Molly Ivins September 15AUSTIN — As all alert citizens know by now, politically, this is the Year of the Soccer Mom. Soccer moms — those harried, frazzled, overburdened (but still game and cheerful) women — are this year's critical group of swing voters. Great minds (Dick Morris', for example) have studied them, and vast sums of money have been spent on learning how to woo and win their votes. I know soccer moms. Soccer moms are friends of mine. So I decided to talk to some to find out what actual soccer moms themselves think about being the focus of this critical election year that will take us into the 21st century. What does the soccer mom make of it all? Naturally, this is a scientifically selected random sample of soccer moms, covering two and a half states. In accordance with standard polling procedures, we have thrown out both our highest-scoring moms ("You must be kidding") and our lowest-scoring moms ("Pathetic — just pathetic") in order to inch ever closer toward the median soccer mom. Using the Southwestern cultural-bias screening variable, we wound up with some football moms in our sample, but this was only to be expected. Adjusting for economic status and educational level, we feel that our scientifically selected random sample is accurate to within 2 percentage points, plus or minus. Patti Kilday of Austin observes: "It's not so much that I think important issues are being left out as it is the packaging, the emphasis on packaging, that bugs me. All this warm-and-fuzzy stuff is so overdone. I have two reactions to the it-takes-a-village thing. "On the one hand, for Dole to have claimed that it-takes-a-village is somehow communistic is just outrageous. Does that mean every PTA meeting is socialistic? Every volunteer who goes in to read to a below-grade-level child is like Lenin? "On the other hand, the warm-and-fuzzy packaging, the salesmanship is just so patronizing. It's like looking at a Guess jeans ad: You see all these young bodies piled on top of each other, and your reaction is: What are they selling here? You finally figure out it's jeans. Why don't they just sell the jeans? "Look, soccer moms are just like everyone else. I suppose the economy is the No. 1 issue because that's one area where the president can make a difference. So we read all those long pieces in the Sunday paper trying to figure out this economist vs. that economist, which plan will help the economy most. What we don't need is this patronizing attempt to tug at our heartstrings." Judy Cramer, who helped found an entire soccer league in New York City, said: "I don't feel any of them represent me.
"I think Dole is making a big mistake going along with this anti-abortion stuff; sometimes I think family values is just a code word for being anti-abortion, and Republican women are turned off by it. I wish they would talk about the economy more. It's as though they assume people can't follow a complex argument anymore. They think they have to make it all simple, like television sound bites. "I'd vote for Clinton over Dole; I don't think he's so dreadful. I don't understand all this emphasis on his private peccadillos, all this prurient interest. Why can't we just talk about policy differences? I like Clinton's family leave act and the tax credit for college." Mary C. of Austin said: "I'm pretty disappointed in the Democrats — I've never voted for a Republican in my life, but I don't think I'll vote for the Democrats. I just think they so compromised any authenticity they had at their convention. Gore using his sister's death from lung cancer, Hillary talking about Chelsea being in the hospital after she had her tonsils out — and all the time they were signing off on this welfare bill that changed 60 years of social policy. It was no better than a bad Hollywood show. "I'm not persuaded that Clinton is all that stands between us and a completely Gingrich-crazed world; I see that as an empty threat. There's not much difference between Dole and Clinton, and at least Dole retains some credibility." Now, note the emergence of consistent themes in our poll. The most striking thing about these women is how bright they are; of several more interviewed but not quoted here, their sheer intelligence is their most notable trait. And in one way or another, all said they felt they were being patronized, talked down to and even insulted by the tenor of this campaign. For them, it-takes-a-village is not even a debatable proposition; their whole lives focus on community. What's truly stupefying is that in addition to raising children and working and getting kids to school and soccer and music lessons, all these women work as volunteers! How do they do it? None of them is particularly political, but all of them are well educated in the larger sense. Several of them have spent time in Europe and noted how backward this country is in its social policies; they mentioned several countries with national health insurance, a year's leave to have a baby, child care, time off to spend with children and a better quality of life. This election is not taking place in a vacuum of provincialism. These women have traveled, and they know that other countries are doing better than ours is. *** Molly Ivins is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. COPYRIGHT 1996 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
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