The politic machinations and the practical effects of the executive order. Also, Susan Douglas talks about enlightened sexism and embedded feminism in pop culture.

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BUNNIES ARE RIGHT

Tell the FDA to approve EC for real sales OTC

Bart Stupak doesn’t listen to nuns

Laura Flanders doesn’t listen to men who don’t listen to women

Michael Steele goes too far for Fox News

On this edition of Reality Cast, I have to ask.  Did you hear that a health care reform bill was signed?  I’m guessing you did, but I’m going to look a little deeper into how Congress and the President got the bill past anti-choicers, and what that means for the country.  Also, author Susan Douglas will be on to talk about her new book Enlightened Sexism.

A new video from the Center for Reproductive Rights has gone the way of cute.  In it, we see a couple of cuddly bunnies talking about whoops moments in bed. 

• bunnies *

It’s been a year since the FDA was ordered to revisit the decision to make women ask the pharmacist directly for emergency contraception, as if it were a dangerous drug, which it is not.  If you go to the action page linked in show notes, you can tell the FDA to stop goofing around and let women have better access to emergency contraception.

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I realize the stakes of politics are probably too high to say this, but let’s face it: Politics is a sport.  Granted, it’s a sport like Calvinball, where the rules change all the time.  And to make it worse, the referees in the media are less fair than the ones in the NBA.  But like sports, a big part of politics is knowing your opponent’s game and their weaknesses, and using that knowledge to your advantage.  I have to say that I think health care reform proponents figured this strategy out, finally, with Bart Stupak. 

What have we learned about Bart Stupak in the past few months? That he refuses to read bills, for one thing, or he’d know that the federal funding for abortion he’s claiming is in the health care bill isn’t there.  We know that he’s got a huge ego, and like most anti-choicers, is big on displays of dominance and submission.  And we know that he thinks women are feeble-minded.  Witness his contempt for the intelligence of nuns on Chris Matthews’ show. 

• Stupak 1 *

Even Matthews was blown away by this seething contempt for the idea that nuns have an opinion that counts.  Nuns!  Who cares what nuns think about women’s health care?  They’re just women.  Here’s some authorities, some male authorities, here to tell us what to do about women.  Women, you can sit down and let the men make all the decisions for you. 

Much fun was made of Stupak tipping his hat to the misogyny and contempt for female intelligence implicit in his waving off of the nuns.  Jodi at Rewire made fun of it.  Rachel Maddow made fun of it.  Laura Flanders made fun of it. 

• Stupak 2 *

I’m sure the idea of how to handle the Stupak problem had already occurred to Democratic leaders before the nuns comment, but still.  Part of me kind of imagines they thought this: Hey, wait a minute. We keep calling Bart and telling him there’s no federal funding for abortion.  We keep going on TV and saying it.  We keep saying it and saying it, but he refuses to listen.  Could it be who we’re asking to speak on this?

Think about it.  All this time, I’ve been playing clips from Kathleen Sebelius, Nancy Pelosi, Claire McCaskill, Cecile Richards, etc.  I could go on, but you get the idea.  When the subject is abortion, they send out the ladies.  And Bart Stupak doesn’t listen to ladies when they’re talking about male property such as uteruses.  So they called in a man to tell him.

• Stupak 3 *

Granted, I don’t think it’s just his misogyny that made Stupak listen to Obama and not to anyone else who’s been dealing with him on this.  The ego and that anti-choicer love of submission and dominance was also used against him to get this concession.  Having the President of the United States grovel a little before him will probably give Stupak a major ego thrill that will last even if he’s kicked out of office in the primary for these shenanigans. 

All this time, Bart Stupak has been coddled by right wingers who see him as a useful idiot in their attempts to squash health care reform.  But as you can imagine, they stopped pretending to be his friend the second he switched to a yes vote.  After the bill was passed, Stupak got up to speak and was taunted with cries of “baby killer”. 

• Stupak 4 *

That was the clearest one, from Republican representative Randy Neugebauer, but there were others.  This one seems to have come from a congressman. 

I doubt Stupak will learn his lesson from this incident, but the rest of us should take note.  The term “baby killer” doesn’t mean someone who actually kills babies, and it doesn’t necessarily have any relationship to abortion, either.  It’s just using people’s fear of female sexuality as a tool to smear your political opponents.  Since our maternal and infant mortality rate is relatively high in the U.S. due to huge gaps in the health care system, Stupak’s vote actually puts him on the team of baby savers with the hated pro-choicers who care about real people’s health.  Calling someone a “baby killer” is just something right wingers do to put down anyone who disagrees with them.  In about 10 years, they’re going to call you a baby killer if you sign up for WIC in order to feed your baby.

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insert interview

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Okay, enough with the talk about the political ball playing that got the health care bill passed.  The question now is what about that executive order that Obama signed in order to give Stupak a reason to vote for the bill?  What does it do?  What does it not do?  There are many questions about this.

• order 1 *

Technically speaking, it’s an extension of current law, but only because there was no health care exchange prior to this.  Now the ban will extend into the health care exchange.  Many feminists are experiencing Obama’s decision as a betrayal, and I think they kind of think Hillary Clinton wouldn’t have done this.  I strongly disagree, I’m afraid.  By not going straight to the left in the first place and demanding a repeal of the Hyde Amendment, pro-choicers conceded the argument about federal government’s right to try to manipulate women’s choices through funding.  Poor women, military women, and federal employees were thrown under the bus a long time ago under the Hyde Amendment, and this is continuation of that theme.

The real issue is what now.  The small sliver of hope that the Hyde Amendment could be overturned was based on the fact that it comes up for renewal as part of the budget every year, and in theory, it could be removed if there was political will to do so.  But now it’s backed up by this executive order from the President.  Does that mean we’re doomed forever? Stupak hopes so.

• order 2 *

But here’s a couple of things.  For one thing, the President can always issue another executive order overturning the prior one, if he wants.  So there’s hope there.  Second of all. There are wording issues in the executive order that may mean that Obama was hedging his bets.  After all, he’s on the record, with Rewire in fact, as formally opposing the Hyde Amendment.  At no point in time has Obama indicated any reason to think he supports continuing it except out of political expediency.  And this is reflected in the executive order.  Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky explained this on the Rachel Maddow show.

• order 3 *

At current time, getting women the funding they deserve for abortion seems like a long shot.  However, this entire ruckus has reminded the public of the problem of trying to access abortion if you can’t afford it.  Now that it’s on the public’s radar, this is a good time politically to try to move the ball down the field.

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And now for the Wisdom of Wingnuts, hyperbole edition. Michael Steele was on Fox News defending the hyperbolic rhetoric from the  right on the issue of health care reform passing.

• steele *

When even an anchor on Fox News of all places is correcting you and telling you that you’re going too far, well, you’ve been going too far for too long.