Wooing the Women
The strategy may be all they have left, but they're making a mistake in viewing women as a monolith. Young and/or single women may tend to favor Democrats -- but that's not necessarily true, for example, of married women with families.
What's more, there's reason to doubt that the policy will work this year.
Women aren't stupid. Ultimately, all issues are women's issues -- not just the ghettoized grievance politics routinely practiced by "feminists," pro-abortion groups and desperate Democrats. Women are their families' CEO's . . . and they know just how bad the economic situation is. Even single women who are committed Democrats have fathers, sons or brothers who may be falling victim to the nearly 10% unemployment afflicting America.
What's more, the Obama/Democrat agenda has been so disastrous that it's child's play for the GOP to get in on the gender grievance politics game. Here's an example: The preview of ObamaCare inherent in the government's recommendation that women delay their mammogram screenings -- based not on health evidence, but on cost. Ladies, if you like that sort of thing . . . by all means, support the Democrats.
Or, given the gravity of America's fiscal straits, the GOP can easily describe the increasingly urgent situation -- brought to you, courtesy of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi corps -- in a way that particularly touches women's hearts. Here's one from a piece running today on Bloomberg: "US Debt Is Child Abuse."
Too often, Democrats have driven some women into their camp by creating exaggerated fears: Fear of catastrophic cuts to necessary programs at the hands of evil, heartless Republicans, fear of all access to reproductive rights, fear of second-class economic status.
This year, it may not be enough to stoke speculative fears of what Republicans might do (though, judging from the President's speeches, that's just what he's trying to do). The problem for the Democrats -- first and foremost -- is that the present, shaped by their catastrophic policies, is plenty scary enough for women and men alike in the here and now.