Posted by Hemant Mehta in Would this bumper sticker help or hurt President Obama in a 2012 re-election bid?
(Thanks to Jeff for the link!)
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well he’d get the atheist vote….
but it’d likely be bought up by every conservative christian in the US and have a negative connotation, at least in their eyes…
He could lead the country out of the recession, pay off the national debt, bring peace to the middle east, save a kitten from a burning building, and still lose reelection if people started using that bumper sticker.
Well, it just isn’t true see…and I for one have had enough lies in my politics after the last eight years to last a few dozen lifetimes. I think the idea should be scrapped.
However, a “Freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, skeptics and rationalists for Obama” could be cool.
More to the issue I’d like “I’m an atheist that votes!” bumper sticker.
I agree with bill. Remember the Dole/Hagan thing? I’m as sure as I can be that it only failed because it initiated too late for the wingnuts to really flood the airwaves and make it stick.
Really, Obama will have enough trouble stamping down the resurgent “secret Muslim” meme without this adding to the problem.
(Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I’m an atheist. I’m just realistic enough to remember that nobody in the US likes us much and paranoid about getting a – so far – halfway decent president usurped by the crazed theocrats running the GOP).
this would only hurt his chances. obviously he would get the aheist vote, but what percentage of atheists didnt vote for him in 08?
it would only serve to alienate moderately religious democrats and moderates that voted for him
I’m pretty sure it would hurt him. He’d probably get most of the atheist vote but being godless in America in the 21st century is a bit like being black in America in the 19th century. A sure fire way to incur the wrath of thy neighbours.
It would be better to make a bumper sticker with something like
THOUGHTFULL
or
RATIONAL
or
REASON
With the Obama O.
It would get the message out that we now have a president that values reason but without the “in-your-face” baggage that would alienate 80% of the voting public.
If it would hurt his votes, I’d use it.
I am an atheist and I am NOT an issue voter !
I think it’d be mostly Republicans buying it.
@Sabio: Yeah! Voting on the issues is for losers!
@Stephan, you’ve got to make a cool-sounding acronym out of those. How about: “Secularists, humanists, agnostics, freethinkers, atheists, and rationalists”? We’d all be SHAFARists!
Then again, that sounds vaguely Muslim/Arabic and that has kind of a negative political connotation, too…
You make really good points. I can’t help but see how this would hurt Obama. In America, there are far too many people who equate “Godless” with “immoral”, so I don’t want to lend credence to the rumor that Barack isn’t a Christian.
Isn’t the “Are You a Good Christian?” ad above the Godless logo beautiful?
12 votes for hurt, 0 for help. I’ll make it 13-0.
Even so, causing the election of a Republican President in 2012 who reverses all of Obama’s economic policies, and causes the total collapse of the US economy, would be totally worth it if atheists started more meetup.com groups. NOT!
It is a rhetorical question, right? When I first saw this, I thought for sure it must have originated in Karl Rove’s spin factory.
Last sunday European elections. Guy Verhofstadt, a notoir atheist, received the Belgian top-score of votes. Over half a million (on our 10 million inhabitants) namevotes. Atheism is a minor issue over here. Maybe one day the US will think the same way.
Whether you think it’s a good idea or not, it’s a mischaracterization of Obama. He is not an Atheist, and using his symbol in a “Godless” sticker is not an accurate representation of who he is. In short, it’s lying.
I agree with Stephan that “Atheists for Obama” or something along those lines would be a vast improvement on this.
I agree with others that the bumper sticker would more likely be on a republican car with them thinking it was an insult to Obama. I think an Atheist for Obama sticker would get the message across much clearer.
I dislike it from any perspective. it would definitely hurt Obama if this were created by and for atheists, and why would an atheist want to link Obama with non-faith anyway? be an atheist. support Obama (or don’t). it’d be one thing if this were about marshaling the non-believer vote for Obama (but as others have said–not hard).
and from the anti-Obama conservative viewpoint, this is just unfair and false. he is a person of faith, like it or not (that goes for the religious and non-religious alike).
I think I saw that last election on a car with Elect McCain stickers.
Jesus Christ on a crucifix! Get this thing off the internet before you ruin EVERYTHING!
The stats I saw were
75% Obama
23% McCain
2% Other
The real disapointing thing in the last election for me was losing the highest “other status to the Muslims. Apperently a lot of them voted for Nader (partly) because of his Lebanese ethnicity.
I think it would hurt the campaign… Which is unfortunate, considering how awesome it is…