Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:19:45 AM
Barack Obama at last has won the endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the woman who came closer to the Democratic presidential nomination than any other. Now he has to win over her millions of female supporters.
Women have been sent to "the back of the bus" again, says Mary Jane Coughlin, 46, a Long Island copywriter who says she will write in Clinton's name in November rather than vote for Obama. "We work twice as hard to get half as far."
Four years ago, women made up more than half the electorate. Democrat John Kerry edged out President Bush among women, 51%-48%, according to surveys of voters as they left polling places.
Obama has said he will stress the differences between himself and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, especially on issues such as health care, judicial appointments and abortion rights. Obama campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass says female voters will respond to Obama's life in a "female-centric" family, as he discusses the influences of his mother, grandmother, wife and mother-in-law. The gender gap in the primaries wasn't anti-Obama, she says, but pro-Clinton. "I don't think it was about him, it was about her."
Groups such as NARAL Pro-Choice America, which endorsed the Illinois senator last month, will also help. The abortion-rights group plans to spend $10 million in the presidential and congressional elections this year, said president Nancy Keenan. It also will target independent and GOP women who favor abortion rights, particularly suburban ones in Pennsylvania and other swing states.
Obama's "female-centric" family? It's more like Obama's "male-centric-love-'em-and-leave-'em" family! How does Obama explain his father's treatment of females in relation to using his family as any sort of example outside of his grandmother? His grandmother by the way, who is apparently the only women in his family that his father didn't bed-down and then leave. The notion of Obama using his utterly dysfunctional family as any kind of example for others to look up to is ridiculous. With the way his father habitually treated women, you would think Obama would never mention the man's name in public. There's more of that classic Obama modesty and shame for you! If there was an ounce of honsety in Obama he would be telling people to use his father as an example of what not to do with your life. Of course that would require character and courage.