A Brick In The Head

Fallowing the Speech given by Gov. Palin at the Republican National Convention, the Democrats responded by giving Sen. Obama as much advice as possible on how to defend against Gov. Palin for the remainder of the election. The worrisome part was that Gov. Palin gave such a good speech that democrats ran worried to their laboratories to retool their strategies. For example, one CNN commentator advised that “Sen. Obama has to ignore Gov. Palin because the image of a Presidential candidate attacking the opposing VP candidate is not a good one.” The point is to keep the focus on the race between Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain. The last thing that democrats want is a race between Barack and Sarah. The best critique of Gov. Palin came from the individuals that questioned the substance of the speech or lack of it.

One of those Democrats was Sen. Biden who was firing out his response early the next day. “They don’t have an agenda, don’t offer ideas on how to make middle class America better off...” said Sen. Obama the day after Gov. Palin “melted” and “galvanized’ the republican base on the third day of the GOP convention. Sen. Obama, however, could not have done worse than to authorize an ad that belittles Gov. Palin by failing to refer to her by name but instead describes her as an object. I know, too sensitive for some of you but not for voters (like independents) that might be looking for it or sore ex-Clinton supporters.

In the ad the Obama campaign strategy was to outline the gaps in Sen. McCains understanding of issues like the economy. Towards the end of the ad an image of Sarah Palin is flashed for a few seconds while a voice says “although THIS is his running mate…” For centuries women have been considered, in terms of importance, beneath a man’s horse or dog. The point is to discribe a woman using the word like “this” is a derogatory way of referring to any person let alone a woman. That sad aspect of history has lead many people to flinch or grind their teeth a bit when a women is described as or referred to as a “this.”

My point is to remind the democrats that the microscope is focused on sexism and the democrats are choosing to ignore this idea rather than be sensitive to it. CNN has spent the last few days defending their questions about Gov. Palin rather than admit sexism and move on with better questions. The accusations of sexism are not a red herring but can be easily traced to their source. For example John Roberts and Dana Bash of CNN where on the air Friday and the conversation revealed the sexism within the media.

There is no doubt that issues are more important than racism and sexism but that is unless those two problems become issues themselves. It is fair to debate Gov. Palin on as many issues as possible but not being sensitive to sexism or denying that democrats are still licking their wounds after the democratic primary smelled badly of it does not help the party. It is preferrable that the democrats learn this now and not wait for a brick to fall on their heads to mark the end.

Good luck Democrats

Rafael Buelna