Obama's 'War on Women'

Two editorials published in The New York Sun expose Sen. Barack Obama's economic and tax plans and how they would target working women.

The first, "Obama's War on Women," was published Aug. 14.

The second, "Obama's War on Women, II," was published Aug. 18.

From the original editorial looking at Obama's plans to raise taxes:

It amounts to a declaration of war on two-income families, a marriage penalty of punitive proportions. If those two single persons with income just under $200,000 get married, Mr. Obama is going to hammer them with a huge tax increase. If the second earner, who in many cases is the woman, is going to have to give 54% of what she earns to the government, she might as well stay home with the children. Mr. Obama may be able to get away with symbolic slights to women, such as not picking Senator Clinton as vice president. But punishing them with confiscatory taxes for participating in the workforce at a high income level moves the slight into the realm of substance.

From the followup editorial:

Most of the women who are going to be paying Mr. Obama's 54% nominal marginal income tax rate are not minimum wage earners. They are doctors and lawyers and writers and bankers and accountants and teachers and small businesswomen. It used to be the Republicans who were stereotyped as wanting women to stay home with the children. Not that there is anything wrong with such a decision, which may be the best decision for some families. But it is a decision a lot of women would prefer to make on the merits, rather than in the face of a government threatening to seize more than half of their earnings.

No wonder 18 million Democratic voters supported Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the primary and caucus contests this year.