Looks like the Democratic meme about a GOP "war on women" just blew up in their faces.
Two days after frequent White House visitor and Democratic strategist Hillary Rosen offended every stay at home mother in America by claiming they don't work, the twitterverse and other social media sites are still going strong with criticism, despite Rosen's attempts to claim she really didn't say what she said:
"Let's put the faux "war against stay at home moms" to rest once and for all. As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is. As a pundit, I know my words on CNN last night were poorly chosen. In response to Mitt Romney on the campaign trail referring to his wife as a better person to answer questions about women than he is, I was discussing his lack of a record on the plight of women's financial struggles. Here is my more fulsome view of the issues. As a partner in a firm full of women who work outside of the home as well as stay at home mothers, all with plenty of children, gender equality is not a talking point for me. It is an issue I live every day. I apologize to Ann Romney and anyone else who was offended. Let's declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance."
A firm full of "stay at home mothers?" How can they be housewives and be working at her firm at the same time? Perhaps Rosen has no clue what the definition of a "stay at home mom" actually is.
Nice try, Ms. Rosen. Your contempt for mothers who choose to stay home and raise their kids rather than take a job is still on display. And if it is a "gender equality" issue, your blindness about how many women - especially conservative women - choose to define that issue differently than you only shows you to be a closed minded, arrogant elitist.
Most Democratic leaders - including the president of the United States - rushed to Ann Romney's defense. But it is too late for Obama to distance himself from Rosen. The Democratic party and the Obama campaign has been claiming for weeks about the GOP "war on women." Well, here's what they really think of those women who disagree with them about what issues are most important. There are a lot of women who work part time, or even full time, who would like nothing better than to be a stay at home mom, but are unable to do so because of the president's mismanagement of the economy.
Rosen's comments, and the president's war on women theme, have now handed the Republicans a potentially significant issue for the fall campaign; women don't care much about contraception; they care far more about bread and butter economic issues. The damage done by Rosen's remarks means the conversation will return to economics and the impact of Obama's failed policies on women.
Jennifer Rubin:
It is political karma when a substance-less campaign hinging largely on over-the-top negativity has gambits boomerang. It gives one hope that in the rigors of a campaign, at least some of the nonsense is teased out of the debate. You might excuse the GOP for being a wee bit gleeful. ("'Talk about overplaying their hand,' RNC deputy communications director Tim Miller told POLITICO. 'Given the economic numbers showing the Obama economy disproportionately impacts women and a top Democrat attacking stay-at-home moms, it's clear that the President has the woman problem.'")
And now what is Obama going to talk about? It's quite possible that by election day Obamacare is invalidated in whole or in part, unemployment is still around 8 percent, no tax reform plan has passed and we have made no significant progress on the debt. Add to that the potential for Obama's overly negative strategy to galvanize Republicans and turn off moderates. Is that a winning hand for Obama?
I've said before that if the conversation on election day is about contraception, abortion, or GOP "extremists," Obama wins.
But if the conversation is about the economy, Obama loses - and may lose big. Rosen's remarks have turned the conversation away from Obama's distractions and squarely back in the economic sphere.
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