Dear Mr. President:
I just watched your appearance on “The View.” I had never watched the show before; I’d only seen clips on YouTube of Whoopi Goldberg saying what Roman Polanski did wasn’t “rape rape” and then defending Mel Gibson, because after all what he’s accused of doing isn’t really “abuse abuse.”
The show wasn’t bad and I appreciate the accessibility you offer the media. But Mr. President, here’s the thing: just because I am a woman, just because I am a mom, even though I voted for you and am happy to have you in the White House, you will not win me over by going on daytime television. You could appear on “Real Housewives of New York” or guest star on “Glee” and I wouldn’t care. No, Mr. President – this woman – this American, voting, blogging, mother wants to hear more than standard sound bites interspersed with tales of your family vacation and thoughts on Lindsey Lohan and Justin Bieber spouted from a studio sofa.
If you are trying to appeal to women, than why not address questions about women’s issue? Questions like:
When will we see some progress with the Fair Pay Act? The Lilly Ledbetter Act was a great start but there’s much more work to be done and the wage gap is not closing.
What is the Administration doing to support working families? Where are we with affordable childcare and paid sick leave?
Why haven’t we signed The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)? To date, 186 of 193 countries have ratified the treaty. The United States has not.
What more can be done to protect women in the Armed Forces from rape and harassment?
Why are our maternal mortality rates so high?
What is happening to our reproductive rights and what are you doing to protect them?
And Mr. President, I don’t care how you deliver the substance. A boring press conference is fine with me. But if you want women to support you, then show us your support of women.
Sincerely,
Hello Ladies
If the administration thinks winning over women is that simple, then that’s insulting.
It’s frustrating Zoe. All we heard were the same old mainstream soundbites mixed with fluff.
Shannon, thanks for stopping by and commenting. Cool site by the way. Readers, check out http://www.theradicalhousewife.com.
Why did he bother with the View? Please. All the cool kids go on ELLEN!
In all seriousness, a great post.
Oooph. Tell it.
I don’t understand why it’s important to go on The View, but not important enough to talk about anything that matters. I’d say this is another #LeadershipFail, and I am more and more disappointed.
cv
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ShelbyKnox, TheWomen'sFoundation, Quisp, Kate Rohdenburg, Mariah_Craven and others. Mariah_Craven said: RT @ShelbyKnox: READ THIS! RT @Hello_Ladies @barackobama @whitehouse The View appearance was nice but… http://goo.gl/fb/XsDlA #fem2 [...]
Finance, wars, health insurance, jobs, oil spill, a pandemic, Lindsay Lohan, Snookie, iphones; the president discusses them all on the View. Not a word about EQUALITY. not one word. not for women, not for LGBTQI, not for military, not for immigrants, not for all of us as no one is equal until everyone is equal.