As a general in the War on Women, Barack Obama might be best compared to one who inadvertently fires on his own positions. Team Obama has tried to exploit the usual gender gap in national elections by claiming to fight on behalf of women. Earlier this month the campaign rolled out the creepy “Life of Julia” campaign, and President Obama himself launched the same attacks at a recent commencement speech at all-female Barnard College. How effective has Obama been at this war? Former CNN and NBC anchor Campbell Brown wants Obama to surrender immediately, as she writes in yesterday’s New York Times:
WHEN I listen to President Obama speak to and about women, he sometimes sounds too paternalistic for my taste. In numerous appearances over the years — most recently at the Barnard graduation — he has made reference to how women are smarter than men. It’s all so tired, the kind of fake praise showered upon those one views as easy to impress. As I listen, I am always bracing for the old go-to cliché: “Behind every great man is a great woman.”
Some women are smarter than men and some aren’t. But to suggest to women that they deserve dominance instead of equality is at best a cheap applause line.
Brown who supports Obama’s position on abortion, scoffs at the idea that contraception is a driving issue in the 2012 elections:
The struggling women in my life all laughed when I asked them if contraception or abortion rights would be a major factor in their decision about this election. For them, and for most other women, the economy overwhelms everything else.
As for “Julia,” well, let’s just say that Brown sees government dominance as a bad trade for male dominance:
The women I know who are struggling in this economy couldn’t be further from the fictional character of Julia, presented in Mr. Obama’s Web ad, “The Life of Julia,” a silly and embarrassing caricature based on the assumption that women look to government at every meaningful phase of their lives for help.
Brown’s husband is doing some consulting work for Romney, but Brown says she remains independent in this race. She does, however, have some advice for Obama. If the President wants to win womens’ votes, maybe he should quit treating them like dependent idiots:
I have always admired President Obama and I agree with him on some issues, like abortion rights. But the promise of his campaign four years ago has given way to something else — a failure to connect with tens of millions of Americans, many of them women, who feel economic opportunity is gone and are losing hope. In an effort to win them back, Mr. Obama is trying too hard. He’s employing a tone that can come across as grating and even condescending. He really ought to drop it. Most women don’t want to be patted on the head or treated as wards of the state.
I wrote about the Left’s inability to connect in my column last week for The Fiscal Times. Looks like we’re achieving consensus.
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