Periodically Speaking: Part Two

On Monday, some readers challenged my assertion that "periodically feeling down" is a dog whistle by questioning what Obama had to gain with sexist appeals:

what convinces me this is PROBABLY not a sexist dog whislte [sic] that I don't see how this in any way helps Obama, so it makes no sense for him to do it

He's WINNING so why would he shoot himself in the foot?

You could convince me otherwise if you could tell me what he could possibly gain in the Democratic Primary (or in general) by being sexist. Without that, it seems rather dubious to suggest that this was deliberate sexism on his part.

That's why I think this is more of an unforced error than an intentional line of attack: this doesn't help, it only hurts.

I keep hearing it asserted that it is "beneficial" for men to use and hear this sort of language, but how is it beneficial?

White Men Jumped.

White men can jump—to Obama.

Obama devastated Clinton among men in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday.

Etc.

That's not to take away from Obama's decisive victory last night—he improved among other demographics, too. It's just to point out that the suggestion Obama had nothing to gain by appealing to (sexist) men was patently wrong. He had room to improve with working class white men in particular—and he did.