The biggest problem with identity politics and trying to pander to every conceivable identity voter is that sooner or later these hard core identities collide and that means some group has to lose.<\/p>\n
Identity voters are worse than single-issue voters in that the ultimate winner can not soften or clarify a position on an issue to pander to that group. Hillary Clinton could not become black and Barack Obama can not become a women.<\/p>\n
Another important point is that when identity voters lose; they get really pissed<\/a>:<\/p>\n They are downright angry about some of the language employed by the media to describe Clinton, and at what they see as the media\u2019s undue haste in shoving her out of the race. And they don\u2019t like some of the phrases tossed around by Barack Obama (\u201cSweetie\u201d; \u201cYou\u2019re likable enough, Hillary\u201d) either.<\/p>\n The major newspapers now regale us with stories about the many women, especially but not limited to the Geraldine Ferraro generation, who threaten to withhold their votes from Obama. Such angry and disillusioned female Democrats seem, for the moment, to be everywhere.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Way too early to say for sure that this sentiment will last through November but one thing is pretty certain. This just sunk any hopes of Jim Webb getting the Vice President job.<\/p>\n Women who voted for Hillary for the sole reason that she has a uterus are not taking the loss well. They feel that the media conspired with the Obama camp and the DNC to bully her out. <\/p>\n Obama is now forced to reverse the charge of sexism against his campaign. Tapping Jim Webb would be the most amazing act of political suicide in 50 years.<\/p>\n Webb\u2019s problems with women go back a long way. It hit the forefront in his infamous November 1979 article where he tore in to the decision to allow women into the Naval Academy, where he wrote:<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a place for women in our military, but not in combat. And their presence at institutions dedicated to the preparation of men for combat command is poisoning that preparation. By attempting to sexually sterilize the Naval Academy environment in the name of equality, this country has sterilized the whole process of combat leadership training, and our military forces are doomed to suffer the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n