malik ka henderson covers politics for the washington post. president obama took a question about equal pay for women last night and turned it into a broad defense of what he does for women or did for women in his first term. let s listen to the president. when governor romney s campaign was asked about the lily ledbetter bill, whether he supported it, he saidings i ll get back to you. that s not the kind of advocacy women need in any economy. now, there s some other issues that have a bearing on how women succeed in the workplace. for example, better health care. now, a major difference in this campaign is that governor romney feels comfortable having politicians in washington decide the health care choices women are making. i think that s a mistake. in my health care bill, i said, insurance companies need to provide contraceptive coverage.
i think that s a mistake. in my health care bill, i said insurance companies need to provide contraceptive coverage to everybody who s insured. because this is not just a health issue, it s an economic issue for women. it makes a difference. this is money out of that family s pocket. governor romney not only opposed it, he suggested that, in fact, employers should be able to make the decision as to whether or not a woman gets contraception through her insurance coverage. that s not the kind of advocacy that women need. why is he sitting there so primly? is he so enriched with he can t come out for equal pay? why can t he say i agree with you. women should get paid the same as men? because he doesn t. he must not believe it. that s exactly right. i thought that was amazing. he s sitting there like a
nia-malika henderson covers politics for the washington post. president obama took a question about equal pay for women last night and turned it into a broad defense of what he does for women or did for women in his first term. let s listen to the president. when governor romney s campaign was asked about the lilly ledbetter bill, whether he supported it, he said, i ll get back to you. that s not the kind of advocacy women need in any economy. now, there s some other issues that have a bearing on how women succeed in the workplace. for example, better health care. now, a major difference in this campaign is that governor romney feels comfortable having politicians in washington decide the health care choices women are making. i think that s a mistake. in my health care bill, i said, insurance companies need to provide contraceptive coverage. to everybody who s insured. this is not just a health issue, it s an economic issue for
in my health care bill, i said insurance companies need to provide contraceptive coverage to everybody who s insured. because this is not just a health issue, it s an economic issue for women. it makes a difference. this is money out of that family s pocket. governor romney not only opposed it, he suggested that, in fact, employers should be able to make the decision as to whether or not a woman gets contraception through her insurance coverage. that s not the kind of advocacy that women need. why is he sitting there so primly? is he so enriched with he can t come out for equal pay? why can t he say i agree with you. women should get paid the same as men? because he doesn t. he must not believe it. that s exactly right. i thought that was amazing. he s sitting there like a little kid on his stool.
catholic or otherwise, including catholic social services, georgetown hospital, mercy hospital, any hospital, none has to refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. it was interesting. you have two roman catholics the first time sitting there. also at a time when this whole war on women question is sort of boiling up. that sort of plays into it. truth and not so truth. in a way they are both right. there were suits. there was, as you remember, six months or so ago a number of catholic hospitals in particular that were very upset at a rule the administration put forward that would have pushed them to offer contraceptive coverage to the people part of their health care plan. not people coming into their hospital but employees. after negotiations they came to a compromise. it got resolved mostly to everybody s satisfaction. they are both right just talking about different times in it. whet