The Masculinity Factor - Obama vs. romney 2012 election

joining is jackson cats is the author of leading men presidential campaigns and the politics of manhood i have a copy here we've been talking about a lot of different aspects jackson of this presidential race and one that we kind of have a little bit of an edged into at least tangentially is that gender gap that exists under which white men overwhelmingly support mit romney and traditionally republican candidates and uh... uh... women as well as non-white man minorities et cetera tend to skew towards the democratic candidate you've written extensively about this issue of masculinity in presidential elections let's start with this election specifically how are you seeing the masculinity and the the uh... up uh... portrayal of masculinity of these two candidates affecting this race well i think the most immediate and and notable event was the first two debate in denver when the discourse coming out at the date was that mitt romney had basically bested obama obama was passive obama was weak and if you look if you listen to the right wing uh... talk radio and rightly discourse prior to that debate all of the that the the it as sort of energy on the right push for that was trying to push uh... ronnie to come out and aggressively attack obama and and and what obama's performance played right into that narrative which is no one has a weak leader he's not strong he apologizes for america we need stronger boulder leadership so in a metaphorical sense that debate was like a literally like a boxing match and and art did the progress of champion if you will uh... brock obama was revealed to be uh... a week ended and the republican conservative was revealed to be strong and i think people talk about it is a theatrical performance but what i do in my book leading man as well as in much matt other work is to say this not just at the actual performance it's actually contest of manhattan in the contest and how that plays out in the gender gap is obviously that men are much more responsive to those kind of performances of masculine power uh... and uh... you know and and on and from there if we think about it in kind of a primal way uh... looking back uh... in human history right the idea of these masculine performances as we call them in great part was to scare off other men but also to to be attractive to women and interestingly enough in the political science it's not really appealing to women very much this kind of probe macho attitude from the right has actually turned off women i'm wondering why that has been the case it's it's it's it's it's a really good question is complicated because i think there's uh... their head and there was some movement uh... among women away from obama uh... after the first debate as well so it's open and we say women and we say men i think you have to race this discussion because without really talking the white men because principal men of color are much less likely to be influenced by deeds claims of cultural uh... i messages that are uh... then art than are white men and that's true with white women and and women of color as well so it's it's important that we do we get specifically with i'm really about white voters more so than we are talking about wars of color uh... but one thing david i talk about in my yard in my book for decades now such as this this lap to cycle for decades now the republican party has been able to successfully market themselves as the party not only that represents white people in a certain way or or opposes civil rights or resist civil rights but is the proper that that that that um... is identified with strong then it's the manly party and and they've been able to successfully at the same time spend the night the democratic party in a way that unit at the sits in a message to voters that if you want to be identifying with a party that represents you in a in a in a in not just an again in a racial as we've been a in a sort of them gender identity way then the republican party is is your pride republican party has successfully played identity politics white masculinity for more than a generation and i think the democrats believe riesling woken up to this part of the phenomena what's interesting is that with changing demographics i was just looking uh... that by by the twenty sixteen election the republican from uh... idea of kind of having a strong reliance on the white male voter is is not really it's unlikely to continue working because of changing demographics where close to seventy percent of the white vote is what the republican candidate would need in twenty sixteen in order to win election so do you think that this is an ideal is this a paradigm that by the sheer nature of changing demographics is simply not going to work anymore or talk about that a little bit yes i do think that uh... you you're if you're absolutely right and i i discussed this in uh... in leading men no question that the shifting demographics are making that the uh... centrality of the white male vote massive lasso with each with each year with the with each election cycle in the republican party and conservative movement injured more generally is gonna have to figure out how to appeal to a more diverse uh... you know uh... uh... uh... electorate order or they just gonna numerically be uh... beat consigned to the uh... you know i actually got history does not go question at the demographic shift is happening but this election is still trendsetter i thinks this election of obama verses romney's the masculinity is still front and center as a as a part of it conversation one thing that i talk about to is about helmet rock army has struggled to get the working class base of the republican party to believe that he's really authentically uh... their representative and attitudes it didn't really magazine actually did a cover story well about six weeks ago that call ronnie's wind factor which reprised newsweek's cover story in nineteen eighty eight which talked about george each doubly bushes when factor and i think some of this has to do with the aristocracy any and the and the and wealth and how wealth even in the republican party how well has been in a sense feminazis or at least you know uh... uh... isn't busy busy busy cultural and the class in in our economic obviously gap between the working class and middle-class base of the republican party and the and the leadership in this case replied you know uh... embodied in mit romney and so i think that's one of reason why mitt romney has tried a butch himself ought to try to become more masculine to try to moved to the right we should we say move to the right will really mean is get more masculine yeah so he will not talk about that specifically i mean was filled with pacific regard to this election i'm curious if instead of thinking of the masculinity factor as a kind of plus minus who is perceived as more masculine let's talk a little bit about something you do which is that is actually just department visions of what masculinity and manhood are on the left right because many people due obviously millions of people believe the president all bomb a does represent uh... a positive image of manhood in and his own masculinity but it's a very different type of masculinity talk about that a little bit yes that's true when in fact i think you can be very strong and very powerful indy progressive in support gender equality and *** orientation equality and gay marriage and and a and a reduction in in a military spending indy strong so i don't think it's one of the other and i do think i do think that obama in his personal style has modeled the kind of a less aggressive kind of masculinity although critics from his left the courts are saying that that this this presentation the public's sense is is covering for a continuation of george w_ bush is national security state and the drone killings and all kinds of other policies pursued by obama are not at all rip setting a new masculinity they're actually uh... you know keychain continuing some of the old militarism however the in a personal style obama is very much uh... looking for points of agreement he's fortin collaboration connection uh... and and that's traditionally call it as a feminine style of leadership and you see how he struggled with that you see how we starlet will you please oh please running up to get the republican party that's dominated by its right wing that doesn't want accommodations doesn't want to work in a bipartisan way soaked that there's this tension between yes wanting to know new kind of manhood but how do you get things done politically in this environment style of leadership the book is leading man presidential campaigns and the politics of manhood we've been speaking with jackson cats the book is of fascinating read both pre and post election looking forward to other elections as well jackson katz thanks so much for being with us today to have negated