Women Hold the Keys To Victory!

Fresh off their spirited debate the candidates took to the campaign trail and turned their attention to the latest shiny object…women.

No surprise here.  An AP poll taken prior to the debates found that 8% of all likely voters were undecided women.  Prior to his poor performance in the first debate the president held an 18 point advantage among women voters.  Polls taken after the first debate showed Romney reducing the president’s advantage to within the margin of error.  In what has become a very close election women clearly hold the keys to victory.

Frankly we find this erosion of the gender gap mystifying.  Never in our history has there been such a stark contrast between two candidates on the issues important to women.

Mitt Romney has said that on his first day in office he would repeal “Obamacare” a plan which provides women with free preventative care, removes the worry of having their coverage cancelled due to pre-existing conditions and allows their children to stay on their policy until they are 26 years old.  Mitt Romney has said repeatedly that he would overturn Roe v. Wade and that he would appoint Supreme Court justices who supported his view.  He says that he would defund Planned Parenthood, the primary provider of preventative health care for millions of women.  He supports the Blunt Amendment which gives employers and health insurance companies’ unlimited license to exclude any health service (contraceptives/abortions), no matter how essential, in the health services they cover.  His party’s platform and his running mate support a personhood amendment which would prohibit an abortion even in cases of rape, incest and danger to the health of the woman…essential making an abortion in any case a criminal offense.  His party has supported legislation that would require that women undergo humiliating trans-vaginal ultra sounds and other unnecessary medical procedures before having access to legal medical services.

These are just the social issues.  There are civil rights and equality issues that also demonstrate the stark differences between these candidates.

The first piece of legislation that the president signed upon taking office was the Lillian Ledbetter Equal Pay for Equal Work bill.  Mitt Romney has been asked several times if he supported equal pay for equal work.  It seems like a no brainer to us…but Romney has consistently avoided giving an answer.  He was asked again during the last debate.  He didn’t answer the question.  Instead he went off on some long story about looking through “binders full of women” to fill his various cabinet positions.  The problem here is that he lied…again!  Romney didn’t seek out qualified woman of his own volition.  A women’s organization sent him the “binders of qualified women” and suggested that he might consider any of the enclosed for his cabinet.  To his credit, Romney did hire several women in the binder to fill the posts.  But any suggestion that Romney recognized the need for that diversity is disingenuous.  Romney has also spoken out against any affirmative action movement to add women to the work place.  And during the debate Romney was quite pleased with himself to recount how as governor he offered flex time to his Massachusetts staff so the women could be home in time to fix dinner for their families.  Romney would reduce Pell Grants and cut education funding; areas of importance to women trying to get ahead. 

"Bindergate" has become the rage and Romney's Ward Clever view of a woman’s place in America is startling.

The president has fought for equal rights for women from both a social and civic standpoint.  He correctly notes that contraception, abortion, preventative care, equal pay, Pell Grants and education are not just women’s issues they are economic and family issues.  Because when you eliminate these programs or deny women their equal rights in the workplace you are taking money out of their pocket.  By and large women control the economy and are taking over the position as the bread winner in a majority of households.  So “women’s issues” are an integral part of our economy and our economic recovery.

Given these stark contrasts between the candidates; one has to wonder why has the president’s lead among women has eroded so badly? 

Perhaps it is because many women did not tune into the campaign until the first debate.  There they witnessed a lethargic, disengaged president who failed to even mention women’s concerns one time. More than likely it is because ahead of everything else women want a good job and the opportunity to provide a good future for their families.  The president’s support among women is eroding because he has failed to convince them that he has a plan to make that happen.

If the president wants to win this election he needs to stop talking smack “binders” and address the issues that really matter to those undecided women.