Well, just about everybody else on the planet has covered this one, I might just as well too:
Those who have been closely following the politics of the Democratic primaries may have noticed that someone is missing — and I’m not referring to Bob Shrum, the Rev. Al Sharpton or an as-yet-undiscovered “Gravel Girl.”
I’m talking about the white male voter, or at least a certain long-coveted variety thereof. He is variously known as “NASCAR dad” — that shirt-sleeved, straight-talkin’, these-colors-don’t-run fella who votes his cultural values above all else — or “Bubba,” as Steve Jarding and Dave “Mudcat” Saunders affectionately call him in their book, “Foxes in the Henhouse.” Start looking on milk cartons for Bubba because he has vanished, and not a moment too soon: The Democratic obsession with the down-home, blue-collar, white male voter, that heartbreaker who crossed the aisle to the Republicans many decades ago, may finally be coming to a merciful end.
The simplest explanation for Bubba’s absence to date is that none of the 2008 Democratic presidential contenders provides an obvious home for his vote. Despite accusations that Hillary Clinton is prone to dropping her “g’s” when talking to rural or Southern audiences, it’s difficult to imagine the former first lady making overt appeals to a group that regards her with something verging on rabid disgust. Barack Obama? The former Chicago street activist is not easily mistaken for a good ole boy. Ditto for Christopher Dodd, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson.
That’s Thomas Schaller, he of the book “Whistling Past Dixie “. the subtitle of the book is “How democrats can win without the south “.
And in the blurb, he is quite correct; the democrats have absolutely no redeeming value for the white male voter, anymore. Or for that matter, about 60% of the white female vote, either. Anyone, for that matter, with traditional American values.
The interesting part about all of this, particularly the reaction to it, is that most of the people who have been commenting on this little short blurb of his, haven’t bothered looking into this guy’s writing history, and specifically this book of his. Whereas I’ve actually read the bloody thing. When viewed in light of the book, it becomes clear that what we are being treated two, is an attempt at self fulfilling prophecy.
Almost as amusing, remember the Democratic party split I alluded to last evening in a different thread? Here you go. Like I said, it’s already started.
