Women with Opinions

Oh, oh, trouble. Obama's an apostate.

One argument that has been advanced for electing Barack Obama to be president instead of Hillary Clinton is that Obama would be so  much more popular in the Muslim world.  Afterall, Obama's father was Muslim, right?  (Nevermind that he turned into a nonbeliever later on.)

That argument sounded resonable to me until I read Edward N. Luttwak's op ed in the New York Times today.   As Luttwak points out,  Obama was born to a Muslim father, which under Muslim law made him a Muslim.   But, here's the bad part:  Later on in life, Obama became a Christian, which under Muslim law makes him an apostate.   

Who You Callin' Bitter, Obama?

Adding Insult to Injury

Think back to 2006.  The most hotly contested Senate race that year was in Pennsylvania.  Ultra-conservative Republican Rick Santorum (Pictured on the left.) was the incumbent.  NOW members  wanted  the extremist Mr. Santorum gone so bad they could taste it.  The frontrunner to take on Santorum was a woman, Barbara Hafer,  a strong advocate for reproductive rights.  Then what happened?

Suddenly the higher-ups in the Democratic party decided Hafer wasn't good enough.  They needed a man to do the job.  After showing Hafer the door, they recruited  Bob Casey Jr. to run (Pictured on the right.).  NY Senator Chuck Schumer,  you will recall, was the chief wheeler-dealer in this backroom scheme.

Men - All You Need Is Potential

Yesterday I watched To The Contrary which I had taped from last Sunday. One of the panelists, Patricia Sosa, said the following (I'm paraphrasing):

I am extremely frustrated because women are judged on our performance and men are judged on potential. We have a woman who played by the rules and has done her homework ... yet she's not good enough because he's potentially greater.

Also watched Bill Maher's Realtime where he said that studies show 6% of the population will not vote for a black man but even more, 12%, will not vote for a woman. No surprise there.

Race vs. Gender

The news for Hillary seems to be all bad, so I am turning to articles that explain this bad news in terms of gender bias:

"And if the ample literature on bias shows anything, it is that, for all the difficulties Americans have with race, it may prove that attitudes about women are the hardest to change." -- From a Boston Globe article, Black man vs. white woman.  Read the article.

From a Ellen Goodman column:  The female style - modeled by a man:  "If Hillary Clinton was the tough guy in the race, Barack Obama became the Oprah candidate. He was the quality circle man, the uniter-not-divider, the person who believes we can talk to anyone, even our enemies. He finely honed a language usually associated with women's voices. ...

Obama's Not Playing Our Tune

James Lawrence, the editorial page editor down at the Democrat & Chronicle, has made it his mission in life to stamp out gangsta rap music, but the Obama campaign is not yet with the program.   You'll see what I mean after reading the following  letter to the editor, which the D&C published  on January 21.   After  reading the letter, take a peek at the video which follows. 

Sparks Fly Over Kennedy Endorsement

    Like a lot of us, Marcia Pappas, the NY State NOW president, is teed off with Ted Kennedy for endorsing Barack Obama, and she issued a scathing press release, going up one side of Teddy and down the other.  Hillary took things more in stride,  reaching out to shake Kennedy's hand and even smiling at him last night at the Bush State of the Union Address.   Atta girl, Hillary!  Be a good sport.