home
Obama's Patriotism Speech | 201 comments (201 topical)
Wow (5.00 / 6) (#176)
by Steve M on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 01:11:34 PM EST
I honestly cannot believe you just argued that Obama intentionally left patriotic women out of his speech in order to avoid losing votes from sexist men.  Just an utterly amazing comment.

[ Parent ]
I was glad that I was standing next (5.00 / 2) (#185)
by samanthasmom on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 01:22:53 PM EST
to the sofa when I fainted over that one.

[ Parent ]
So you think he really doesn't know American (1.00 / 1) (#193)
by MyLeftMind on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 01:35:23 PM EST
history, or he's so sexist he overlooked the contributions of women?

I think he's looking to score points with the men who won't vote for what they think of as a wuss, and if he goes on about great American women, their eyes will glaze over or they'll laugh at him.  It wouldn't be smart for Obama to hand them more material right now.  If he speaks to us on this issue while talking about patriotism, Faux news and talk shows will select the parts that we like (what I would say make him seem a truly strong man) and use the quotes to disparage him compared to tough guy McCain who jokes about wife beating and dumped his "damaged goods" wife for a younger, sexier, richer model.

I think one of the reasons we lose as Democrats is because we have a whole heck of a lot of stupid voters who are easily swayed by image.  Sad, but that's the country we life in.


[ Parent ]

The latter (5.00 / 1) (#205)
by samanthasmom on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 01:58:46 PM EST
And if you're right, it's even worse.  You're saying that he is willing to risk the votes of women more than those of sexist men. Which says that he is taking for granted that we will just fall in line when the time comes. Do you have any idea how insulting that is? I hope you're wrong because that would be cold and calculating on Obama's part instead just boneheadedly stupid.

[ Parent ]
I don't think it's boneheaded to go after the righ (none / 0) (#216)
by MyLeftMind on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 02:14:08 PM EST
voters first.  Once he has them, Faux News slanders and dishonest misrepresentations won't work.  In fact, if they're convinced of Obama's patriotism/manliness/Americanism, etc., they'll just turn off Fox and head on over to the sports channel.  Not to be too stereotyping, but IMO, as a group they're much more easily misled by symbolism and false displays of patriotism, machoism, and the likes.  There's always time after the convention to get back to Hillary supporters, after he's the nominee that is.  As long as PUMA is still out there, no amount of pandering will work, and if he does it now, he'll lose the right wing, Reagan Dems and Independent voters.  And I don't think anyone's saying Hillary supporters need to fall in line.  This speech wasn't directed at you, last week's unity speech was.  There are vast differences in the demographics that a Dem candidate must reach in order to win.  Feminist women and guys with "Rush is Right" on their truck bumpers are both on the list.   That means we're likely to hear speeches directed to very different minded constituencies.  When Obama talks to young evangelicals, it's not going to be the same speech as when he talks to Reagan Dems, nor should it be.  

If he's our candidate, why would you want him to risk losing middle American votes just so we can feel good about something he says in a speech on patriotism?  I'd rather he won, and I don't need him to tell me about strong women in American history.  This speech wasn't for me, it was for the guys who Dems keep losing to.

[ Parent ]

Even if this speech wasn't "for me", (5.00 / 2) (#223)
by samanthasmom on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 02:39:55 PM EST
I heard it. If Obama is going to go soft on reproductive rights, personal freedoms, etc, in a speech to young evangelicals to court their votes, I'm going to hear that speech, too.  For those Obama supporters who have already pledged to vote for him no matter what, that strategy might work, but for those of us who are not pledged, this makes Obama look like the ultimate panderer and makes us just take what he says with such a grain of salt that he loses all credibility.  You want us to believe that Obama would be the best choice for women? But you give him a pass on speaking about patriotism from an almost entirely male prospective? See that makes me think that when he finally gets to the "woman speech", he'll only be telling me what he thinks I want to hear, not what he really believes. This is not a winning strategy with undecided female voters. But maybe he doesn't think we matter enough to be an issue. That's the message he continues to send, and we're hearing it loud and clear.

[ Parent ]

Obama's Patriotism Speech | 201 comments (201 topical)

  • Premium Ads

  • Blog Ads

  • Contribute To TalkLeft

    donate to TalkLeft