The Lipstick LobbyList 8.6.2011 - "Do what’s best for your country, and you will be remembered well"

Thank you, Frank Bruni, for pointing out the alarming absence of women in the debt ceiling negotiations.  I remain skeptical if a single woman will be appointed to the "Super Committee."  Still so far to go.....

On Monday, photos with a winners-and-losers article on the Web site Politico showed President Obama, John Boehner, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell — but, tellingly, not Nancy Pelosi. Like women in general, she was sidelined through much of the mess, and while the reasons weren’t gender-related, the optics were true to a stubborn gender imbalance in the Capitol.

Fabulous interview in Glamour this week of Secretary Hillary Clinton.  A favorite quote:

SECRETARY CLINTON: You just have to figure out what you’re trying to accomplish. I often try, in private discussions with leaders, to press them on women’s rights. For the first few years, I kept a running tally of how many women were in meetings with me. It was always fascinating, who would bring women and what roles they would have. And who never showed up with women at all…. It’s wonderful to go to a country like Brazil, which elected a woman president [last year]. I made a big effort to go to her inauguration, because I know how hard it is for a woman to be elected.

I think my political background has been a very big advantage in my job—I understand the pressures of politics on leaders…. Sometimes I push them to do more than they think is possible. But not impossible. So I’ve told leaders, “Look, I was in politics. I’ve won elections and lost elections. And it’s not the end of the world…. Do what’s best for your country, and you will be remembered well.”

Long overdue to post this obituary of a true inspiration and she-ro, Sandra "Mama" Pressley, mother of Boston City Councilor, Ayanna Pressley.  She is the living proof that behind amazing women is often a fierce advocate of a mother: "Sandra L. Pressley was determined to show her only child the world was bigger than the block on which they lived in Chicago. She exposed her to ballet, the cello and ballroom dancing, and took her to Europe despite being a single parent with limited means."  Thank you, Mama P, for all you've given us - with your life and your daughter.