hair-do, nor John Edwards. There is a lot of issues that have nothing to do with the substance of the campaigns that get considerable attention during every presidential election cycle, where we all have to endure the pandering to hyphenated groups and to the parsing of words down to hair splitting and how an individual looked when one eye brow raised! While senator Feinstein and other Clinton campaign supporters whine about the condition of the electorate that would not vote for senator Clinton because she's a woman, they will not be turning away anyone the votes for her on that memr issue alone. They don't believe that their approach and their corresponding actions to their words (whether consistent or inconsistent) reveal them for who they are and that they are being rejected for who they are and not because of gender by the general voting population. |
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