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Women for Change Find It In Obama, Not McCain

If you compare the records of Barack Obama and John McCain, it’s clear that Barack Obama stands with women on the issues that are important to them: equal pay for equal work, the right to choose, comprehensive health care reform. Examples, as received from the Obama campaign, below:

  • Economy: John McCain believes “we’ve made great progress economically” under George Bush. Yet, unemployment is at a 5 year high, home values are plummeting, and working age family incomes have dropped $2000. For good reason, American women believe that John McCain doesn’t understand their struggle to make ends meet. He showers corporations with almost $2 trillion in new tax breaks, but offers no tax relief to 101 million households, including 72% of households here in Colorado. While Americans can barely afford a tank of gas, he’ll give billions in tax breaks to Big Oil. Barack Obama will bring the change we need by reversing the policies of the last eight years and rebuilding an economy that works for the middle class. He’ll break the grip of the special interests, and put the middle class first by giving a permanent tax break of up to $1,000 to 95 percent of hard working Americans, including 2.3 million Colorado households. Under Barack Obama’s plan middle class families will face the lowest income tax rates in over 50 years. And overall taxes will be below what they were under Ronald Reagan. Barack Obama will create jobs by ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and cutting taxes for small businesses investments and companies that create jobs in America. And, he’ll raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, and ensure the minimum wage rises each year to keep up with rising costs, giving 8 million women nationally and nearly a hundred thousand women in Colorado a well-deserved raise.
  • Choice: In what should serve as a wakeup call to the McCain campaign, John McCain was booed by the largely female audience on “The View” when he said ‘I believe Roe v Wade was a very bad decision, it was a bad decision.’ The audience, in fact, reflected the wider opinion of women across the country. Sixty-two percent of women believe that Roe should not be over-turned, compared to only 30% who do, according to a July 2008 poll by Hart Research. John McCain wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, a move that would make all abortions illegal. He caved to pressure from the right wing of his party by selecting a Vice Presidential nominee who is even more extreme than George W. Bush and favors taking away a woman’s right to choose – even in cases of rape and incest. While McCain voted against requiring insurance companies to provide coverage for prescription birth control, 64% believe that it is very or extremely important for the next president and Congress to expand access to contraception, according to the July Hart poll.
  • Equal Pay: As the father of two young girls, Obama wants them to grow up in a nation that values their right to work, and pays them fairly for it. But even now in 2008, John McCain opposes a law that would guarantee women are paid the same as men for doing the same work. While Barack Obama was proud to cosponsor the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which would have reversed last year’s Supreme Court decision making it more difficult for women to challenge pay discrimination on the job, Senator McCain opposed it. He even suggested that the reason women don’t have equal pay isn’t discrimination on the job – it’s because they need more education and training. Once again, McCain has put himself on the other side of women’s strongly and widely held values. Seventy-seven percent of women say that it is very or extremely important that the next president and Congress provide women with the legal protections they need to get equal pay, according to the Hart poll.
  • Health Care: Women and families are struggling with soaring health care costs and 8 million of our nation’s children are uninsured. According to the Hart poll, 84% of women believe that it is very or extremely important for the next president and Congress to guarantee access to quality, affordable, comprehensive health care. And yet, John McCain doesn’t have a plan to insure every American—under his plan Americans will pay taxes on health care benefits for the first time ever, eroding employer-based health care that millions of Americans rely on. His plan also allows insurance companies to cherry pick their state laws, which would allow them to evade hard fought state requirements to cover preventive and prescription coverage, and provide the bare minimum coverage. It shouldn’t be surprising from the man who repeated again this week his claim that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” and admitted last week that, “It’s easy for me to go to Washington and frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.”
  • Iraq: While McCain supports keeping troops in Iraq with no end in sight, an August Economist poll found that 68% of women disagree, with 54% believing that troops should leave within the next year.

According to a September poll for Emily’s List, 53% of women voters believe that Obama-Biden better understands their issues and concerns compared to 35% for McCain-Palin.

Obama and Biden have a record of fighting to provide women with the opportunities they deserve. John McCain and Sarah Palin offer nothing but more of the same.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Amen (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by prose on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 12:26:28 PM EST
    I just wish Obama had made the case this convincingly in his women's rally today.  He had a great opportunity but it wasn't one of his best.

    I watched it, too (none / 0) (#6)
    by Cream City on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 01:01:06 PM EST
    and really wanted to hear the fire and passion we need to restore so much lost and so much still needed.  But I just didn't hear it.

    In my case, I could contrast it with Kerry's speech on women's issues, which was given in my town, so I was there -- and Kerry really had fire on these issues.  Imagine that, Kerry more passionate.  He won my town that day -- and that meant he won my state, the closest state last time.  Had he done so in one more state, with one more speech that mattered as much as these issues.

    And a speech on women's issues probably matters even more to the Obama campaign.  So maybe he can do it again and do it better.  Why hide it in all the other news this week?

    Parent

    He still needs to be very careful (none / 0) (#11)
    by Newt on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 02:42:26 PM EST
    not to look like an "angry black man."  Passion captured in photos can be used by our opponents to depict him as angry.  It's a tricky line to walk, IMO.

    Parent
    I don't see how this applies (none / 0) (#12)
    by Cream City on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 03:16:11 PM EST
    Did you see the speech.  He did the trademark scowl, but at odd points.  Main point is that he didn't sound passionate.

    I think, as a public speaker myself, that the teleprompter is not always his friend.  Scripts can sound, well, scripted.  

    Parent

    He was building steam until the protesters hit... (none / 0) (#21)
    by prose on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 07:59:16 PM EST
    I'm not saying that was all of it, but it didn't help the feel of the speech.

    Parent
    Well, to me it's a no brainer (5.00 / 3) (#4)
    by Jjc2008 on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 12:35:40 PM EST
    but still it is hard for the nuleft to stop insisting old white women (like me) who supported Hillary are the reason the race is still close. No matter how much the facts prove otherwise, women will be blamed if Obama doesn't win.

    Hillary was the best option for women.  Obama is way better than McCain but still does not have the passion he should for women's issues (economy, healthcare, education).....at least when I hear him I do not hear the passion.  I wish I did.

    But, even for me, still angry about how the DNC treats the backbone of its party (women), this is a no brainer.  And honestly, I do not know one woman in my circle who was a former Hillary supporter who is voting for McCain....and public figures like that Rothschild woman don't count for me. My female friends and relatives who were all Hillary supporters are diverse culturally/ethnically...mostly educated, over 50, many divorced and raised children alone with no help from dead beat dads; many, like me, struggling to make it on pension and worried about health care issues as we age.

    Yet still, I read over and over, and hear over and over from the pundits that it is the older white women who might lose it for Obama.  If women still don't see the bias in the pundit class against women, I doubt they ever will.

    Rachel Maddow (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by CST on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 12:42:41 PM EST
    Addressed this last night, essentially debunking the "women abandoning Obama for Palin" meme.

    I am starting to like her more now that the primary is over.  She doesn't make me want to strangle someone like KO.

    Parent

    They should just give her two hours (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by cannondaddy on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 01:23:09 PM EST
    and let Keith come on as her guest.

    Parent
    I still have issues with Rachel (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Jjc2008 on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 03:21:02 PM EST
    To me, her ability to sit there and allow the sexism because she was in the Obama camp was a real turn off.  
    Funny tho...I have a lot of gay friends and a few gay relatives.  ALL OF THEM were diehard Hillary supporters.  Yet the ONLY gay people I ever saw or heard on televison were in the bag for Obama....Maddow, and in the case of Sullivan and Aravosis they were diehard Hillary Haters with bad cases of CDS.    

    I want to enjoy Maddow's show..I am trying. I put it on and all the anger and unfairness comes back.  I'm just not there yet.....maybe I never will be.  The only so called "left" commentator I can listen to at all now is Thom Hartman.  His first choice was not Hillary either but he never played the Clinton's are racists card, never showed signs of CDS like Rhodes, Schultz, and others.  Maddow was as bad as them, but something bugged me about her in the primaries.

    Parent

    How did she allow it? (none / 0) (#15)
    by Newt on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 04:10:05 PM EST
    Her silence (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by Jjc2008 on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 04:27:55 PM EST
    and her willingness to play with the boys while they tossed sexist grenades daily.  You know there are some of us that still think silence in the presence of sexism is as bad as silence in the presence of racism.

    Parent
    There are sins of omission (5.00 / 2) (#17)
    by Cream City on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 04:47:42 PM EST
    as well as sins of commission.  The nuns taught me that.  Maddow could have learned from them.

    Parent
    I saw this like 8 times (5.00 / 5) (#7)
    by kredwyn on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 01:01:54 PM EST
    last night...NOVA's getting inundated with it.

    It was an interesting ad. My only real quibble was language related to the phrase "many women work to help support their families."

    Being a singleton, I have to work to support myself...and Danger Kitty.

    I understand the message. But equal pay isn't just about helping to support families. It's also about the fact that if I do the same job as my male counterparts, it's only fair that I make the same salary regardless of whether I'm supporting a family...or a cat.

    Excellent point. That's the excuse (5.00 / 5) (#9)
    by Cream City on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 01:34:25 PM EST
    used against too many married women for too long, too, as that they were just bringing in "extra money."  My mother was told that repeatedly.  She and my father worked for the same company.  She even was told that when she had another of us -- and he was the one who got a raise for "another mouth to feed."  That's also not a reason for a pay increase.

    Equal pay for equal work has absolutely nothing to do with marital status or number of children -- or single status and no children.  Now I'm angry about the ad -- and am bookmarking it for use in class to show that even our "friends" still aren't helping us.  Maybe the next generation will figure that out better than has this one.

    Parent

    Amen..... (5.00 / 3) (#14)
    by Jjc2008 on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 03:25:46 PM EST
    Single women have always been the bottom of the barrel in this society. I grew up in a time when men with families were always given the "priority" in higher paying jobs because after all they had families.  After them, single men because some day they would have families...then married women and if there was anything left, maybe a single woman.

    It always frosted my butt that we (single) women were expected to pick up the slack for the rest of the world just cuz.......

    Parent

    The taxation formula already works (5.00 / 2) (#18)
    by Cream City on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 04:53:27 PM EST
    so much against singles that to see this in the ad purportedly for women just irks me.  In addition to equal pay for equal work, how about equal taxation for equal work?  I'm married again now, but I won't forget those years as a single -- and again as a single mom.  And I was told to my face both times that I didn't need the pay that men did.  The second time around, I was told to my face that I didn't need it because I must be getting alimony.

    I was not getting alimony.  And I was not getting the child support payments I was supposed to get.  Yet I didn't get the pay I was supposed to get, either.  I wonder who wrote this ad and whether they know a thing about the realities for singles?  And didn't they even focus-group it with a truly diverse group of women?

    Parent

    Have you considered (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 05:07:06 PM EST
    they aren't targeting single women in this ad? Why do you take offense if it's not directed towards you?

    Would you take offense at an ad aimed towards a subset of any other group just because while part of the larger group, you aren't part of that particular subset?

    It's an ad, not a policy statement or program initiative. If and when he implements or announces a policy that discriminates against single women, then complain.

    I've considered that now (none / 0) (#20)
    by Cream City on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 06:09:06 PM EST
    at your request and listened to the ad again.  It is not framed well, then -- and it also doesn't make sense in terms of the larger context of Dem and women's major efforts this year to GOTV from the largest group of nonvoters, single women.  If there are ads coming for them, that could help.

    That's the ex-ad person speaking.  Now, the feminist would add that I think it also would  better to not even imply dividing women again by marital status or family status or the like, as has happened too often in the movement -- because it is when women see our commonalities and work together that we make any progress.

    Parent

    OT, but a flip side of gender, power, bullying... (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 12:28:18 PM EST
    This sad story from just down the street from my house has really gotten me thinking.  

    Thought you might like to consider what a defense attorney could do for this kid.  Also, it really points out some ironies related to gender, power, poverty, bullying, etc.  Sorry again, but as a kid who got bullied, and more than once thought about getting revenge in a terrible way (thankfully I never did), this story just won't get outta my head.  Also, reading the comments about it at the bottom, well, I'll let them speak for themselves.  

    Obviously, this should be in an open thread (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 12:29:36 PM EST
    Couldn't find one, apologies for being OT again.

    Parent
    yes, please save it for one and stay (none / 0) (#10)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 02:31:47 PM EST
    on topic here. You can always email me with other suggestions for discussion.

    Parent