“Feminists” are up in arms about Obama’s latest assault on women, an insult so grave that I wonder if he hasn’t permanently ruined all chance at winning the general:
This is from the transcript of the appearance: “[B]ecause of the campaign that Hillary Clinton waged, my daughters and all of your daughters will forever know that there is no barrier to who they are and what they can be in the United States of America. They can take for granted that women can do anything that the boys can do (cheers begin)—and do it better, and do it in heels. I still (Obama laughs)— I still don’t know how she does it in heels.”
How he could possibly make a reference to a Democratic woman in high heels and think anyone could possibly take it as an innocent, respectful comment? I initially thought that Obama’s comment was just a reference to the fact that Clinton’s gender placed other specific burdens on her that none of the male candidates had to face, but I also thought that Robin Williams just had a lot of energy in the 70s.
Her persona was always unconventional. When she was nearly 60, a grandmother and governor of Texas, Richards took to riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle because, she said, “I thought I needed to do something kind of jazzy.”
Another line she often quoted summed up her view of the aspirations of women in politics: “Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.”
I do wonder, however, how Obama will deal with the feminist outrage as typified by well-known women’s rights advocates Gateway Pundit and a blogger you can e-mail at johngalt.aynrand-at-hotmail.com. The fallout remains to be seen.
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Since everything else hasn’t stuck, we’re going to throw sexism at Obama, because we know that got him in trouble during the primary.
Eye-rolling aside, I think the more damaging attacks are going to be the ones directed at the Democratic Party base rather than the outrageous claims designed to motivate the rightwing reactionaries to vote against him rather than for John McCain. They’re going to shoot for depressing women’s votes overtly this election.