Forget Sarah Palin… The opponent is John McCain and his stance on the issues represents more of the same, not change. That’s the message in Obama’s latest ad that focuses on equal pay for women:

On Monday, in a conference call with female supporters, Barack Obama and his aides outlined a new strategy to target women voters who could be undecided between Barack Obama and John McCain. It’s a no brainer to me, but obviously there are some women out there that think that the idea of having a woman as VP is more important that Democratic values and principles. So the Obama camp is working to woo those women, as Sam Stein reports on the HuffPo:

The plan included intense focus on McCain’s opposition to equal pay legislation, which aides to Obama believe resonates beyond female voters; sending out prominent female surrogates to serve as political “ambassadors”; limiting focus on Gov. Sarah Palin in favor of McCain himself; and breaking through the media’s propensity to focus on conflicts and gaffes.

“We have got a lot of work to do and I can’t do it without your help,” Obama explained. “In recent weeks, we have seen Republicans up to their election year tricks. In his campaign ads, John McCain and Sarah Palin - I’m being generous here - distorted my record. They inflated their own. They ran an ad accusing me of promoting teaching sex to kindergartners when in fact the bill called for insuring that our children learn how to protect themselves from sexual abuse. That is one of the more egregious examples. And with all these antics I’m going to need all of you on the call to set the record straight.”

“All of you, as prominent women that the American people listen to,” the Democratic nominee continued, “are going to be some of our most important ambassadors in this process. To the extent we can get people to pay attention to choice involved on issues like health care, the Supreme Court, pay equity, I am absolutely confident we will win. But we are going to have to cut through a whole lot of noise and the media’s propensity to cover scandal, gaffe, polls or attacks.”

Along with the new ad and the conference call on Monday, the Obama camp also “rolled out the endorsements of ‘hundreds of national women leaders in fields ranging from business to women’s rights, from astronauts to athletes, from former governors to cabinet secretaries.’”

The issues that women should be looking at rather than Palin herself, include “equal pay, opposition to choice, and the economy.” It’s about where John McCain (and quite frankly Palin) stands on these issues, as Dana Singiser, a strategist for Obama pointed out on the conference call.

“I know we are getting a little distracted by discussion about Sarah Palin, but I think it is important for all of us to focus on Sen. McCain,” said . “Ultimately, of course, he will be president, he will be choosing Supreme Court justices, he will be steering the federal government, and we know a lot about him and where he stands on issues that are important to women. The contrast between John McCain’s record and his positions and Sen. Obama’s really could not be any more stark. I go back to equal pay because, given where we are with the economy, we are finding with the polling that pocket book issues really are what is top of mind for women voters. Whether we are talking about jobs or health care or gas prices, this is what women voters and really all voters are concerned about.”

On a day when the Wall Street took a major nose dive and the economic picture looks bleaker than just a few days before, the Obama camp could not have chosen a better time to roll out this new effort to court undecided women voters. This primary season showed us all that we have still not come a long way, baby, but we’ll be stepping back in time even further if we end up with McCain - Palin.

As a single mother with a nineteen year old daughter, I can’t fathom her and other young women in America, losing all we’ve fought so hard to achieve because voters can’t wake to up to the reality of what we’re in for with McCain.

We’ve got work to do… “No way, no how, no McCain and no Palin.”

[Originally published at TaylorMarsh.com]

Filed under: Activism, Barack Obama '08, Campaign Spokesman, Democrats, Economic News, Economy, Election '08, Endorsements, Equal Rights, Equality, General Election, Gov. Sarah Palin, In The News, John McCain '08, McCain-Palin '08, More of the Same, Obama-Biden 08, Pamela Leavey, Political News, Politics, Presidential Election, Presidential Primaries, Republicans, Voters, Wall Street, Women's Issues | Get Permalink or trackback |