Noticing the Gap

How would you feel if you had to ask 269 million people for the right to marry?

Most of the time I hear Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice, I change the station. It irks me how he always seems to be joking about things I do not find funny. It’s a trait George W. possessed as well. I think it betrays their inability to discuss the situation at hand intelligently, like the class clown who acted out because he couldn’t read.

Californians are suffering. The budget has been hung up for months, over what increasingly looks like Republicans’ failed ideological stance against raising taxes. They even ousted their leader last night, during their budget nightmare sleepover that failed to reach an agreement. Due to the lack of one Republican vote, 20,000 people are getting pink slips in our state. Those are real people who probably would have chosen to pay a few more cents on the dollar in taxes to losing their jobs and their abilities to support their families.

Courtney Martin, of the Women’s Media Center and Feministing, took on Bill O’Reilly yesterday. In his segment, he defended his comments against journalist Helen Thomas, but quickly got off topic. O’Reilly accused women’s groups of staying silent on the issue of sexism against Sarah Palin, arguing they were hypocrites for only recognizing sexism against women whose politics they agree with.

Now, if Mr. O’Reilly had taken just 10 seconds to google his guest Courtney Martin, he would have found that not only has she spoken out against the sexism Sarah Palin faced, she even called out Bill-O himself for sexist comments regarding Ms. Palin.

Shakesville has a list of over 25 examples of Sarah Palin sexism. The Women’s Media Center also ran pieces covering sexism against Sarah Palin, including this one from Campbell Brown on CNN.

O’Reilly says that if Martin in fact did speak out against the sexism that Sarah Palin faced, he would apologize. We won’t hold our feminist breath. But seriously, do some research on your guests. What you’re doing is not journalism.

Why is it that when it’s time to find places to tighten our belts, the first programs to go are those that benefit women and children? Who decided that education, health care and the Violence Against Women Act were pork? ThinkProgress notes that the proposed cuts to make the bill more “stimulative” (which of course leave tax cuts untouched, contrary to Economics 101), disproportionately affect women and children.

These cuts would include:

$150 million cut to the Violence Against Women Act

$50 million to the Victims of Crime Act

$25 million to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces

$1.1 billion to Head Start

$50 million to Teacher Quality Partnership Grants

$5.2 billion for Prevention And Wellness (including diabetes screening and HIV testing)

$13.9 billion for Pell Grants

$2 billion for Child Care Development Block Grants (ThinkProgress)

Basically, the conservatives have decided that anything that isn’t tax cuts is “pork.” So, like President Obama, when you hear their criticisms just ask yourself, “Are these folks serious?” What I want to know is, how are they planning to face their constituents after voting against programs like Headstart and Pell Grants in these tough times?

This morning we get news of yet another administration official with tax problems.

Nancy Killefer, appointed by the president last month to a new position to scrutinize government spending, told the administration on Monday that she intended to step down from the position at the Office of Management and Budget. An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not finalized, confirmed that Ms. Killefer’s withdrawal came because of questions with her taxes. (NYTimes)

The arguments will be that if we are to restore people’s confidence in government, there cannot be any question about the integrity of these appointed officials. Unless, of course you’re Tom Daschle, or Tim Geitner, or…

It’s not clear if Killefer’s issues are significant in a vacuum or whether she’s a victim of the “Rule of Three” — i.e., being lumped in with Geithner and Daschle. Then again, Killefer was involved with the IRS in a significant way, so there may be a zero tolerance on the tax front for her, specifically.  (MSNBC)

Of course, only one of the three is withdrawing.  Yesterday, administration big wigs, including President Obama and Senator Edward Kennedy, rushed to Daschle’s defense. It’s difficult not to notice that the men are surviving while the woman pays the price.

Now, with Geithner having survived what was largely a party-line confirmation vote and Daschle battling to keep his nomination alive, White House officials seemed to have decided that they could not have a third prominent official in the administration who failed to pay taxes.

Daschle admitted failing to pay $100,000 in back taxes on a free limo service provided by a Democratic donor. Geithner also paid $42,000 in back taxes and penalties.

“She has nanny tax problems that may not have been insurmountable on their own, but given the Geithner and Daschle cumulative effect, she had to withdraw” said a Senate source informed of the withdrawal. (Politico)

Nanny problems…why does that sound familiar? Oh, that’s right. Caroline Kennedy recently withdrew from consideration over a similar issue. Now, I’m not making excuses for their dishonesty. What I am doing is noticing that these indiscretions seem to have a much great impact on the women involved than they do on the men. The reaction of the public, the administration, and the press is also disproportionate.

Is it any wonder that young girls already recognize that women in politics have to work harder to gain positions of leadership?

Political strategist Donna Brazile noted the contrast between the excitement surrounding Obama’s inauguration this week and the general public attitude toward women in office, one that she said helped drive Kennedy out of the running.

“Obama inspired us to turn the page, and now women seem stuck in the table of contents,” she said.

Noting that women still make up less than 20 percent of both houses of Congress, Brazile said: “The elevator to our future growth in the Congress is still stuck in the lobby. It’s time we hurry history.”(WaPo)