So this is how it’s going to be. When Barack Obama isn’t disingenuously claiming to be the next Reagan, his allies and minions will be out launching ridiculous attacks on Republicans. Enter Democrat Hilary Rosen:
Rosen, also a CNN political contributor and a working mother, made her comments on CNN’s “AC360.”
“What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country, saying, ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.’ Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” Rosen said.
Hilary Rosen may be, in CNN’s parlance, a “working mom.” But show me a mother who has raised five sons who is not a working mom.
Ann Romney has responded, and the Obama camp has faked disappointment with Rosen’s comment. No one should buy that. The class warfare aspect of Rosen’s comment, more on that below, is very much in line with the Obama campaign’s strategic interest of highlighting and criticizing Mitt Romney’s success in life. The Buffett Rule is part of the same strategy.
Rosen’s argument is both an attack on mothers who make the choice to raise their own children, and an insidious class warfare attack. Rosen is not too subtly raising the Romneys’ earned wealth as an issue, by drawing attention to the fact that they had the means to allow Ann to stay at home with the children.
Ann Romney also beat cancer and battles multiple sclerosis. Is it a good idea to attack someone who has shown such steel against faceless enemies?
This contretemps is just a taste of the ways the Democrats plan to divide and distract and put Republicans on the defensive from now to November. It’s going to be very ugly. Republicans will have to be nimble and resist getting drawn into distracting fights. Destroy foot soldiers like Rosen and move on.
Hilary Rosen, by the way, smeared millions of American mothers. CNN ought to consider distancing itself from someone who attacked one of the network’s natural daytime audiences, and fire Rosen.
Update: By the way, records show that Hilary Rosen has visited the Obama White House at least 35 times. That’s about once a month, and about four times the number of visits by David Petraeus, who ran two wars and now heads the CIA. Rosen is one of the most frequent White House visitors. She is not speaking out of turn when she attacks Ann Romney. She is throwing out an authorized attack on the Romney family that brings up the Romneys’ wealth, and gives the Obama campaign an opportunity to create false distance between themselves and Rosen to make themselves appear more moderate. But they’re behind this attack, make no mistake. Rosen is doing Barack’s dirty work.
This is how it’s going to be between now and November.
Update: Ann Romney used her first tweet ever to defend herself from Rosen’s attack on motherhood. Via Drudge, take a look at how that attack is faring. In a poll on the Washington Post — unscientific, but interesting — 90% stand with Ann Romney.
Here’s a central truth about this White House: It overreaches because it’s ideologically rooted to the far left and consults no one outside its ideological world view. The Rosen attack, I’m convinced, is a part of the campaign’s overall attack on Romney using his wealth as the weapon. The campaign wants to create resentment and to portray Romney as out of touch. The Buffett Rule is part of that strategy: the Obama White House knows it has no chance of passing but the Obama campaign benefits from it not passing. Rosen’s attack was intended to highlight how the Romneys’ personal life is unusual because he is rich (never mind that he earned his wealth through hard work and talent). But the problem is, millions of American moms would prefer to stay home and raise their kids if they could, but the Obama economy puts that choice out of reach.
Also, you just don’t attack moms. It takes a very out of touch White House to even think that this was a good idea.
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