President Obama is going to be holding a big campaign rally at Barnard College in the spring.
Only it won’t be called a campaign rally. It will be called a commencement address.
It seems New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson has been displaced as commencement speaker at the college, one of that prestigious group of women's colleges we used to refer to as “the seven sisters,” by the president.
The Obama administration, not the college, initiated the change with a call to the college. The Times, whose editor has said she’ll be happy to speak at Barnard at a later date, reports what happened:
Word of Mr. Obama’s appearance at Barnard, a 123-year-old women’s college in New York City, comes as the White House and Democrats have seized on Republican attempts to block a requirement for contraception coverage in the new health care law, saying it amounts to a “war on women.”
Democrats believe the issue could be an effective rallying point with women voters in a presidential election year, and the decision to appear at the prestigious women’s school could provide a high-profile forum for the president on that front.
Just a small clarification: Republicans have not attempted to block a requirement for coverage for contraception in the new health care law; while Republicans would like to see the whole law overturned and argue that government should not be laying down what kinds of policies we purchase, Republicans have only addressed the specific issue of contraception with regard to employers who regard it as morally objectionable and for that reason don’t want to pay.
The president’s request to speak at Barnard is a bad omen: it heralds a culture-war campaign on the part of the Democrats that smears Republicans being anti-woman.
Nothing could be further from the truth but truth is the first casualty when a president is running for re-election with a lousy economy, high unemployment, and Iran getting closer by the day to having its own nukes.
Hat tip: Ricochet