I ask this question in the light of Todd Akin’s remarks about legitimate rape and Richard Mourdock’s assertion that pregnancies that result from rape “…is something that God intended to happen.” And Akin and Mourdock are not the only Republicans that think this way: there are 13 Senate candidates that support their position and have not called for them to renounce this horrendous attack on women. And the leader of the Republican Party? Mitt Romney—their candidate for President? He literally runs away from the question.
One can only be this unfeeling or morally bankrupt if you think of women as either property (chattel), or cattle. Otherwise, you would say as President Barack Obama did on the Tonight Show, “"I don't know how these guys come up with these ideas," he told Leno."Let me make a very simple proposition: Rape is rape. It is a crime. And so these various distinctions about rape don't make too much sense to me--don't make any sense to me."
President Obama said this calmly, as a matter of conviction and perhaps with a hint of puzzlement in his voice that everyone doesn’t understand this simple fact. He said it as a lawyer, as the Chief Executive of this nation, as a husband and a father.
“Rape is rape. It is a crime.” It’s as simple as that, and I will assert that President Obama’s statement will hit home with Republican women in their very souls, and they will wonder: “Why hasn’t Mitt Romney said that? All he would have to do is say, ‘Rape is rape. It is a crime,’ and I could vote for him with a clear conscience.”
Let me be very clear. Mitt Romney was lobbed an easy pitch on this issue, and he could have knocked it out of the ballpark if he would have echoed what President Obama said: “Rape is rape. It is a crime.”
He did not. It crossed the plate and he didn’t even attempt to swing at the pitch. He had his chance to assert his authority as leader of the Republican Party on an issue that is deeply felt by all women and he remained silent. His silence speaks volumes about his true feelings towards women and their rights.
A dairy farmer, informed that one of his cows is pregnant, doesn’t necessarily care which of his bulls did the deed. A calf is on the way. He might even consider it a gift from God. But women are not cattle, and they are not chattel. Any politician who does not realize this should not be in public office.
After this election is over, why President Obama won will be debated and discussed and dissected by ordinary people, political pundits and historians for years. Yet I believe that when President Obama made this simple statement to Jay Leno he drew a clear moral line in the sand that no woman can fail to understand.
Now, their convictions as Republicans may make them unable to jump the chasm and vote for President Obama, but they may leave the box next to Governor Romney’s unchecked because they cannot bring themselves to vote for someone who lacks the character and moral authority to simply state: “Rape is rape. It is a crime.”
That is the moral clarity that people expect to see in their President. President Barack Obama passed this test. Governor Mitt Romney did not.
And American women will see the stark contrast between these men and vote accordingly. In the privacy of the election booth—where no man can force them to betray their soul.