Posted on 04/14/2012 5:42:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
As the White House scrambled Thursday to prevent "mommy wars" damage done by a Democratic advisor, one expert cautioned that politicians need to learn to communicate with women voters, who factor strongly in this presidential election.
"Most of the attention paid to them has been superficial, rather than substantive," Catherine Wilson, a Villanova University professor specializing in how women affect politics, said as Twitter chatter carried on the argument of whether a stay-at-home mother works as hard as a career woman.
Since 1980, more women have voted in presidential elections than men, said Sara Grove, another expert on women voters at Shippensburg University.
Democratic leaders backed away from consultant Hilary Rosen for disparaging Ann Romney, wife of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, in a CNN interview as someone who "actually never worked a day in her life." Bowing to pressure midday, Rosen issued a statement of apology acknowledging "poorly chosen" words.
President Obama told an Iowa television station that families are off limits in campaigns.
"I don't have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates," Obama said. "Those of us who are in the public life, we're fair game. Our families are civilians."
Ann Romney in January told the Tribune-Review that raising five boys as a homemaker while her husband pursued his business and political careers was "a tough job."
"It is a tough job. There was nothing easy about it and those boys were always getting into some sort of mischief," she said in the interview with son Tag, daughter-in-law Jennifer, three grandchildren and her husband. "Having said that, I wouldn`t have changed one moment of it. It was remarkable."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its databook Women in the Labor Force, counted 32.6 million women with children under age 18 in March 2010, the latest statistics available. About 71 percent were either employed (65 percent) or actively looking for work (6 percent) and the remaining 29 percent were not in the labor force.
Sean Trende, a political analyst for Real Clear Politics, said Gallup polling finds women care more about health care, gas prices and unemployment than they do about issues such as government policies on birth control. Recent polls show Obama leading Romney among registered women voters, though Obama's job approval rating from women has fallen from 70 percent when he took office to 49 percent, Trende said.
"Politicians don't communicate well with woman voters," said Wilson. "They focus on trigger issues, like birth control or women not being allowed into men-only clubs. We are much more complicated than that. ... They should be talking about the things (women) care about, like getting food on the table, health care and if they have children, keeping them safe."
White House press secretary Jay Carney last week told reporters that Obama believes women should be admitted to the all-male Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters tournament.
Pelted yesterday with questions about Rosen, who the Romney campaign said has visited the White House 35 times, Carney said: "I think we can all agree, Democrats and Republicans, that raising children is an extremely difficult job."
Rosen suggested Wednesday night that Ann Romney is no economic expert because she did not have to work to pay bills and should not be her millionaire husband's surrogate on women and the economy. "She's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing," Rosen said.
Her comments lit up social media sites and talk shows.
Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod tweeted that her attack was "inappropriate and offensive." First Lady Michelle Obama, a working mother of two, jumped in with this tweet: "Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected."
The Democratic National Committee's executive director, Patrick Gaspard, told MSNBC that Rosen is not a paid advisor to the DNC or the Obama campaign.
"What she said was absolutely out of bounds. Ann Romney is someone who obviously has worked hard to raise five good boys, and she's made some tough choices in her life, I'm certain," he said.
Rosen prompted Ann Romney to open a Twitter account to counter her, saying she chose to stay home and "believe me it was hard work."
"I am raising children, too," Rosen tweeted. "But most young American women HAVE to BOTH earn a living AND raise children. You know that don't u?"
Choosing to stay home rather than work outside the home while raising children isn't a partisan decision or an economic one, said Wilson. Plenty of mothers with varying incomes decide to stay home, despite potential economic hardship or career setbacks, she said.
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told the Trib in a 2010 interview that her job as a stay-at-home mom was the best education she got for her role as then-House speaker.
"Never underestimate what happens in a home," Pelosi said. "All the discipline, diplomacy, sense of organization -- I learned it all there."
Carney asked reporters to "focus on what the issue here is -- when it comes to what this administration has done for women, it begins with the president's signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act." The law, the first legislation Obama signed, was designed to make it easier for women to challenge pay inequality.
Yet, recently released financial records show the White House practices unequal pay for its female employees, said Andrew Stiles of the online newspaper Free Beacon.
Stiles cited a 2011 annual report on White House staff showing females earned a median salary of $60,000, about 18 percent less than the $71,000 median for males, though he noted that his calculations for each gender "required some assumptions to be made based on the employee names."
“though he noted that his calculations for each gender “required some assumptions to be made based on the employee names.””
I bet.
Somehow Libtards always overplay their hand...like Rosen did and screw up the liberal meme “war on women “ nonsense
And the GOP manage to fold em before the game is up...
> Catherine Wilson, a Villanova University professor
> specializing in how women affect politics
Yes, we can rest assured that such a creature is intimate with the problems of women with real families and real jobs.
/sarc
“Progrssives’” disdain (and therefore the Demorats’ disdain) for stay-at-home mothers is long standing and was only underlined by Rosen’s unpolitic, but sincere, outburst. It can not be explained away and is a boon for the GOP, not just Romney.
And far too many of the rest were girly men.
One thing has been missed in the Rosen comments. She was actually being consistent by attacking Ann Romney if you remember that the key meme is “The Romenys are rich, and you are not.” This morning I heard Obama say that we should get away from the distraction over Rosen’s unfortunate comments and focus on the real issues—like his Buffet rule.
It’s all about class envy. Hilary Rosen was being consistent and making her comments within that framework, but the smear to Ann, who raised five kids, has MS, and survived cancer wasn’t direct enough, so it caused a furor.
I teach at a university in California. The bar for ethnic/gender studies is extremely low and almost nonexistant. Many tend to be lesbians and not the hot kind. They hang together and are brutal to anyone who complains about their low standards.
There are serious femail scholars, but not in these areas of study. Ayers and his wife are examples of these fools.
And they are ALL Marxists.
President Obama told an Iowa television station that families are off limits in campaigns.
“I don’t have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates,” Obama said. “Those of us who are in the public life, we’re fair game. Our families are civilians.”
Sorry, but spouses make themselves fair game when they campaign for their husbands.
President Obama told an Iowa television station that families are off limits in campaigns.
“I don’t have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates,” Obama said. “Those of us who are in the public life, we’re fair game. Our families are civilians.”
Sorry, but spouses make themselves fair game when they campaign for their husbands.
Heck -- just go through Barack Obama's family history to see how far south of "normal" these people are. I still have no idea who all of those characters in his past (mother, father, stepfather, grandparents, Communist babysitters, etc.) are. That guy hasn't even used the same name for his entire life.
No, lady you don't HAVE to do both. You choose to do both. Also, she probably hires a tutor and nanny to watch her kids most of the time. She isn't raising them, her hired servants are.
Yes.....but we also know that Ms. Rosen doesn't represent MOST American women by virtue of having 2 children from a failed “Lesbian marriage”....nor do we know if she's the Bull or the Belle or which one is paying child support.....or have u all moved on and your children now have one big happy family with 4 Mommys?..... Care to enlighten us on that???..TYPICAL young American women have no idea how that works!
In addition to all her paid help, working Moms rely on the stay at home Moms for carpools, play dates, school trips , and after school activities working Moms can’t get to.
“I don’t have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates,” Obama said.
Especially those that spend tens of millions a year on multiple vactions per month.
Yes, we can rest assured that such a creature is intimate with the problems of women with real families and real jobs.
Of course, the one time she had to go into a WalMart, she actually waited in line with one.
I teach at a university in California. The bar for ethnic/gender studies is extremely low and almost nonexistant. Many tend to be lesbians and not the hot kind. They hang together and are brutal to anyone who complains about their low standards.
There are serious femail scholars, but not in these areas of study. Ayers and his wife are examples of these fools.
And they are ALL Marxists.
I think you have mistaken me for someone else.
:)
I’m one of the people that believes and promotes that families who have children should make whatever sacrifices are necessary to have Mama stay at home to home school the children and provide the emotional and physical support children need.
Some years ago, my conspiracist Uncle told me, “They’re getting the women for nothing.”
I asked, “How do you figure that?”
He replied, “Around 1953, the average tax burden, municipal, state, and federal, was bout 5%. Today it’s more like 40%. The average woman’s wage is about 40% of a man’s wage. The women are just making enough to pay the taxes.”
The Dems shot themselves in the foot with this one. They effectively handed Romney a huge political gift. But the Dummyrats just can’t help themselves. What Rosen, and by extension all radical feministas, was saying was that if you don’t work outside the home, you’re worthless in their Brave New World. Nice job Dummies.
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