The condescension of the patriarchy

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like the Obama campaign's The Life of Julia. This slide show walks through the life of a fictional woman ("Julia") who lives her entire life suckling at the government teat provided her by Uncle Sam and Big-Daddy Obama. Government provides her with an education, more education, health care, more health care, education for her child, more money to open a business, more health care, retirement benefits, and, as near as one can tell from the presentation, all at no cost to her.

Obviously, there's not a serious argument being made here. They aren't trying to convince anyone of the rightness of their position; they're trying to convince those people who already agree with the rightness of their position to come out and vote. Even so, there's an astounding amount of question-begging contained in the presentation. For example,

• Is there any evidence that Head Start actually provides any long-term benefit?
• Is there any reason to suspect that the "Race to the top" program provides any long-term benefit?
• Is there any reason to believe that Pell Grants have made College more, rather than less, affordable?
• Why is Julia worse off with her health care decisions "place[d] ... in the hands of her employer" as opposed to being placed in the hands of government bureaucrats?
• Does Zachary have a father? Why can't he and Julia provide for Zachary's birth and health care and schooling, instead of letting Big-Daddy Obama take care of it?
• Where is all of that money for Julia's Medicare and Social Security going to come from if she's collecting from the Federal treasury from the time she's an infant?

The big question that it all begs is this - why the hell can't Julia do some of these things for herself? Why on earth does the government have to do all of it for her? The entire presentation just drips with sexism and condescension, as poor Julia, delicate flower, cannot live her life without the constant and beneficent hand of the government, as provided by Big-Daddy Barack. She's such a weakling that a Romney administration would inevitably result in her destruction.

I'd think a feminist would be appalled by this presentation, but what do I know? I'm not a feminist...