Thursday, July 29, 2010
"Where The White Wimmen At?"
A famous question once raised by Cleavon Little:
...is implicitly asked once again today by Barack Obama, as he becomes the first sitting president to appear on daytime television, chatting with the ladies of "The View." It's an event that draws a heart-surgery-recovering Barbara Walters back in front of the cameras, well before her for-real September return date. But it also shows how nervous the White House is about its collapsing support among, not just women, but Caucasian ladies in particular:
Let's hope Secret Service was on high alert and got the president out of the taping unscathed.
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...is implicitly asked once again today by Barack Obama, as he becomes the first sitting president to appear on daytime television, chatting with the ladies of "The View." It's an event that draws a heart-surgery-recovering Barbara Walters back in front of the cameras, well before her for-real September return date. But it also shows how nervous the White House is about its collapsing support among, not just women, but Caucasian ladies in particular:
Winning back white males, especially working-class ones, may be impossible unless the economy turns around. But his visit to The View indicates the candidate of hope has not given up on white women. Nor can he afford to.Of course, Baba Wawa's appearance is interesting as well. Should Michelle Obama been a little worried about yesterday's taping? After all, as she admitted in her autobiography (confessing to one of the worst-kept secrets in DC), Ms. Walters bedded former Sen. Edward Brooke. Call it her "Where the brothas at?" phase.
Mr. Obama attracted the support of 46 per cent of white women in the 2008 election, compared to 41 per cent of white men. But the latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll puts his current approval rating among white women at an abysmal 35 per cent.
Proportionately, white women in their 40s and 50s are expected to vote more than any other group in the Nov. 2 midterms. “And they’re the women watching The View,” [American University Prof. Jennifer] Lawless added.
Let's hope Secret Service was on high alert and got the president out of the taping unscathed.
Labels: Barack Obama, television, women voters
