Obama: Mitt Romney 'backward' on women
By JENNIFER EPSTEIN | 4/27/12 6:39 PM EDT
President Barack Obama told a group of women on Friday that he has been their fiercest advocate and warned that Mitt Romney’s positions on women’s issues represent a step back in time.
“The choice between going backward or moving forward has never been so clear,” Obama told several hundred women at the National Issues Conference, a big-ticket annual fundraiser that’s been hosted by the Democratic National Committee for nearly two decades.
“And as long as I’m president, we are going to keep moving forward. You can count on that. You don’t have to take my word on it – you’ve got my signature on it,” he said, referring to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, before adding a jab at the Romney campaign, which expressed uncertainty recently about whether the candidate supported the law. “Because something like standing up for the principle of equal pay for equal work isn’t something I’ve got to ‘get back to you on’ – it’s the first law I signed.”
The White House and the Obama campaign have been reaching out to women on issues big and small to draw a contrast with Romney and Republicans. But the president included not just his prospective opponent in his criticism Friday, also singling out Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.), a high-profile Romney surrogate and possible vice presidential pick, and swing state Gov. Tom Corbett (R-Pa.).
“We’ve got governors and legislatures across the river in Virginia, up the road in Pennsylvania, all across the country saying that women can’t be trusted to make your own decisions,” Obama said. “They’re pushing and passing bills forcing women to get ultrasounds, even if they don’t want one.”
“If you don’t like it, the governor of Pennsylvania said you can ‘close your eyes,’” the president continued to some incredulous laughs. “It’s appalling. It’s offensive, it’s out of touch.”
The fight over contraception earlier this year was “illuminating” for Obama’s understanding of Republicans’ views of women. “It was like being in a time machine” back to the 1950
1950s or perhaps even earlier, he said.
So far, Obama’s message is leading with female voters. A Quinnipiac poll released last week had Obama leading Mitt Romney 49 percent to 39 percent, and other surveys have shown the president with similar leads over the Republican.
Romney’s campaign said that Obama used his speech “to offer the same empty rhetoric and broken promises” to women that he laid out in 2008.
“After more than three years of the President’s failed economic policies and nearly a million more unemployed women workers, women voters – like all Americans – realize we can’t afford four more years of President Obama,” campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said in a statement.
Tickets for the two-day conference started at $250 for Gen44 and $1000 for general admission, and up to contributing $75,800 or raising at least $100,000. After the speech, Obama was headed to a related fundraiser at the Washington home of Debra Lee, the CEO of BET. Tickets for the 40-person dinner were $40,000, benefiting the Obama Victory Fund and state committees.
But, though the Obama campaign has been accused of treating women as a special interest group, the president insisted he isn’t.
“Women are not an interest group. Women shouldn’t be treated this way,” he told the cheering crowd.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75701.html#ixzz1tKqVzo00
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