Ohio Gov. John Kasich said tonight that he has two teenage daughters he wants to see grow up "strong," something every father should want. But if Kasich really wants to see more strong women in the world, he should start responding to young women who ask him questions with more respect.
First, there was the time that Kasich called on a University of Richmond student who had raised her hand and he said, "I'm sorry, I don't have any Taylor Swift concert tickets." The young woman turned out to be a staffer on the student newspaper, who penned a scathing column about his condescending treatment.
Kasich's second unfortunate moment came in Dubuque, Iowa. He tried to explain the challenges of maintaining a healthy economy while keeping true to the conservative principles of balanced budgets and tax cuts, and he asked one woman in the audience, "Have you ever been on a diet?"
"Many times," the woman responded, somehow still calm.
"Okay, so you're the perfect example," he said. "So you set a goal and you reach it, and then what happens? How about a little spumoni? How about a trip over to Mario's?" Thus suggesting that keeping a budget balanced is just like adhering to appearance standards American society sets for women.
Using women as props is a bad way to illustrate points, and assuming that women exist to help you get laughs or sound smart is going to alienate a lot of people. Kasich said he is afraid of what might happen to his daughters if Hillary Clinton is elected, but it seems pretty clear that President Kasich doesn't have a good strategy for dealing with the "strong daughters" he wants to raise.
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