Kathryn Jean Lopez: The white male problem for Democrats

Sacramento Bee ^ | 2/13/8 | Kathryn Jean Lopez

[SmithL]

Hillary Rodham Clinton has a man problem. And this time it's bigger than just Bill.

Take a look at the exit polls coming out of the primaries. Men are going for Barack Obama over Clinton. In California, men went for Obama, 51 percent to Clinton's 39 percent, according to the San Jose Mercury News. In South Carolina, 55 percent of men voted for Obama, with only 23 percent going for Clinton. (John Edwards took the bulk of the rest.)

This is not about sexism. But try telling that to feminists Gloria Steinem and Erica Jong, who both recently wrote whiny Op-Eds about the urgency of voting for girl power now.

I suspect the folks going for Obama are casting their votes for the undefined, middle-of-the-spectrum candidate. Although, according to National Journal, he is the most liberal senator in the U.S. Senate, he doesn't come off that way on the campaign trail: Obama sounds and looks conservative enough that even conservative pundits have had good things to say about him - a fact that promises to be a detriment to those conservatives if he becomes the Democratic nominee.

Actually, Clinton's man problem is not all hers. It is a Democratic problem, one that has been previously obscured or ignored.

Political observers have long been more interested in a supposed Republican gender gap with women. The reality of awomanrunning for president, though, has put a spotlight on the real gender divide. The Democrats have slowly and consistently been losing men. In 2000, in a Democratic Leadership Council study called "The White Male Problem," William A. Galston, former deputy assistant for domestic policy under Bill Clinton, identified the problem. Beginning with Great Society programs, he highlighted a series of factors that turned white males off the Democratic Party.

[skeeter]

The boys are simply returning Hillary’s contempt, with interest.

[ari-freedom]

oh yeah those guys
forgot all about them

[Hegemony Cricket]

Men are not turned away by the fact she is female, they are turned away by the fact that she is a harridan.

[JerseyDvl]

Nobody wants their set to end up in Hitlery’s “T Lock box”.

[ODDITHER]

White Male population are the true victims of all this racial and gender pandering that the Democratic party has been involved with for the last 20 years.
Trouble is - they have refused to be victimized and instead have just kept on competing, winning, and climbing the ladder no matter how many obstacles that are put in their way. Guess what paybacks are a b****

[NRA1995]

Just happier that HILLARY! is three states farther from being our first BBW President....

[NRA1995]

Just happier that HILLARY! is three states farther from being our first BBW President....

[sr4402]

Hillary: Men have to Obey Me, I will be Queen over Amerika

/Sarcasm OFF

[olivia3boys]

And wasn’t it Michael Savage who said that if a few million more white men in this country—who are currently sitting on the couch with their baseball hats on backwards, watching sports and porn—would just get up and vote, the GOP would *always* win.

I’m female and would give up my vote in a second if that meant no other women could vote either. Women voters are ruining this country (except for evangelical married ones, the only ones still voting GOP).

[Da Coyote]

What part of “We don’t like Hillary because she is dishonest, not very smart, needs a man to do anything (else she’d have divorced him years ago), has never had a real job, never had an original idea, and has a thoroughly disgusting personality.” do the feminists not understand? You want we ingelligent men to vote for a woman? Try another Maggie Thatcher, Golda Meir, or Condolesa Rice. They actually have accomplishments, intelligence, and personalities. In addition, they did it ON THEIR OWN.

[xzins]

The democrats aren’t a serious party.

They are all sissies, whiners, and silver spoons.

Honestly....a guy should have to forfeit his “Man Pass” if he sides with the dems.

Face it....the Dems are now a Girl’s Club.

[Bigg Red]

Honestly....a guy should have to forfeit his “Man Pass” if he sides with the dems.

^^^
I LOVE that one!

[BlueDragon]

Here's an interesting dame, who had a firm grip on the
underlying realities concerning the human condition.

"I conclude that it is a fundamental mistake to think that salvation,
justice, or virtue come through merely human institutions."

I don't know if she would make the best POTUS the world would ever see [if she were still alive, and still young enough to endure the rigors of the office] but we could do a lot worse, than having a woman of her ilk.
With either Clinton or Obama, we are in danger of doing much worse, shortly. We desperately need, more of folks like Mrs. Kirkpatrick.
Be they Democrat (she was one for a long time, as was Reagan), Republican, or some other.
I don't care. Just bring us wisdom, nevermind the package!

[Stentor]

White Male population are the true victims of all this racial and gender pandering that the Democratic party has been involved with for the last 20 years.

I can tell you from experience that it began building about 35 years ago.

[xzins]

I don’t go the the “ladies’ tea” or the “dancercize” classes either.

Or...Vote Democrat.

Put me in pink and take my Man Pass if I do any of the above.

[fortheDeclaration]

And it is only to get worse for her in Texas!

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

We can’t win.

Vote for Obama and we are sexist.

Vote for Hillary and we are racists.

[Billthedrill]

This is the reason identity politics can bite you. Obama's people have avoided obvious antagonism; Hill's people have reveled in it. And sooner or later the foils of this contrived hatred are going to become tired of being the ideological fall guys all the time.

Should her team win they will discover a polarized country and true to form, blame somebody else - the usual suspects. If she loses it'll be because of sexism, if she wins it'll be despite it. A cozy position, but only for insiders. If Obama can avoid that trap with respect to racism the prize is very likely to be his.