The wives of male politicians are OFTEN called the better half.  The wives are pulled out to soften the candidate, to make the candidate a little more ‘human’, or to counter some other political attack.  Male politicians pull out the wives to deflect political bullets.  Ann Romney is quite the fashionable vest.

As the Republican possible candidate field whittled down to one, the Republican party essentially lost their ever-loving minds.

It’s been described as the war on women, it is, although the Republican party denies it.  Now the last time I checked, I was sitting on a vagina, so I will make the leap and consider myself a woman.  The Republican party wants me to think that they value me, my vote, my contribution to society and my vagina, by pulling out Ann Romney.

The wife of the likely Republican Presidential candidate joined Twitter yesterday with this tweet:

Let me give a little background before I pop off about what utter nonsense and bullshit this  tweet is, and why it is irrelevant to the plight of the average American woman.

On the campaign trail, with his party opponents either retired or irrelevant Mitt Romney has decided it is time to attack the incumbent President and start to gravitate back to the center of the electorate.

Mitt spoke to a crowd of similar minds that his wife Ann tells him that women care about the economy.

Let me be clear, women do care about economic issues.  Once more, I am sitting on a vagina, I am a woman, I am qualified to speak on this.

Women care about the availability of jobs, equal pay, equal opportunity, and a rosy economic future.

Now, back to Mitt.

Ann Romney may have said this to her husband,  and I am not here to say that she is lying.   I am here to remind people who no matter how well-meaning the comment was,  or how it was used to give credibility to Mitt Romney, Ann Romney does not have the ability to understand the struggle of the average American woman.

This woman:

Spoke about this on CNN.  Hillary made the correct judgment and statement that Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life.

So….the Republican blogs manufactured an issue where there is one.  The Democratic party is running from the issue like a stone cold bitch when they should be standing firm about it.

 

I am a woman who has worked outside of the home, and I currently remain at home to care for a child and an elderly mother.

I have been a single woman in the workforce, a single mother in the workforce.

The only thing I have not been is a wealthy White woman.

So I am going to speak out for the women that look like me, and whose journey resembles my own, and remind America, the media, the Democratic party & Ann Romney that this is not a battle over being a home maker.  This is a battle over actual appreciation and respect for women, their contributions to society, and their rights as human beings.

When Ann Romney speaks about her choice to stay at home and raise the Romney’s 5 sons, she is not speaking from the position of a woman who had limited options.  In 2010 Mitt Romney made:

$21,700,000.00

When your household income is upwards of TWENTY MILLION PER YEAR, you have so many more options than the woman who makes $21,000.00 or TWENTY ONE THOUSAND per year.

 

If you are a woman that makes $21,ooo per year, chances are you don’t have the option of being able to stay at home and raise your children. If you are a single parent and yours is the only income that sustains the household…well shit gets real very quickly.

The woman that makes $21k can not relate to Ann Romney in the same fashion that Ann Romney can not relate to her.  Other than their vaginas their experience is vastly different.

Ann Romney has never had to buy groceries with her Visa because her paycheck went to the rent and to daycare.

Ann Romney has never had to take public transportation because her 15-year-old mini van needs struts.

Ann Romney has never had to send one of her sons to school sick, and hope that the school doesn’t call for him to be picked up, because she is out of sick time on her 9-5 job and the household budget can’t afford to miss a day of her pay.

Ann Romney has never had to save quarters in a coffee can and hope that at the end of the year it is enough to pay for new sneakers, or gym outfits.

This is what Hillary Rosen MEANT when she said that Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life.  It was an overall statement about how the quality of Ann Romney’s life is and was different because she is a White woman from privilege.

Hillary Rosen was not condemning the choice of any woman to be a stay at home mother, she was reminding the populace that so many of them do not have that choice.

I’ve walked most of these paths as a woman, and a mother, a daughter of an aging parent.  I understand the difference, in all of my incarnations and how it affected my household.

I’ve had to choose between new sneakers for myself or underwear for my mother and son. I walked about the city in sneakers without tread on the bottom for 3 years until there was finally a small window in the budget allowing me $40 plus shipping and handling.  That was 2 years ago, and I have not bought a pair of sneakers since.

I’ve had to decide if I was going to continue to make car payments on my mini van or allow my credit to take the hit and use that car payment money to buy food, and to buy medication for my mother.

This economy when you don’t have 21 million to play with is no joke.   Ann Romney worries about if the county will allow her husband to build an elevator in her home for their multiple vehicles.

In my home I wonder if the elevator at the local subway station is in working order because my arms and legs are tired from carrying grocery bags.

The Republican establishment was swift to turn this into a values issue, yet the Republican establishment has shown with its war on women that it does not value women.

The Republican establishment would like to turn this into a those Democrats don’t value the family…yet:

Is denying a woman the right to control her uterus respectful to the family?

Is denying a woman reproductive choice respectful to the family?

Is campaigning to repeal the Affordable Health Care act respectful to the family?

Is slashing the budgets of programs like Head Start respectful to the family?

If women care about the economy, and we do, is refusing to raise the debt ceiling so that America almost defaults on her debt respectful to the family?

Is spending TRILLIONS of dollars on wars that send our sons and daughters home in coffins respectful to the family?

Let’s look past the pretty words and begin to look at what the ugly actions really tell us.

While we are at it, let’s remind Mitt & Ann Romney that women matter, women vote, and that we will not tolerate a war on women.