Obama Should Hold Tongue On Equal Pay

National Review Online: Democrat Pays His Female Staffers Less Equitably Than McCain

(National Review Online)  This column was written by Deroy Murdock.

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‘Now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work,” Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said August 28 in his convention acceptance speech. He told the crowd in Denver: “I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.”

Obama’s campaign website is even more specific. Under the heading “Fighting for Pay Equity,” the women’s issues page laments that, “Despite decades of progress, women still make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. A recent study estimates it will take another 47 years for women to close the wage gap with men at Fortune 500 corporate offices. Barack Obama believes the government needs to take steps to better enforce the Equal Pay Act…”

Obama’s commitment to federally mandated pay equity stretches from the Rockies to Wall Street and beyond. And yet it seems to have eluded his United States Senate office. Compensation figures for his legislative staff reveal that Obama pays women just 83 cents for every dollar his men make.

A watchdog group called LegiStorm posts online the salaries for Capitol Hill staffers. “We have no political affiliations and no political purpose except to make the workings of Congress as transparent as possible,” its website explains. Parsing LegiStorm’s official data, gleaned from the Secretary of the Senate, offers a fascinating glimpse at pay equity in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.

The most recent statistics are for the half-year from October 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008. Excluding interns focuses one’s attention on the full-time personnel. For someone who worked only until, say, last February 29, prorating their salary up to six months’ service simplifies the analysis, since we can then double the half-year amounts to figure the annual salary of Senate employees.

Based on these calculations, Obama’s 28 male staffers divided among themselves total payroll expenditures of $1,523,120. Thus, Obama’s average male employee earned $54,397.

Obama’s 30 female employees split $1,354,580 among themselves, or $45,152, on average.

Why this disparity? One reason may be the underrepresentation of women among Obama’s highest-compensated employees. Of Obama’s five best-paid advisors, only one was a woman. Among his top 20, seven were women.

On average, Obama’s female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama’s campaign website condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1. In spite of this 17-cent gap between Obama’s rhetoric and reality, he chose to chide GOP presidential contender John McCain on this issue.

When Alaska governor Sarah Palin was named the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Obama told voters in Toledo, Ohio, on August 31 that “she’s opposed - like John McCain is - to equal pay for equal work. That doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Obama’s criticism notwithstanding, McCain’s payment patterns are the stuff of feminist dreams.

McCain’s 17 male staffers split $916,914, thus averaging $53,936. His 25 female employees divided $1,396,958 and averaged $55,878.

On average, according to these data, women in John McCain’s office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. In fact, ceteris paribus, a typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart - while adding $10,726 to her annual income - by leaving Barack Obama’s office and going to work for John McCain.

How could this be?

One explanation could be that women compose a majority of McCain’s highest-paid aides. Among his top-five best-compensated staffers, three are women. Of his 20-highest-salaried employees, 13 are women. The Republican presidential nominee relies on women - much more than men - for advice at the highest, and thus, best-paid levels. (For a detailed analysis of these figures, click here.)

In short, these statistics suggest that John McCain is more than fair with his female employees, while Barack Obama - at the expense of the women who work for him - quietly perpetuates the very same pay-equity divide that he loudly denounces. Of all people, the Democratic standard bearer should understand that equal pay begins at home.

[demsts]

Forgive me if I think this is a joke.
If it isn''t, you fail to break out comparative job descriptions/qualifications with salaries in both campaigns.
That would be the only way to check your figures.
This is a very dishonest article.
Besides, everyone who works for McCain is a lobbyist and they command the highest salaries of anyone who could work on a campaign.

[d33pthroat1]

This is a very dishonest article.
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Posted by demsts at 02:25 PM

Agreed!

What a specious argument by the author of this article !!

You can''t just average out the pay like that!
And then say a typical female makes more than a typical male in McCain''s office.

The author almost redeemed himself by pointing out that the discrepancy is because McCain has more female staffers in high-paid positions than Obama does. But, that is not the issue.

The issue is "equal pay for equal work" not "more women in high paid positions"

So, if you are going to shoot down Obama for paying women less, then prove it by picking a certain job position/profile and then compare salaries between men and women for THAT position.

[paris1969]

all the "obamatized libs" can''t believe it!! ... "just words" folks ... don''t let him fool you!!!

[rational_1]

I agree with the previous posters about having to look at job description, title, experience and all that before coming to any conclusions about pay discrepancies between men and women on the staffs of the two campaigns. But how often do you see Obama, or anyone else for that matter, who discusses this topic on the more global scale mention these caveats. Maybe women make less because they don''t want to work the idiotic hours that men sometimes work, don''t have the seniority because they were out of the workforce for years while raising children, aren''t willing to do dangerous work that men often do (compare steelworker/logger to secretary/childcare worker). I wonder what the true pay differential really is when all these variables are taken into account.

[waynester9]

The author almost redeemed himself by pointing out that the discrepancy is because McCain has more female staffers in high-paid positions than Obama does. But, that is not the issue.

The issue is "equal pay for equal work" not "more women in high paid positions"

Posted by d33pthroat1 at 05:01 PM
---------------------------------

Perhaps you are correct. However, isn''t it interesting that McCain is more progressive when it comes to hiring women? Give him some credit where credit is due.

[matter77]

If Obama is such a liar and a complete farce, why do his followers worship him no matter what? He could be convicted of high treason and they wouldn''t change their mind. I think it must be some kind of wacko personal thing, like "I want to vote for Obama to get back at the Republicans because Gore lost" or something stupid like that. Or worse, they lead miserable lives as individuals, and somehow imagine if Obama gets elected then they''ll be happy. This is similar to professional sports and the way people go nuts for their team, even though the team members couldn''t care less whether a given fan lived or died. The fans chant and go wild because if their team wins, it makes them feel like a winner. Only, they''re not. If Obama wins, everyone loses.

[my2centss]

Do as I say not as I do.
If you really want to know Obama, Google his Kenyan brother.

[ubrew12]

my2centss said: "If you really want to know Obama, Google his Kenyan brother. "

I did. He doesn''t have one.

He has (maybe) a half-brother. My guess is: you have dozens.

[samthetvcat]

No wonder McCain knew the key to winning the election was to pick a woman for VP and Barack didn''t - his advisors to reflect the electorate.

This is a great argument to bring up if Dems try get back some of us who have crossed the aisle. Any attempts by them probably wouldn''t have worked because they''re not making strong arguments, but it never hurts to have good rebuttals just in case!

[samthetvcat]

PS I mean the argument about McCain being the one with pay parity rather than Barack! :)

[eddieusa]

C''mon Mr. Burdock,
Obama can do no wrong, we all know that :)
He is the "Chosen One" in his mind.

If McCain pays women more, that just means that McCain overpays them...

[bluestardad]

NRO KEEP SCREAMING!

SOON YOU AN YOUR DUEL PASSPORT HOLDING AIPAC NEOCONS WILL BE OUTTA WORK!

THEN YOU AND THE REST OF THE WAR CRIMINALS CAN GO LIVE IN SOUTH AMERICA!

[csasko1]

Interesting how many people quickly defend Obama...
From: The same job isn''t being factored in
To: Variables on experience b/c women may have been having babies...

These figures that were mentioned were on the senate staff members each employees. In which the same job (Staff Aide) is being factored in: The top 5, the top 20, and overall. Since both groups are essentially doing the same job and due to a small population the article does point at "equal pay for equal work". Even if the values were changed to percentages top 5% or 25% which would be more accurate. McCain appears to pay women and employ women more so than Obama.

http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/chart_murdock09-11-08.html

To put this in perspective... (According to this study)
Obama Employees: 58 Staff McCain: 42
Obama Pays: $2.88m McCain: $2.31m
Obama Women: 30 Staff 52% McCain: 25W Staff 60%
Obama Top 5: 1W, 20% McCain: 3W 60%
Obama Top20: 7W/20T 35% McCain: 13W/20T, 65%
Ob FM Payroll: $1.35m/30W McCain: $1.40m/25W
Ob Male PRoll: $1.52m/28M McCain: $0.92m/17M

[ramos937]

The National Review long ago revealed itself as a biased pro-GOP trade journal. Nothing it writes politically is objective and fair.

[aakalan]

I need therapy to find out why I continue to read NRO garbage...

This article is a case in point. You break down the genders to "top 20%, top 5%", but what are the jobs?

Equal pay, though you are too dumb to realize the obvious, means equal pay for the SAME job, not equal pay to everyone. Unless you break down your numbers by job title and compare male and female jobholders of the same job, your idiot statistics mean nothing.

Like most of your articles.

[omega40]

Equal pay, though you are too dumb to realize the obvious, means equal pay for the SAME job, not equal pay to everyone.
Posted by aakalan at

LOL! Maybe the NRO is advocating communism now.

[platteman]

Now that is funny as Terry Bradshaw would say. Obama paying women 88 cents compaired to his male staff one dollar. McCain pays more to women than men what a hoot. A republican doing something right, democrats who talk one thing, do another. Wasn''t BO for public financing of his campaign before he was against it. For school vouchers before he was against them. Now he wants equal pay for women and men, but doesn''t practice what he wants to preach. Sounds like the same old thing, just what he wants to equate McCain with Bush which is a real strech. What else is new. The same old political drival from the new messiah from chicago. Of course, a daily made politician. Just another crooked political hack.

[my2centss]

What do you expect? He made $20 million the last 3 years, but can do nothing for his Kenyan brother and grandmother. Can you help?

www.helpobamasbrother.org/

[ofbyfor2]

Perhaps you are correct. However, isn''''t it interesting that McCain is more progressive when it comes to hiring women? Give him some credit where credit is due.

Posted by waynester9 at 07:09 PM : Sep 12, 2008

Google the ''Lily Ledbetter Act'' and see how McCain voted.

[ofbyfor2]

Posted by Platteman at 06:53 AM : Sep 13, 2008

Google the ''Lily Ledbetter Act'' and see how McCain voted.

[gman1951]

I believe he is on the right track but not including all of the obvious.
I think pay should be equitable all across America. Why should a lawyer or gym teacher or speech pathologist be worth something in New Jersey and something way different in Arizona or Texas? Speech Pathologists with a Masters Degree?? Why are they the lowest paid profession in the Rapid City SD school district compared to the rest of the nation?
Sure you can say that the cost of living is different in every state but I have worked all over the United States and I see what everything cost but all in all it all averages out; and it all depends on what you are willing to spend on something. Most of all it is how you want to live.
I think if a licensed electrician is worth $32 an hour in Mpls then the licensed electrician in Alabama should be worth that too! A lot of things in this country would balance out then....Just a thought!

[ioweign]

What do you expect? He made $20 million the last 3 years, but can do nothing for his Kenyan brother and grandmother. Can you help?

www.helpobamasbrother.org/

Posted by my2centss at 08:18 AM : Sep 13, 2008

McCain could step up to the plate and let him live in one of his 7 houses...

[mydog2a]

Hold it a minute. Neither McCain nor Obama determine the salaries of their staffs. Senate staff members are employees of the Federal government and their pay scales are pre-determined by a number of factors, including pay grade and years of service. Because McCain has been a senator for much longer than Obama, it stands to reason that his staff would have more years of service and more time to reach higher pay grades than Obama''s comparatively younger staff. This no doubt accounts for any "inequities" that exist, and not that Obama is shortchanging his female employees. The author of this opinion piece knows this, and is just being duplicitous.

Look at their voting records in the Senate: McCain has voted against equal pay legislation for women, while Obama has consistently supported it.

[jsilver2th]

Oh McCain respects women alright- he made the biggest most dangerous affirmative action hire in history in a cynical move that threatens the national security of America and the free world- You all must love Palin- Ann Coulter in a Reindeer sweater. If I was Cindy I''d be really leary of those we''re working late on the campaign again dear speeches-

[mitch5511]

This article is the biggest bunch of hooey I have ever read.

[tawpdawg111]

To which Walters responded, "She also took some earmark spending."

McCain said, "No, not as governor she didn t."
====================.

Ok Im back with fresh batteries in the LIE detector.

Bzzzzttt !!!

Thats a LIE!

Its not a "distortion"

Or a "contradiction"

Or a "misrepresentation"

Its an out-and-out LIE told by an out-and-out LIAR!

The LIE detector is sittin on dead red.

Freakin LIARS!

This is so much more fun now that its not about the "issues"

[germany76]

All right, Barack, take out your dictionary and look up this word: "HYPOCRITE" . . . it''s a word whose definition you need to know real, real bad!

McCAIN/PALIN 2008!!!

[germany76]

www.helpobamasbrother.org/

Visit this site, everyone. Here you will see the misery in which Barack''s baby brother, George, wallows within the Nairobi slum he calls home!

Where is your mercy for your baby brother, Barack? Yet you want me to believe you love America''s downtrodden? How dare you! :(

McCAIN/PALIN 2008!!

[thgdriver]

Nobama is a proven two faced hypocrite and liar. When all wanted Imus hung for the Nappy hoe incident Nobama said " There is no room in America for that kind of talk anymore, CBS should fire him". Then we found out just over a year later he was listening to the same hatred for 20 long years at his church. When confronted, first he said he did not know the Reverend that presided over, even his marriage, felt that way. LIAR! Hypocrite! Now this revelation about paying women that work for him less then men.

The closer you look, the more reason this empty suit, hypocritical, liar has no business in the White House.

[tracypaints]

So, I''m sitting at my desk,listening to the radio and CBS news comes on. At first I''m only listening to each newscast peripherally. But little by little it becomes very clear. CBS is subtly but oh so definitely promoting the republican party. Can this be true? Can our so called "unbiased" news community be taking sides? "No", I think, "this cant be true". So I come to their news website, and what do I find? Obama bashing and Palin loving. What happened to fairness in journalism? I guess it disappeared when republican cronies bought all the big news corporations. Reporters are stenographers and the gullible believe every lie. Sad. And even sadder still is that people like Rupert Murdoch, who own these conglomerations, promote there own self interests. They don''t care about this country, they care about making a buck. And of course, why should Murdoch? He isn''t even from this country. Why is no one else sickened by this?

[nearl4511]

This article is another smear attempt witout any evidence.

NRO should now write an article on how McCain has participated in no earmarking over his 26 year career.....but of course he has three famous ones. Also on Sarah''s complete rejection of earmarks as Governor (as McCain falsely claims) and fought the bridge to nowhere...a bold faced lie.

[sanfelz]

The issue is equal pay for equal work, not comparisons of average pay. But the sexism is in the refusal of the Republican Party to allow women their full legal rights under law to sue for pay discrimination, to make their own decisions about abortion, and now, whether a woman can fill an Rx for an oral contraceptive.
Palin is the anti-feminist: willing to be the puppet for the lies of Campaign McCain.

[victor0803]

Equal pay for equal work is not equal to average pay.
When Obama assume office next year, McCain%u2019s die hard confusionist will be the first set of people who will demand instant implementation off all Obama s promised.