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Obama and Women Leaders Get Down to Business

While the media is focusing on the upset within women’s rights organizations because of Hillary Clinton’s loss, author Peggy Simpson reports another side of the story. In the latest WMC Exclusive, Simpson writes about the recent strategy session which included the leaders of several women’s rights organizations and  presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. She describes the meeting as somber because all parties “knew how high the stakes are, after significant erosion of women’s rights under President Bush.”  According to Simpson, Obama began the session with several concerns: how the economy is particularly affecting women; the political involvement of a new generation of women; how the next Supreme Court appointment may effect Roe v. Wade; and the reframing of ‘women’s issues’ (Equal Pay, Family Leave, Care Giving) as everyone’s issues.  The organization leaders responded to Obama with clear strategies on unifying the Democratic party after Hillary Clinton’s primary run, addressing issues such as abortion rights and Social Security and even suggesting who should be his running mate.  Simpson asked Susan Scanlon, head of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, about her thoughts on the strategy session: “People came away impressed and ready to go to work.”

Read Simpson’s piece.

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2 Comments

  1. Elizabeth Plumley
    Posted August 11, 2008 at 5:08 pm | Permalink

    Why are you guys pretending like Obama gives a crap about women’s issues. He has a nasty fundamentalist religious habit. He has already shown that he is willing to steal elections and cut the democratic party in two. This article is embarrassing. One woman had the balls to say “Oh please sir, can’t we have a little vp representation so we can at least hope for eight more years” and he doesn’t even deign to answer and you think this is a productive meeting. They didn’t let Florida vote!!!! That effects women, men, and children. Why don’t you other “Americans” care. I will start worrying about the other issues you think I should focus on after we get the whole suffrage thing worked out. Still uncounted and uncared for by the DNC, the Democrats, the Obamanuts, and now the WMC. Thanks, perhaps you should stop focusing on getting people to like you and tell the truth. It sounds to me from your article that the real problem is American Women have no leaders, feminists or otherwise. You talk like ladies who do lunch. “We are ready to get down to work,” both candidates are fascists and fundamentalists. It is in their religion to keep us down. If he had any interest in his smarmy head of helping women, Hillary would already be the vice president on his ticket. You are being used. Cheaply used at that. Hey, Bernie Mac is dead. At least the Goddess still loves us, unlike our “feminist leaders.”

  2. Dulcy Simmons
    Posted August 14, 2008 at 8:55 pm | Permalink

    Yes to Elizabeth, and thanks to her for saying it better than I could. I just want you to know you’ve lost me. I’ve given a lot of $ to women’s issues and programs over the years I’ll be saving a lot of $ now; no more $ to Emily’s list, Ms, NARAL. Planned Parenthood or any of my elected women Reps and Sens who couldn’t endorse Obama quickly enough, all of whom took $ from him.
    You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Obama is thoroughly unvetted – only today I came across a piece where one of his minions said, “When we privatize Social Security…” What has this fool done for women? He has set back racial issues for decades. Now I see, to my sorrow, he has also set back women’s issues for decades. Go on without me. But you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

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