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2010 Will be Year of the Man
“Granddad, why are all those football players
wearing pink shoes?” That was the topic of
conversation this past Monday evening as my
13-year-old grandson and I watched the star-crossed
Minnesota Vikings take on the New York Jets.
I sagely explained that October is Breast Cancer
Awareness Month. His logical mind now ratcheting
into overdrive, he tried to pin me down: “So
when do the players wear blue shoes for prostate
cancer awareness?”
That proved to be a harder question.
In 1992, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Patty
Murray, and Carol Moseley Braun swept into the
Senate in dramatic fashion, instantly inspiring the
catch-phrase, “Year of the Woman.” After
the 1992 influx, female legislators continued to
score steady gains, and now represent 17% of
lawmakers, by interesting coincidence in both the
Senate and the House.
But this coming November 2, the number of women
in Congress is predicted to decline, the first time
that’s happened since 1978. David Wasserman,
analyst at the non-partisan Cook Political Report,
is now forecasting the number of females in the
House will drop by 5-10 persons. In the Senate, the
current count of 17 female lawmakers will be lucky
to hold its own.
Although the Chicken-Littles are already yelping
about the impending social calamity, the reasons
for this sudden reversal of political fortune
deserve scrutiny.
First and foremost, women are more likely than
men to be of the liberal persuasion. As columnist
Allison Brown once put it, “Most women are
natural socialists.” That fact doesn’t
sit very well with a disaffected electorate that
has been moving steadily to embrace the tenets of
conservative philosophy.
It wasn’t too many years ago, of course,
that female candidates openly voiced the view that
female lawmakers are more trust-worthy and less
corrupt than their greedy male counterparts.
Remember Hillary Clinton’s chestnut that
“Research shows the presence of women raises
the standards of ethical behavior”?
Hillary’s declamation was instantly
self-refuting, of course, in light her notorious
Travelgate incident, cattle futures scam, and other
ethical escapades.
And remember Nancy Pelosi’s vow to run the
“most ethical and honest Congress in
history”? Then came the steady drumbeat of
Democratic congressmen and women who were
discovered to be delinquent on their taxes,
forgetful with asset disclosure forms, or deceitful
in funneling scholarship monies to family members.
One wonders how Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) will
refute the charge that she tried to steer federal
money to a family-owned bank.
It’s a political truism that fiscal
conservativism appeals primarily to men. According
to an April 18 Pew poll, 52% of men, compared to
only 42% of women, favor cutting back government
programs.
For the millions of men who gave the nod to
Barack Obama two years ago, the turning point was
the news that Obama had jiggered the stimulus
package to favor school teachers, social workers,
and other female-dominated government jobs, leaving
millions of unemployed male factory hands and
construction-workers holding the bag.
Shuttling millions of formerly well-paid men
onto the welfare rolls -- that’s what
progressives call “social justice.” And
that’s what Barack Obama meant when he told
Joe the Plumber, “when you spread the wealth
around, it’s good for everybody.”
As a result, the perennial gender gap has tacked
strongly in favor of men. “Men make up a
larger share of the likely voter pool,”
according to Quinnipiac pollster Doug Schwartz.
This year is “among the bigger gender gaps
we’ve seen,” reveals Democratic pollster
Celina Lake. And a Marist poll conducted last month
found 48% of Republican men were “very
enthusiastic” about voting, while only 28% of
Democratic women rated themselves in like
manner.
In January, we saw the gender gap bare its hairy
chest in Massachusetts race. While 52% of the
female electorate pulled the lever for Democrat
Martha Coakley, 60% of the smaller but more unified
male vote swung sharply in favor of Republican
Scott Brown, handing the political unknown a
stunning upset victory.
Nine months later, the same dynamic is at work
in Pennsylvania. There, Republican Pat Toomey is
leading Democrat Joe Sestak, mostly thanks to an
18-percentage-point margin among men.
Commenting on recent presidential races, former
Brandeis University professor Linda Hirshman
explains, “With the possible exception of
1996, women have never voted a candidate into the
White House when men thought the other guy should
win.”
Now back to the pink football cleats, pink
gloves, pink chin straps, pink wrist and biceps
bands, pink-crested baseball caps, pink towels,
pink lapel ribbons, and of course the pink-themed
Half-Time Show. Seriously, why isn’t the
National Football League giving equal play to
prostate cancer? After all, funding for prostate
cancer has long lagged behind research for breast
cancer.
“Answer that question,” I counseled my
droopy-eyed grandson, “And you’ll
understand why 2010 is destined to be the Year of
the Man.
* * *
Carey
Roberts probes and lampoons political correctness.
His work has been published frequently in the
Washington Times, Townhall.com, LewRockwell.com,
ifeminists.net, Intellectual Conservative, and
elsewhere. He is a staff reporter for the New Media
Network. You can contact him at E-Mail
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