Monday, February 18, 2008

My concern over the candidate of change has increased...

Two articles that caught my attention The Change Candidate Needs to Change His Tone Towards Women

I thought I was the only one and that I was being unfair which is why I didn't blog it but, I'm clearly not alone:
At a televised campaign stop, someone asked him how he felt about the ad campaign. Obama, grave-faced and sympathetic in tone, opined that when Senator Clinton was 'feeling down,' she went on the attack to make herself feel better; that is, she committed an error in judgment because she was in a bad mood. That was the moment when I, and other women of a certain age, all over the country, winced.

The change candidate had embraced one of the oldest clichés in the book -- that women are held hostage by emotion, that we can't be trusted with the big decisions because, depending on our age, we're either on the rag or having a hot flash. The overtly sexist position used to be that you didn't want to entrust the red phone to a woman because women are unpredictable and irrational; a fit of hormonal pique and kaboom, we all glow in the radioactive dark. The ones who aren't instantly vaporized, that is.

The 865 comments in response to that post to me demonstrate the problem is a larger one than just Obama...maybe for some this very attitude demonstrated by the candidate is the reason they support him.

When you then take a look at the piece written by Schlesinger Why Hillary Clinton still matters the over 716 comments again point to such an atmosphere of division that reading how some from each side sees "their" candidate versus the other makes you wonder. The dialog on the internet has gone beyond, "okay but I think my candidate is better" to racism, sexism, which makes me really wish that John Edwards had been the candidate. The reality is the damage being done to both candidates by their own supporters is only helping John McCain...

3 comments:

Mark Prime (tpm/Confession Zero) said...

John McCain will need more help than this infighting...

I am not sure of your read on Obama, I'd say you're way off. The example you gave that made you wince is a stretch in my opinion. Yes. I am a male, but my opinion on this can still be relevant. Michelle Obama is a strong, articulate, and intelligent woman and I doubt very seriously that Barak if he were a sexist would have married her, or better yet, Michelle would not have married Barak.

mark skeldon said...

Lisa,

I don't think that people posting on the internet represents the average supporter of either candidate. I don't have any numbers, but I can't imagine that much more than 1 percent of voters post on such places, and they tend to be the most passionate.

Also, as we've seen, when people don't have to put a name with what they're saying, they get pretty corageous and emotional.

While I support Obama, and much prefer him to Clinton, as long as the superdelegates don't clearly over ride the will of the people at the convention, I'll support Clinton if she wins.

As to Obama's comments, though I see what you're saying, I don't think that they are overtly sexist. They could be made in regards to the overall way in which she has run her campaign. She didn't have a plan for what she'd do if it was still close this far in. Whatever you think about Obama his campaining efforts have been much better than Clintons'. A few months ago she was a shoe in, while a few weeks ago she was loaning her campaign money. Not real good planning.

The way that the candidates run their ground organizatons, and fundraising shows how they oversee a large organization, and Obama is doing a better job.

I hope that Clinton supporters continue to dismiss Obama, and denounce his supporters as dopes that are not paying attention. This strategy isn't working and is increasingly making me think that Obama will be the democratic nominee (I didn't think that as a few weeks ago).

Scott G said...

I would say the emotional part is more true of Bill Clinton then it is Senator Clinton.

There are people who won't support Clinton solely because of her sex. There are also people who won't support Obama solely because of race, McCain solely because of age, or me solely because I have not entered the race. None of it is fair and maybe someday it will change, but I also think that they are becoming more the minority everyday.