President Obama continues to rock my world...

[holzman_tweed]

...because he gets this:

"Equal pay is by no means just a women's issue -- it's a family issue. It's about parents who find themselves with less money for tuition and child care; couples who wind up with less to retire on; households where one breadwinner is paid less than she deserves; that's the difference between affording the mortgage -- or not; between keeping the heat on, or paying the doctor bills -- or not.

"Making out economy work means making sure it works for everybody..."

"...it's not just unfair and illegal, it's bad for business to pay somebody less because of their gender or their age or their race or their ethnicity, religion, or disability...

"...justice is not about some abstract legal theory, or a footnote in a casebook. It's about how our laws affect the daily lives and daily realities of people; their ability to make a living and care for their families and achieve their goals.

"Ulitmately, equal pay isn't just an economic issue for illions of Americans and their families, it's a question of who we are -- and whether we're truly living up to our fundamental ideals...with a more enlightened understanding that is appropriate for our time.

"I sign this ill not just in [Lilly Ledbetter's] honor, but in honor of those who came before - women like my grandmother... for my daughters, and all those who will come after us, because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams and they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined."

"And now it's up to us to continue this work. This il is an important step... This is only the beginning."

Comments

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

He's amazing. He's effective.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

That's a cute icon. Loved "In The Heat Of The Night".

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I made it. And like this Molly Ivins icon, you can use it with credit.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

I KNOW!!!

I'm in love the president. I never thought it would happen!

I seriously feel like I'm in a parallel universe!!!!

N.

[firinel.livejournal.com]

The only thing I dislike about the quoted is that the first one's wording implies a family consists of one woman, particularly one involving children, and strikes me as heterocentric.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

I can see how it can be read that way, but I took the first one to imply more that most families that have children have women in them as well.

A less heteronormative construction would note that Lesbian families are doubly impacted by sex discrimination.

[numaari.livejournal.com]

Oddly, there was someone in our breakroom having a Republican Rant yesterday. This astounded me, as I work for a discount retailer, and 90% of our workforce is female, many of which live below poverty level, etcetera, etcetera, ad naseum.

Apparently, Obama is going to wreck our economy beyond repair and send the country into chaos. Seriously? Hasn't Bush done enough to wreck our economy and send us into chaos already??

I pointed out a simple personal truth. As a woman without children and lacking a male spouse, my personal economy degenerates whenever we have a heavily Republican government, and my standard of living improves with the Democrats. You can throw theory and statistics at me until you're blue in the face, but that doesn't change my reality.

So, as far as I'm concerned, things can only get better.