Binders and blinders

Twitter exploded Tuesday night — and the airwaves were filled yesterday – with commentary about Gov. Romney’s “binder” comment, in reference to bringing more qualified women onto his gubernatorial staff. Certainly this is the latest distraction by the Obama campaign, which is desperately trying to hold onto the War on Women narrative, despite its ineffectiveness.
 
The 1950s-style image of Romney is not only disingenuous, but it also misses the far more offensive comment made during the debate (and now being repeated ad nauseam on the campaign trail) by President Obama: “I’ve got two daughters and I want to make sure that they have the same opportunities that anybody’s sons have.”
 
Really? Is America so unfair to girls? Are schools and the workplace truly hostile to women? What a hideous view of American society. about Gov. Romney’s “binder” comment, in reference to bringing more qualified women onto his gubernatorial staff. Certainly this is the latest distraction by the Obama campaign, which is desperately trying to hold onto the War on Women narrative, despite its ineffectiveness.
 
Sadly, though, the president’s attitude is nothing new. In fact, as Carrie Lukas and I write in our new book Liberty is No War on Women, in December 2010, Obama remarked, “I didn’t run for president so that the dreams of our daughters could be deterred or denied. I didn’t run for president to see injustice and inequality persist in our time. I ran for president to put the same rights, the same dreams and the same opportunities within the reach for our daughters and our sons alike.”
 
Despite the fact that we live in a country where women and girls truly have an unprecedented opportunity to learn, to work, and to succeed the president consistently paints an image of society as antagonistic to women. (And it’s equally offensive when considered against the backdrop of the story of the Pakistani girl Moulala Yousafzai, whom the Taliban shot for advocating on behalf of literacy and education for women.)
 
How sad. Our own president, whose privileged daughters attend an elite private school in Washington, doesn’t think that girls have the same opportunities that boys do.
 
So today, it’s still all about binders and blinders.