Both Presidential Candidates Want You to Know they Love You Very, Very Much

Some sunny side up Suzies might claim that all this political negativity is getting them down, but I love this part of the election cycle, the part where both major parties pretend that if they’re elected, the needs of women will be their #1 highest priority. This week, the courtship of the American lady voter kicked into high gear, a gear one gear higher than the high gear into which it seemed like it was already kicked, like, six months ago. And both Romney and Obama are claiming that voting for the other guy is sort of like voting to light your ovaries on fire. Who to trust?

In the last two weeks, we’ve seen a smattering (a group of ads is called a “smattering,” like how a group of lions is called a “pride” or a group of crows is called a “murder”) of ads from both major political parties, each claiming the other is out to get women. The Obama campaign pointed out that Romney has vowed to “get rid of” federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which means he’s not really in touch with poor women who rely on the family planning organization for birth control, cancer screenings, and other sexual health needs. They even released the included video of actress/girlcrush Elizabeth Banks talking about how Romney’s stance on women’s health would harm people like her. Romney’s ad claims Obama is bad for women because the Affordable Care Act is akin to a “War on Religion,” and women should be very concerned about this because if there’s anything that has really stuck up for women throughout history, it’s been organized religion.

According to ABC, the day before the Romney campaign released this new ad about how the Affordable Care Act threatens religious freedom, the GOP nominee’s camp criticized the President for continually bringing up women’s health as a way to distract from the economy’s sluggish recovery.

“Hundreds of thousands of women have lost their jobs, poverty among women is highest in nearly two decades, and half of recent graduates can’t find a good job,” Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said. “Middle-class families have struggled in the Obama economy, and Mitt Romney has a plan to strengthen the middle class and get our country back on the right track.”

Much of the downward drag on jobs numbers can be attributed to the Republican-championed cutting of public sector jobs like teachers and social workers, jobs predominately held by women.
Barack Obama’s not talking enough about the economy! Hey, let’s talk about religion!

Earlier this year, The Daily Show pegged this bickering “The Battle for the War on Women,” and the description is still apt. But after the politicians have gotten what they’ve wanted, after we’ve put out for either the Democrats or Republicans (hahahahahahahaha) will the relentless catering to what women want last much beyond the first Tuesday in November. Will Romney still love me tomorrow?!

[ABC]