Politics
She's Doing It: Brenda Sperduti Leading Her Dreams
I’ve known Phoenix City Council candidate Brenda Sperduti as a civic activist for over 20 years. Because I so often encourage women to run for public office, it’s only right that I do what I can to highlight the accomplishments and character of those I’d like to see making the decisions at all levels of government.
Special note to my Phoenix friends: Early Voting deadline is fast approaching and the election ends November 8th. Please remember to cast your vote. For election information, click here.
Here’s Brenda in her own words…
Read MoreIs “Obamacare” crumbling?
It’s all about leadership. Would you agree?
Arena Asks: The Obama administration is scrapping a long-term care insurance program created by the new health care law, reports the New York Times. The administration’s decision was another setback for the new law, which is under attack in court, in Congress and in many state legislatures. How much does this erode support for the health law? Will this be an issue in the 2012 campaign?
My Answer: The decision to scuttle the Class program reinforces the perception of the Obama administration as naive but does not signal the crumbling of Obamacare…
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How Do I Lead When I'm Not in Charge?
I get a little nostalgic in October remembering my late parents whose birthdays were this month. So when Bonnie McEwan, president of the public interest communications firm Make Waves, suggested I write about how people in middle management can be leaders, I chuckled to think of one of my father’s favorite sayings:
“Everybody puts their pants on one leg at a time.”
That conjures up amusing pictures that equalize people regardless of their stature in the formal organization chart.
But the question of how to be a leader whether or not you have the formal authority isn’t about cutting others down to size. That famous scene from the 1980 movie 9 to 5 where the secretaries, played to the comedic hilt by Dolly Parton, Lilly Tomlin, and Jane Fonda, tie up their boss and make him beg for mercy. It’s sweet revenge in fantasy, but in reality comes from a place of feeling powerless to influence or lead in any other way…
Read MoreWill outside groups crush Dems?
Do you think it’s too late for Obama to redeem himself, as this question seems to imply? If you were advising him, what would you say? And do you think insurgent movements like Occupy Wall Street can help re-inspire the progressive base?
Arena Asks: Democrats across the country are preparing for an onslaught of attacks from American Crossroads, an independent fundraising group that bombed the 2010 elections with negative ads.
Even President Obama seems to acknowledge the shift in power. Will these outside groups give Republicans a big advantage in 2012? And is Obama right to consider himself an “underdog?”
My Answer:Unfortunately for Democrats, the only antidote to democracy is more and better participation in democracy…
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Back off, Rush, and Let the First Lady Shop
Mondays are typically slow news days, and today was apparently no exception to judge from the superfluous questions asked of Politico’s Arena panel today. On the other hand, I’m still ticked off that I didn’t know about the Missoni collection at Target until it was sold out, so what do I know? Did any of you find the Missonis? And really, do you think the media should have spent one drop of ink reporting on Michelle Obama’s shopping trip to Target?
Arena Asks: An Associated Press photographer’s shots of First Lady Michelle Obama strolling away from the checkout counter at a Target store in Alexandria, VA, circled the globe Friday. While many found the photos endearing, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck saw it differently. Considering the photographer just happened to be at Target at the same time, was the first lady’s shopping trip an innocent errand or image manipulation?
My Answer:Who’s kidding whom?
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Friday Round Up: What Kind of Education = Girl and Woman Power?
Autumn has officially arrived, and with it back-to-school education talk has been a big topic this week. Today’s Friday Round Up explores the power of education in general, and its power to foster gender parity specifically…
Friday Round Up: DADT Away Yay! Edition
About 40 years ago, someone close to me told me she was involved with another woman and asked me how I felt about that. “I don’t know,” I replied. That was my honest answer at the time. You see, this “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) business has been around for a long time. Nobody asked, nobody told, nobody really talked at all about sexual orientation with me as a heterosexual woman, and certainly not in the social justice and human rights context as I now understand them to be.
But change can happen. This week I joined many other Americans, gay and straight, to celebrate the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” an event that culminates decades of LGBTQ movement building and educating people like me about the fundamental fairness and justice of ending discrimination based on sexual orientation. It’s not the end of the battle, but certainly a great milestone. This Friday Round Up is a tribute to the end of an unjust and unworkable policy on gays in the military, with particular emphasis on its impact on women…
Read MoreShe's Doing It: Jane Roberts – 34 Million Friends Still Going Strong
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2wr6WONEBU[/youtube]
In today’s fast-paced world of social media, having a lot of friends has become a status symbol but what if you were looking for 34 Million Friends? In this week’s She’s Doing It, activist & author Jane Roberts, co-founder of the 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is doing just that and their efforts are still going strong.
Roberts has dedicated her life to women’s access to education, health and human rights. Her work includes teaching about reproductive health and family planning, surviving childbirth, the prevention of STDs, avoiding HIV/AIDS as well as the prevention of gender-based violence. The fund, co-founded by Roberts and activist Lois Abraham, is a grassroots movement that has supported health initiatives since 2002…
Suskind Flap: Is the Obama administration sexist?
You might look at my headline and reply, “Is the Pope Catholic?” because you agree with my contention that institutional sexism is bound to exist in a structure so traditionally male-dominated. Read on and let me know what you think about Arena’s question of whether the new Suskind book’s revelations about the treatment of women in the White House will damage Obama.
Arena Asks: Tuesday’s release of a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind is causing heartache at the White House. “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President” describes a difficult work environment for women in the Obama administration’s early months, among other revelations. How much, if at all, will the book damage the Obama White House? And did staffers err in giving access to the author, who previously wrote books often critical of the George W. Bush administration?
My Answer:It should come as no surprise to anyone that institutional sexism exists in the White House, as it does in virtually all leadership structures traditionally run by men, progressive or conservative. Suskind’s findings were hardly new or unique to the Obama administration…
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Obama’s Leadership: Will “Buffett tax” fly?
I didn’t get around to answering Politico’s question “Will ‘Buffett tax’ fly?” In time for them to publish it. But after a day of hearing the President argue his case, I’m sharing my thoughts with you. Let me know what you think.
Arena Asks: President Barack Obama will release a plan today to cut the federal deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade, drawing half the savings from new tax revenue and sparing Medicare recipients from having to wait longer to collect benefits. Invoking calls by investor Warren Buffett, Obama’s plan would also would prohibit millionaires from paying a lower tax rate than middle-class Americans. Will this populist-sounding proposal win broad backing? Or is it repackaged class warfare that won’t play well in an aspirational society?
My Answer: If Obama had launched this bold Buffet Rule initiative in January 2009, it would have been a slam dunk…
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