Posted on 04/26/2003 8:51:20 PM PDT by Pokey78
Let's start with some basic assumptions: By and large, women do not like the idea of war. They do not play war as children; they do not promote war as adults; as mothers and wives, they do not like to send their families to fight. And now, they fear war as soldiers themselves. In fact, for the past two decades it has always been a good bet that Democrats could count on women to applaud when they complained about those warmongering Republicans. Remember Ronald Reagan's huge gender gap? He wanted to build more nukes while cutting money for school lunches. The nuclear freeze movement was born. Women signed up in droves.
Now life has changed. Thanks to terrorists with shoe bombs, anthrax in envelopes, and toxins in vials, the gender gap is shrinking fast. In two short years, there has been a meld of political thinking, particularly among women: National security is now a domestic policy issue. Homeland security is home security. Wars in Afghanistan or Iraq affect the street--and not the Arab street but the neighborhood streets. Terrorist alerts go up and down, children practice bomb drills at school, mothers worry about smallpox vaccinations. And women know that after this war, there could be another one. Or another terrorist attack. Or both. "The Pentagon is now the defense department, not the war department," says pollster Andrew Kohut, who charts a graph he calls "mothers for missile defense." It's on the upswing.
It's not that the economy and education don't matter. Of course they do: Women, like men, still consider the economy a top priority. But terrorism and national security issues are right behind it, and women are driving the shift, polls show. "Women are practical voters, and they don't have a lot of time," Mary Matalin, a former top adviser to the vice president, told me. "They don't dance on the head of a pin, either. This stuff hits very close to home. It's not fanciful. Now it's about family, and family safety." Women are more nervous than men, and they're not shy about admitting it. A recent Gallup survey noted a 21-point "fear gap" between men and women. No macho here--just real fear.
To arms. This is obviously a post-9/11 phenomenon. Consider: A Gallup Poll taken one week before the Gulf War in 1991 found that only 45 percent of women supported the attack, compared with 67 percent of men. Fast-forward to recent Iraq-war polls, which show the support of women at generally 50 percent; a recent Pew survey has the support at 61 percent. The Gulf War was about an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; the Iraq war is about a possible invasion of weapons of mass destruction at home. Sure, women are no monolith. Older and younger women were least likely to support the war. But 6 out of 10 middle-aged women support the war, according to Pew polling. The soccer moms have taken up arms.
None of this is good news for the Democrats, who have been split on the war in Iraq. In the past, Democrats could count on women, big-time. (George Bush the elder, in fact, at first trailed Michael Dukakis with women by about a dozen points.) It's not that the Democrats have lost most women on their key issues, because they haven't. Concern about healthcare? Yes. About prescription drug benefits for the elderly? Sure. About jobs and the economy? Of course. But now the matter of personal security is lingering out there, and it is potent because it is values based: Just as concern about education is all about family and children, concern about national security is all about personal safety and security. "Women never want to go through this again," says GOP pollster David Winston. "They're looking for solutions."
Democrats are fighting an uphill battle. When it comes to matters of national security, voters are predisposed to trust Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin. Smart Democrats will stop dividing the political world into the Domestic Economy and Everything Else. They will understand, as women do, that national security is a domestic matter now. And that can cut both ways. The party that stops whining about the problems with homeland security and fixes it will get due credit. If the administration doesn't live up to its promises about personal safety, it will suffer.
During the Reagan years, the question was, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" This time around, women will ask, "Do you feel safer today than you did four years ago?" They want the right answer.
'you're fat';
'your nose looks like a pig's nose';
'your feet are too big';
'my Mom's prettier than your Mom';
'my father's richer than your's'.
We declare victory when our enemy develops an eating disorder.
Soccer Moms turn into Hockey Moms
My daughter has some problems as she is mildly autistic. It does not handicap her much, but some concepts are hard for her, and she struggles in school.
Mostly her problems are social, and there are HUGE parts of society that she just doesn't "get" and she can't interact with. Given today's society and the propaganda that exists, I have come to regard her "handicap" as a blessing. She remains innocent, sweet, kind, and as I say, the joy of my life.
9/11 had a HUGE impact on all of us here at the house, and while she misses some things, my daughter was quick to pick up the implications of what was going on.
It literally hurts my soul to think that there are people out there who would beat her, rape her, sell her into slavery, make her wear a bag over her head, stifle her laughter, her singing , her dancing, all because she is female, and worse yet, an Infidel.
As a result, I am VERY MUCH FOR this war on Islamofascism
Furthermore, I think any decent mother who knows what the enemy is like and what teh facts are would be!
We talk about the war a lot, my daughter and I .
For a time after 9/11, she was having nightmares and was worried that osama himself would come for her. That first week I was literally having to do a sweep of her room for a time to be sure that terrorists weren't hiding in the closet before she would go to sleep.
I have made sure that she knows that her Daddy and Uncles will protect us, and that her Mom is a fair shot and that we will never let her fall to that.
The nightmares have long since stopped
We continue to talk, about the war in Iraq, about Saddam, about the troops, ( strong Army ties here!) and President Bush. ( I download pics of him and the troops for her and she would love to meet Mr. Bush someday!) We talk about Good and Evil and why people do what they do.
We have begun talking about other wars, other times and places, and other "Bad Guys" like Hitler.
My daughter misses some things, but she gets what this war is about, can tell Evil when she sees it, and is proud to be an American. She knows what side she is on and why.
I am for this war, primarily because I AM a woman and a mother.
Tia
LOL, me too! Only I played with the 2 boys down the block (no brothers). Like you, I was always the Indian, usually caught and tied to the swingset with the jump rope.
I finally got revenge once when my uncle's German Shepherd dog misunderstood the situation and went after one of the boys after he had tied me up. The kid lost the seat of his jeans that day ::lol::.
LQ
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