Voters will reiect i
ale's gender graft
Its the morning after. It's the morning after
Walter Mondale's selection of Geraldine Ferraro,
after the enthusiasm, the incredible emotion, the
outright shock. The person who cornea to mind is
not the mythical Archie Dunker who lives in her
Queens congressional district, but a quite real man
who grew up just the other side of the East River in
Manhattan Al Smith. He lost in a landslide.
Richard
Smith was the first Roman Catholic to run for the
presidency. His defeat by Herbert Hoover in 1928
was due to a number of factors, not the least his
being a Democrat in a Republican era. But he was
also a Catholic, a New Yorker who spoke the strange
language of that strange city, and a living, breathing,
bowler-topped stereotype of the big-cityward heeler.
America rejected him like a transplant from another
species. It was a graft that would not take.
History is too fickle to repeat itself precisely and,
besides, Ferraro is a vice presidential, not presi
dential, candidate. But in her own way Ferraro is
also a stereotype a New Yorker (complete with
accent), a feminist, a clubhouse Democrat, a liberal,
a Catholic and (you might have noticed) a woman. If
that were not enough, she has already managed to
do the politically unpardonable take the spot
light away from Walter Mondale. If that continues,
and it certainly will for a while, the Democratic
ticket will be sunk.
But that's just for starters. Where Ferraro is most
lilce Smith is that she reinforces a stereotype. His
was ethnic; hers is sex. Increasingly, pollsters and
political analysts are beginning to use a term when it t
comes to the Democratic Patty feminization. If
there is anything to it, Geraldine Ferraro has to
personify it.
The so-called feminization theory is based on the
numbers. Most of the recent polls show Ronald
Reagan running anywhere from 30 to 40 points
ahead of Mondale with white, male voters. He also
leads with women. Reagan is even ahead by
whopping margins with young male voters the
ones who traditionally have cast their first vote for a
Democrat. A whole lot of political analysts will tell
you that these males are simply voting their pocket
books. Life has been good to them under Reagan and
their memory is not of the Depression, but of
Correction
Due to an editing error, Friday's house editorial
(DaUy Nebraskan, July 13) incorrectly stated that
Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts is black. The
editorial should have identified Philadelphia Mayor
Wilson Goode, whom Walter Mondale interviewed
for his vice-presidential running mate, a3 a black
person. The Daily Nebraskan regrets the error.
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economic stagnation and inflation under Jimmy
Carter.
But an increasing number of other analysts, while
conceding the importance of economics, say the
gender gap is based on just that gender. Reagan is
a man's man, a wc d-chopping, horseback-riding
president with a macho style and foreign policy to
boot. For 312 years, he ha3 been telling the Soviets
whereto get off, building up the military and, if need
be, invading Caribbean islands to make the world
safe for medical students. Men, in particular, seem
to like that sort of thing.
Hie Democratic Party, on the other hand, projects
a different image one solidified by Carter. It has
seemed weak, indecisive, concerned with image a
nag who seems to be saying over and over again,
"Now boys, don't fight." The candidates who have
espoused that view, George McGovern and Carter in
1980, were defeated. The Democratic candidates
who bristled militarism John Kennedy. Lyndon
Johnson won. And the winningest Democrat of
this century, Franklin Roosevelt, demolished his
party's stereotype. His accent was from Groton, his
wealth and social standing downright Republican.
Just to reinforce the Democratic stereotype, the
party has traditionally played the role of nurturer,
taking in group after group and saying it will provide
for them. But having nurtured the poor of all kinds
and having seen many of them rise in the middle class
and upper-middle class, it has, like a mother, been
ignored. In the political version of not even bother-
ing to call, its children vote Republican.
Mondale's selection of Ferraro was a bold stroke,
as gutsy and as macho a move as a man can make,
and also a wonderful statement. But the harsh sun
of the morning after bring3 with it some questions."
Geraldine Ferraro represents Archie Bunker's dis
trict, but Bunker doesnt exist. And if he did, he
probably would vote for Ronald Reagan. Stereotypes
prefer their own.
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Tuesday, July 17, 1984
Daily Nebraskan
Paao5
