It's Not Just Women's Work
It's been a busy day at the White House. In addition to signing the omnibus bill and giving into the earmark-obsessives (more on that later), Obama announced several new nominations and established a new White House office. Among the nominees is Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, who will head up the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The new drug czar's confirmation can't come quickly enough, with every day bringing horrific news from the drug war in Mexico. (Today's ghastly headline: five severed heads found packaged in coolers with notes warning the killers' drug rivals.)
As for the new White House office, Obama signed an executive order this afternoon that creates a White House Council on Women and Girls headed up by Valerie Jarrett. A similar office was established near the end of Bill Clinton's first term, called the Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach. We're still getting a sense of how the new Council will function inside the administration. But women's advocates are hoping it will have a broader mandate and more heft than the Clinton version, which served mostly as a liaison for women's groups who wanted to be heard within the White House and was seen by some critics as a way for the administration to "ghettoize" women's issues.
There's also, of course, the whole problem of even calling things like equal pay, maternity/paternity leave, child care, and public health "women's issues." Lisa Belkin has a smart discussion of why some of the items on the Council's agenda won't get far until they're redefined simply as universal issues.
Obama may have inadvertently gotten the Council off on the wrong foot with an offhand joke he made at the signing ceremony. The initial members of the Council include all the Cabinet secretaries and heads of Cabinet-level agencies, all of whom were invited to the event. "We have many of those Cabinet members here," noted Obama during his remarks. "Some of the men showed up--we put them in the second row."
Hardy-har. I know it's just a joke, but come on. Are we seriously still acting like what happens to half the population is incidental to men? That it's just nice of them to bother to show up? Put them in the front row. Give them something to do. Because as long as it's optional for men to care about addressing child care policy and workplace issues, the political agenda will reflect that.
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1
Only 40% of your post (2 of 5 paragraphs) on BHO's joke? You can do better!
Ironic considering your point, I think, is that these issues should be taken seriously. -
2
KT on health care and JK vs. the ADL.
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On what other issues can we commend the gang of 5 to the right? Honestly, are there other redeemable qualities about their collective efforts here? Someone help me out.
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Cuz a couple of analogies spring to mind:
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1. The positive spin--Going to a party hosted by folks you loathe b/c some of your fellow guests are interesting.
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2. The negative--scientists going to a Kansas church (or the board of education) and attempting to convince them of evolution. Or visiting George Will to open up a can of global warming woop-a@s. In other words, attempting to violently reshape interpretations of reality so utterly alternative to our own. -
3
This is just sad. Really, really lame.
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Seems to me the joke about putting the men in the second row is not about diminishing the subject matter it was about telling men that they are taking a back seat to women. Of course if you say that putting women first is insensitive even in a tongue and cheek sort of way then perhaps he should have avoided having a women's council altogether since in reality every issue concerns women.
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5
Dee et all
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Its really no use typing messsages to Amy Sullivan. She has shown herself to be a dumb ass and nothing is going to change that. Hell even Scherer will find SOMEBODY'S post to respond to. But she wont' even do that. Thats what you call hopeless and some how I think she will be joining AMC very soon. Even Time can't keep a person that lame around for long. Especially when they claim to be a liberal. -
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"Valerie Jarrett"
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Where have we heard THAT name before?
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"Some of the men showed up--we put them in the second row."
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Along with the white people and armed forces.
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8
Jarrett's first job will be to hose out the Presidential douche bag.
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9
To hell with that, here's some REAL news:
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"Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol has split with Levi Johnston, the father of her child."
...If young Levi has any sense at all, he'd best head back to Kenya, er, Ketchfishuhwallawalla or wherever the hell he came from, before the PBS shock troops get their hooks into him.
Damn worthless runaway father.
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10
LOL
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We're still getting a sense of how the new Council will function inside the administration.
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Amy Sullivan:
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You mean to say:
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"I have no idea what this Council thing is going to do at all, so I'll repeat a well-worn slogan about the importance of women's issues without coming up with any other way to describe them, and then I'll repeat some insider-y gossip about a thoroughly non-controversial remark at a purely ceremonial White House public relations event, and then be mock-insulted for controversy's sake in order to fill another paragraph."
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Have I got that right, Amy Sullivan?
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Is the bottom line that you have no facts or information about what the "White House Council on Women and Girls" is going to do about anything whatsoever, and that you couldn't be bothered to find out --but you wrote a post about it anyway? -
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"Are we seriously still acting like what happens to half the population is incidental to men?"
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Seems to me you were witnessing a man who thought what happened to that half of the population was anything but incidental, mildly chastising those for whom it may be. There are still both kinds you know. -
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My ovodar is apparently not working, as I do not get the point of this post at all.
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"in addition to signing the omnibus bill and giving into the earmark-obsessives (more on that later),"
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I just watched BHO say he opposes banning earmarks because they can serve a purpose in delivering important programs and jobs to constituents but he recognizes that there are wasteful ones that will be eliminated.
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Is that what you meant? -
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"My ovodar"
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THAT is funny. -
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To hell with that, here's some REAL news: Meghan McCain hates Vonda.
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more on that later
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No thanks! -
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ALSO COMING SOON FROM A WHITE HOUSE SOUSE NEAR YOUSEF
................................................
+ Presidential Council On One-Legged Hispanic Lesbian Labor Relations Lemming Leaders
+ Undersecretary Of State For Former Clinton Underwear
+ Ambassador To All The Old Soviet Satellites Obama's Screwed Over Since January 20th 2009
+ Select Envoy To Sarah Palin's Pregnant Kid's Ex-Boyfriend Levi What's His Face
+ Joint Chiefs Of Native American Marijuana
+ A Gay Guy We Send To Greece
+ Special Vapid Prosecutor On PayPal Gaza
+ Inter-agency Task Force On ACORN Beer & Ballot Bashes
+ Wall Street Cheerleader Of The Week
+ Mother-In-Law Removal Secret Service
+ Swing Set Shiners Symposium
+ Blog For The Instant Virtual Resurrection Of The 25 Million Jobs My Doofus Union Card Check Scheme Will Kill
+ Toys-R-Us
+ Buffalo New York Soldiers Boozing With Terrell Owens Before The Bears Game
+ Amnesian Network Ted Kennedy Award For Sordid SCUBA Schools
+ The Nightly News Flower With Jihad Joe Klein
+ Committee To Re-Anoint The Once
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Yeah, Amy, that would have been great – "The White House Council on Women and Girls will be headed by David Axelrod."
The "second row" joke was much better if you grasp the concept of irony. Anyone who would write "Hardy-har," on the other hand…
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Joyo - my ovodar (coin that!) is working fine and all I can say is WTF? This could have been a really good post on President Obama initiating a new task force for women, but for some reason Amy Sullivan chose to mock it by pointing out what seems to me like a lighthearted, ice breaker comment by Obama. Why not give us the mission of the council and a few items they hope to accomplish AS, rather than just giving voice to Clinton's critics and polarizing Obama's comment?
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dune ~ Having an actual discussion about the obstacles facing women and girls in the 21st century? Sounds lovely. We could just ignore Amy and do it anyway!
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So here is the White House press release on the Council on Women and Girls. I'll duplicate Amy's link to the Clinton Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach for comparison, as they evidently don't have quite the same functions, in addition to a new structure. (Can't do the same for Bush, since he abolished the White House Women's Office...)
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At least those will give us some food for thought and discussion. My initial reaction is that the structure may be more notable than its mission. -
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joyo - Yes! I feel like we are making progress in so many ways, but at the same time regressing. The current state of the economy is eliminating options for women to be at home, and it sure seems like young girls have more negative influences to avoid than they did a decade or two ago. I'm sure Clinton and Obama's wives & daughters were/are a constant reminder that these issues are high priority. Which leads me to wonder why Bush abolished the Women's office (?) Interesting, I just realized all three prez's were/are the only man of the house.
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Obama - The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families
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Clinton - The office serves as a liaison between the White House and women's organizations, listening to women's concerns and proposals and bringing these ideas to the President and others in the Administration.
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Politically, I think both were trying to serve an important constituency. I am intrigued by the new council, which seems to be much more policy oriented and less of a liaison. There is no question that there are some issues that -- while not 100% women's issues -- still affect women and girls far more than they do men. Just as medical researchers had to re-think their assumption that studies of only men could not be generalized to women, policy-makers should make sure they are not operating from a perspective that assumes that women and men will benefit from a policy equally.
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For what it's worth, I look forward to the day when we recognize that gender is an important lens through which to view policy. There are men's and boys' issues, as well. -
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"The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families..."
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This then will prove to be Obama's most popular decision to date (if you're Vlad Putin or the Taliban).
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25
Funny you should mention the Taliban in this context;it almost makes your comment relevant.
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