Thursday, November 26, 2009

Nation & World

Washington Whispers by Paul Bedard

Obama Won the Shopoholic Election, Too

December 21, 2008 02:26 PM ET | Paul Bedard | Permanent Link | Print

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers.

Retail shoppers voted in huge numbers and, no surprise, went with the fashionable Barack Obama. Pollster John Zogby, who watches these sorts of things, tells us that Obama beat John McCain among shoppers of Costco, Target, Macy's, Niemans, Bloomies, Marshall's, and J.C. Penney. McCain won in the discount aisles of Wal-Mart, Sears, and Kohl's: "The best way to summarize this election is that Obama's message was right on Target, and he was able to Marshall his forces to get out to vote. But the real story here is that these two stores have shoppers that are least likely to lean left or right on political issues. Obama won the mainstream middle."

Tags: presidential election 2008 | Barack Obama | John McCain | John Zogby

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Reader Comments

blatant eltism! Michael of Raleigh

Yes, Raleigh/Durham is full of wise educated scholarly types who ridicule the likes of Sarah Palin who has dealt with the real life issues of having a Down syndrome child and what to do with a daughter who is pregnant, unwed, and the family of the father is not exactly like your family. Or John McCain who dealt with and admitted his mistakes in dealing with such things as two strangers being married to each other, or the son of admirals trying to find his way in the world.

I have an exemplary education--and I also have realized that book learning alone does not wisdom make. I have learned a lot from many who were very much less educated than myself. the biggest one is humility. Both parties have wealthy and poor, educated and illiterate, and it is time that the well-educated started remembering the wisdom of practical experience. The Obama Cabinet reminds me of a group of young AT&T execs that we had for a teamwork exercise on a ship where I was crew--the looks on their faces were priceless when we asked them to do the chores necessary to keep the vessel running day-to-day.Get their hands dirty--OMG! But they did and they were better for it. If I were Barack Obama, I'd load the whole crew into a teamwork workshop afloat and get rid of some prima donna thinking real quick! How about a nice winter camping trip into the Montana wilderness?

I was about to disagree with Michael of NC.......

I was going to counter that the GOP was usually supported by the leaders of Big Business, Big Finance, etc. and that those flinty eyed leaders of industry and commerce were sophisticated individuals that surely understood reality.

Then I thought about GM, Chrysler, Wall Street in general, and the patrons of Madoff in particular and I retracted my arguement.

CLASS AND POLITICS

I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is the fourth best educated city in America, in a state that is not known for educational achievements. Many of the largest and most expensive houses in Raleigh display yard signs for the Democrats in every election. The Republicans typically get the votes cast by lower income White residents. The Republicans are better at getting votes from the more simple-minded people whose understanding of reality is questionable at best.

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