by B. R. GOWANI
Many Arab countries are living through the “Arab Spring”, whereas the Republican Party in the US is experiencing the Republican Winter. In the United States, the winter season has not been too harsh, weather-wise. However, the Republicans feel the chill more so this election season. The reason, of course, is the choice of candidates for the upcoming elections.
As a safe and popular topic to enhance their chances of capturing the White House (and to prevent their brains from freezing) they decided to take cover in the contraception issue. The only cheap and readily available things they could lay their hands on were condoms.
But lo and behold! The condoms were full of holes. (The contraception issue was a big deal in the 1920s and 1930s.)
Women voters
The introduction of the contraception issue in the presidential election by the Republican leaders and the abuse of Sandra Fluke by millionaire radio show host and hypocrite Rush Limbaugh has backfired and is going to cost Republican candidates some women votes.
Fifty percent of the US voters are women and one can safely assume 25% of them are Republican. Not all of these 25% are going to blindly vote Republican, ignoring the fact that some of these Republicans are not very sympathetic to women’s needs.
A look at these candidates yields Ron Paul whose frank stand on US wars and other issues make him ineligible for victory. That leaves three candidates: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. Obama must be planning for a second term in White House and he may be right–unless, he starts a war against Syria as John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and others want him too, or against Iran, as Israel and the Israeli Lobby (which also includes Lieberman, Graham, and McCain) wants him to. That changes the odds.
(Obama needs to repair the economy–that’s what most voters are concerned about.)
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com