Obama desperately needs to work on getting the women's vote. It won't help to have surrogates out, he needs to find a strategy/narrative of his own. He (and Biden) actually have the perfect story. Obama was raised by a single mother and he needs to stress that background and clearly state that he really does understand how difficult it is for single mothers/parents. With a large percentage of single parents, he can say I will be your advocate (like Palin's special needs spiel). With Biden's background as a single parent and the moving speech by his son, he also needs to stress his commitment to parents.
Here are a list of issues that women care about from a woman in that critical group. Please add to the list. I wrote this in a hurry.
- education for our children so they are competitive in a global marketplace
- healthcare for all
- clean food, water/air (environmental issues)
- equal pay
- opportunities for part-time/flexible jobs for mothers
- child care services that we can trust
- keeping our children safe
- world leadership that is sane and just
I don't think this will work in an election (because it deters male voters) but as far as I know, the child support calculation in Ohio has not changed in over 7 years. Who does this hurt the most? The mother or father? Has the price of raising children changed in 7 years? Of course. Single mothers live a pretty destitute life even though many did not choose or plan to be in the situation. Many just deal with it the best they can. No one's asking for a handout but isn't this where government should work and help. Canada is much better at helping out parents in such situations. Women are poorer after divorce, men are better off. 40% of families classified as poor are headed by women. What does this say about our family values? No-fault divorce has only made life more difficult for women post-divorce.
http://www.divorcereform.org/...
After listening to Heather Higgins of the Independent Women's Forum (http://www.iwf.org/), I was infuriated by her baseless, senseless comments regarding Obama's speech about pigs and lipstick. Obama should not apologize, he should attack McCain further. Don't play defense, be more offensive than them (with class), that's the only way to win. Who is the iwf and how dare such idiots say they stand for women's rights?
It's sad to see Palin being touted as a voice for woman, neither McCain or Palin have shown any commitment to women's issues. Attack on the issues and their personal stories. People remember the personal stories and our reluctance to stay away from that has been our downfall in the past. If not Obama, then the 527's need to address this form of attack.