Yesterday, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards hosted First Lady Michelle Obama in a public conference call to talk about “what’s on the line” for women this upcoming election.
“The First Lady knows that protecting women’s access to basic healthcare is essential,” read an email the day before, advertising the call to supporters.
Yet during the conference, hardly a word was said about healthcare. Instead, what was said was nothing short of a 30-minute President Obama lovefest.
Richards said that the abortion business’ endorsement of President Obama is “historic.” The organization has endorsed only three presidential candidates in its nearly 100-year history.
Richards praised Obama for his commitment to women, contrasting him to Romney, who is “unsure” about equal pay for women.
Then Richards introduced Mrs. Obama. What followed was a 13-minute regurgitation of Obama campaign talking points on issues ranging from education to the economy, and from middle class stability to retirement, giving women’s healthcare only a cursory mention.
“Barack understands that issues like equal pay and healthcare aren’t just women’s issues. They’re family issues. They’re basic economic issues…When a woman has to pay more for her healthcare or isn’t getting paid what she deserves…that affects our entire economy. And all of that is at stake this election,” said the First Lady.
President Obama has unsuccessfully tried to reach out to women in the past, offending them with what feminists have rightly called a paternalistic attitude. (Just read the campaign’s “The Life of Julia” infograph and you’ll know what they mean.)
Obama desperately wants and needs women’s votes to shore up his base; Planned Parenthood desperately wants Obama – our most pro-abortion president to date – to be reelected so that he can help protect and expand their abortion business.
So the two have apparently formed a pact. Planned Parenthood will be an extension of the Obama campaign, expanding the so-called Republican War on Women to reflect on every facet of life (even retirement!). Meanwhile, Obama will continue to be Planned Parenthood’s hitman, knocking off anybody who threatens its funding, like when he cut off a portion of Medicaid funding to Texas because Texans banned abortion committers from participation in a government health program.
Richards ended the phone call by urging women to tell their girlfriends about Obama.
“You’re going to run across many women at the grocery story, at the hair salon, at your school, and I think it’s so important to ask them if they’re registered to vote, and to give them a few of the simple facts that the First Lady gave you today,” said Richards.
