I've been in a friendly, yet heated, political argument with my uber-conservative friend for months now. I always have the answers, and usually he looks foolish. Not because he doesn't know his stuff, but because he's defending policies and ideals that in and of themselves are ridiculous.
But he has stumped me. He pointed out that Obama talks about equal pay for women, yet according to senate records for the last 6 months ending in September 2007 he paid women on his staff $6,000 less on average than men. There is an article here that deals with the issue.
How should I respond? How should I rebut it? You guys are incredibly quick and intelligent, so I know I can count on a concise argument that destroys his point. Here is what I can come up with:
"All the relevant factors that affect pay – experience, seniority, education, hours worked, personal choices such as unwillingness to travel, and family orientation– are ignored by those citing the wage gap involving Senator Obama. This sound-bite statistic fails to take into account the different roles that work tends to play in men's and women's lives."
But I also need some specifics that deal with legislation he has passed regarding women's pay, and compare it to any legislation McCain has blocked or voted against. I'm having trouble finding anything on it.
And I've tried to in the past to just post questions or issues in open threads, but I usually receive 0-1 responses. I know this isn't technically a diary, but I think it's important that we take on each issue posed against Obama before it gets too far.
UPDATE: I'll likely delete this diary in a bit, but I went ahead and gave him a longer response:
Actually, it's his senate staff from early 2007, not his campaign staff, and even that issue is unsubstantiated and difficult to prove. All the relevant factors that affect pay – experience, seniority, education, hours worked, personal choices such as an unwillingness or inability to travel, and family obligations– are ignored by those citing the wage gap involving Senator Obama. Also, Obama supported the Equal Pay Litigation Bill in April, while McCain did not vote on it because he was campaigning. He did, however, indicate his disproval of the bill.
Update II: opendna found a fantastic rebuttal to this pay difference argument, found here. Interestingly, the defense of Obama comes from the Right. Thanks for the link, opendna.