Talks, but not the female wage walk

For the last couple of months, I have not been watching all that much TV. Oh, sure, been on the couch to be next to TMEW, but the ocular nerves have been focused on this monitor instead of the big monitor. Well, tonight, consider it swapped. So I got to watch one of Obama’s new (at least to me) commercials where he’s saying that he is committed to equal wages for equal work between the sexes, and like with his other statement ("I don’t want my daughters punished…."), he closes that he wants his daughters to be paid fairly.

I’m betting the ladies that work in his offices are just a tad steamed (and with good reason). Once again (as with Al Gore shoving the environmental crap around and it turns out that his house is an energy hog and President Bush’s Texas house really is a shining example of "living lightly on the land"), yet another Democrat is trying to have it both ways against his opponent; in this case, Obama and John McCain:

How Team Obama Pays Women
Pay equity for thee, but not for me.

By Deroy Murdock

‘Now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work,” Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said August 28 in his convention acceptance speech. He told the crowd in Denver: “I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.”

Obama’s campaign website is even more specific. Under the heading “Fighting for Pay Equity,” the women’s issues page laments that, “Despite decades of progress, women still make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. A recent study estimates it will take another 47 years for women to close the wage gap with men at Fortune 500 corporate offices. Barack Obama believes the government needs to take steps to better enforce the Equal Pay Act…”

Hubris – I like that word. Especially when you KNOW what is going to happen next!

Obama’s commitment to federally mandated pay equity stretches from the Rockies to Wall Street and beyond. And yet it seems to have eluded his United States Senate office. Compensation figures for his legislative staff reveal that Obama pays women just 83 cents for every dollar his men make.

A watchdog group called LegiStorm posts online the salaries for Capitol Hill staffers…

…Based on these calculations, Obama’s 28 male staffers divided among themselves total payroll expenditures of $1,523,120. Thus, Obama’s average male employee earned $54,397. Obama’s 30 female employees split $1,354,580 among themselves, or $45,152, on average.

Why this disparity? One reason may be the underrepresentation of women among Obama’s highest-compensated employees. Of Obama’s five best-paid advisors, only one was a woman. Among his top 20, seven were women.

On average, Obama’s female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama’s campaign website condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1. In spite of this 17-cent gap between Obama’s rhetoric and reality, he chose to chide GOP presidential contender John McCain on this issue.

When Alaska governor Sarah Palin was named the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Obama told voters in Toledo, Ohio, on August 31 that “she’s opposed — like John McCain is — to equal pay for equal work. That doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Yeah, looks like Obama isn’t making sense to Obama, either. Oops, BIG MISTAKE! Like I said above, he’s got enough staff – time to hire a Truth Squad for him and his campaign staff to self-check. Talk about wheels coming off – you just cannot keep doing stupid stuff like this and expect to win. Sure, the MSM may help, but now the ‘Net will not give any slack…

McCain’s 17 male staffers split $916,914, thus averaging $53,936. His 25 female employees divided $1,396,958 and averaged $55,878…In short, these statistics suggest that John McCain is more than fair with his female employees, while Barack Obama — at the expense of the women who work for him — quietly perpetuates the very same pay-equity divide that he loudly denounces. Of all people, the Democratic standard bearer should understand that equal pay begins at home.

Once again we see Obama and / or his staff not bothering to play chess – if you are going to play a move, make sure that you know what your next one is as well as protecting your backside! Talking about how you want things for your kids and not treating your staff opposite that way is way uncool. And frankly, pontificating your view on this and it turns out that your opponent, who has quietly implemented in his office that policy, has once again beaten you to it, is plain stupid.

Look, there are a lot of studies on this issue and a lot of the time, it has shown that women tend to pick different industries and different positions with varying levels of stress and work time. One cannot dismiss, either, time off for child bearing and rearing (and yes, TMEW and I spent a lot of time on this as our kids were young). But in this case? All being political staffers and operatives? Not a lot of wiggle room there, Barry!

After all, it allows me, an ordinary schlub in central NH, to say "Er, wheels stuck in a rut there, dude? Are you even TRYING to do your homework? Can’t any of your vaunted 2,000 member staff do a bit of fact checking first?"

Naw, didn’t think so….

(H/T: NRO)