THE DAILY BLADE: Obama’s Glad-Handing Gesture To Women
With the stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama created the White House Council on Women and Girls to celebrate celebration of National Women's History month:
The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families. …
"The purpose of this Council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy," said President Obama. …
The White House Council on Women and Girls will ensure that agencies across the federal government, not just a few offices, take into account the particular needs and concerns of women and girls. The Council will begin its work by asking each agency to analyze their current status and ensure that they are focused internally and externally on women. …
The White House Council on Women and Girls will meet regularly, and will serve as a forum for all involved agencies to focus on women. [Emphasis throughout, The Stiletto.]
So after the departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Labor and other cabinet and cabinet-level agencies consider, analyze and take into account how their policies affect women what will happen if one or more of their public policies do not treat American women and girls fairly? Does the Council have the authority to change the policies? Obama isn’t too good with details, as evidenced by his other Executive Orders (what do we do with those “terrorists to the bone” housed in Gitmo after shutting it down?) so the statement doesn’t define the powers of the Council.
But based on the description of its mandate - “to enhance, support and coordinate the efforts of existing programs for women and girls … [and] work as a resource for each agency and the White House” [emphasis, The Stiletto] – it’s clear that the Council is not the boss of anyone. It’s support staff.
Here’s Washington Post political analyst Chris Cillizza’s take on the Council:
In 2008, 53 percent of the electorate was female and Obama carried that group 56 percent to 44 percent over Arizona Sen. John McCain. …
Obama and his team know that if he can maintain his 2008 margin among women in his reelection race in three years time, he will be sitting pretty. Expect then more symbolic moves like the establishment of the Council to demonstrate Obama's commitment to women and women's issues.
Obama will have to do more to demonstrate his commitment to women’s issue than symbolic moves. This empty gesture is a cynical sop to women - not change we can believe in.
Editorial Note: Check out this photo at a State Department press conference to bestow Women of Courage Awards to those who championed women's rights around the world. Hillary Clinton is literally standing in Michelle Obama’s shadow:
Romney: The Sequel
The Boston Globe is setting former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) up as “the only adult left standing among the 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls”:
For a while, it looked like Mitt Romney would become more a figure of ridicule than promise. Stiff, square, and allegedly two-faced, the former
It's early, of course - ridiculously early - for anyone except potential candidates to be thinking about the next presidential race. But there's been plenty of positioning going on in the now-leaderless GOP, including a head-scratching debut by one promising contender, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, and a parade of speeches by some others at the Conservative Political Action Conference late last month.
And while much of the CPAC spotlight went to someone who isn't a candidate for president - radio personality Rush Limbaugh, who came off as either boorish or straight-talking, depending on your political temperature - it was Romney who walked away with the best reviews and victory in the convention's presidential straw poll.
On one level, this isn't surprising. Romney has aced the CPAC convention in past years, and always has made a special effort to woo conservatives to compensate for his moderate
Editorial Note: Not to worry, Romney will remain a punchline (third item) on this blog.
Za Zdorovi’e!*
With so many brands vying for “share of shot glass,” a new vodka faces stiff competition. Marketers must rely on a differentiator or gimmick - being a woman-owned (Stiletto), organic (Tru) or spiked with taurine (V2) - to pique a consumer’s interest enough to try the product. In Russia, where people take their vodka seriously, one local brand has particular allure: Putinka. Named after former president Vladimir Putin, Putinka has become the second-best-selling vodka in just six years, reports The Wall Street Journal, in part because it “piggybacked on the cult-like popularity” of Putin. A multimillion dollar ad campaign hasn’t hurt, either.
In contrast, Medvedeff vodka - named after Putin’s successor President Dmitry Medvedev - has not cracked the top-20 since its December rollout, and its weak showing against Putinka appears to be a sort of political tracking poll, suggests The Journal:
The disparity reflects
"It has no chances," says Alexander Yeremenko, managing director of branding consultant BrandLab. He says the fact that Mr. Medvedev's authority is so tentative means drinkers won't embrace the drink in the same way as they have Putinka. …
Stanislav Kaufman, who the man who dreamt up Putinka, says he can't take Medvedeff seriously. "Mr. Medvedev is not a vodka personality," he says. "Mr. Putin is."
Mr. Kaufman says Mr. Putin's background as a spy is a good match for a drink that is at least 40% alcohol. Mr. Medvedev, a former corporate lawyer who has touted himself as a liberal modernizer, just doesn't have the right image, he adds. Brand gurus say the Medvedeff brand is also slightly confusing because it evokes images of bears - medvedi in Russian - as well as the president.
* A Russian toast – equivalent to “à votre santé” (to your health) – but offered specifically before drinking vodka.
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