Obama and Hillary in Unity.
I’ve been watching the Obama/Clinton rally in Unity, NH, and as a communications strategist I’m pretty impressed with the whole spectacle, from the matching blue outfits on up. As a progressive I’m glad to see them coming together. It is strange though: The whole issue of the last month is “will women support Obama,” and the distinction between Obama and McCain on woman’s rights and “traditional” women’s issues like reproductive freedoms is so stark. But neither Clinton nor Obama — in this speech or any others — have mentioned abortion, access to contraception, the bill that McCain opposed giving women the right to sue for paycheck discrimination. It’s not just Obama — it’s like the whole party has decided that the word “abortion” is just off the table this year. Maybe that’s a wise-choice statistically (though I don’t really even believe that) but it bothers me.
About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.
You know what I like about abortion? Everything.
In all seriousness, unless something major changes we are looking at landslide in the fall. Not just the Presidency, but the house, senate, etc. The republican brand is like thalidomide level bad right now. I think the democrats need to stop acting like they’re doing something wrong by being democrats. We need to admit that our ideas are simply more popular.
The GOP is about to be re-branded “McCain/Palin” and now that we’re beyond Hillary, we can look forward to the first female VP, Sarah Palin, to become the first female President of the United States in 4 years!
ha ha. yes, clearly Sarah Palin will help all of America forget the war without end and the crippling economy. Women will vote for her in spite of John McCain having a devastating record on women’s rights. And all will be good.
Uh, maybe because more than half of women - and even slightly more than half of Democrats - say that abortion should either have stricter limits or not be permitted at all? http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/public-opinion-on-abortion/
If a candidate being sufficiently pro-choice for you is really going to send you to the polls or persuade you on whom to support, are you really going to vote for McCain or stay home and *not* turn out for Obama with the future of the Supreme Court in the balance?
OK. Now let’s say you’re one of the majority who are, at least, a little uncomfortable with the topic, is a presidential candidate going to mobilize you more to head to the polls by talking about the importance of access to abortion or by talking about credit card debt and foreclosures?
Yeah. I wouldn’t talk about it either.
hmmm — well the Times is one poll but there are a number of others that say the opposite — ill look around for some tomorrow. Its generally held that more than half of Americans say abortion should be safe and legal.
Yes. I think I saw somewhere that depending on how you phrase the question you can drive opinion between 25% and 85%. Which makes sense to me considering how much of a belief spectrum there is for how people can feel about the topic. And importantly the one the Times is citing doesn’t give a fourth option - “should be limited but more available than it is now”.
My only point is that the “negatives” on talking about abortion - no matter what you’re saying - are much higher than for talking about, well, pretty much any other subject. That’s why they call it a wedge issue. Doesn’t exactly win swing voters or red states.
ABORTION ABORTION ABORTION
ok, I’ve done my part.