Blogs Comment On Obama Nominees For Global AIDS Coordinator, Judicial Appointments, Other Topics

The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries.

~ "Obama Nominates New Global AIDS Coordinator," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: President Obama's nomination on Monday of Eric Goosby -- who served as deputy director of the White House National AIDS Policy Office and director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy during the Clinton administration -- as the new Global AIDS Coordinator "comes at a critical time for U.S. global AIDS programs," Jacobson writes. According to Jacobson, "numerous restrictions within U.S. global AIDS law continue to undermine efforts to prevent the spread of HIV infections through sexual transmission in the general population and among sex workers." She adds that Goosby "will need to work quickly to strengthen efforts to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV, reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV infection, meet the needs of adolescents for comprehensive sexual health education and services, lift the prohibition on purchasing contraceptives under" the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and "strengthen integration with reproductive health programs." Jacobson concludes, "Hopefully, Goosby understands these challenges and is prepared to take them on" (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 4/27).

~ "Republicans on Dawn Johnsen: 'Raging Ideologue Who Can't See Straight'?" Amie Newman, RH Reality Check: Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, "nail[ed]" Republicans' "intense anger toward" Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's nominee for assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Council, when she said that "Republicans are looking to frame [Johnsen] as a 'raging ideologue who can't see straight,'" Newman writes. According to Newman, Republicans have opposed Johnsen because of her "support for reproductive health and rights access for women, however far back in her career Republicans needed to reach." She notes that Republicans have used a "footnote in an amicus brief Johnsen wrote 20 years ago" to "tarnish" her "qualifications" (Newman, RH Reality Check, 4/24).

~ "Hillary Says it All," Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon's Broadsheet: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's comments last week that "passionate[ly] defen[ded]" reproductive rights are a "happy reminder of the far-reaching implications of the fact that Bush is -- finally! -- out of the White House," Mieszkowski writes. According to Mieszkowski, Clinton's response to Rep. Christopher Smith's (R-N.J.) question on whether the Obama administration is "seeking to weaken or overturn pro-life laws in Latin American or African countries" reflected on the "real costs to millions of women around the world when they do not have [reproductive] rights." She concludes that Clinton took the "thankfully now-gone Bush administration to task for its health policies which, she contends, contributed to the recent rise in teen pregnancies, domestically" (Mieszkowski, Salon's Broadsheet, 4/24).














~ "The Next War Over the Courts," Doug Kendall/Simon Lazarus, The American Prospect's Tapped: "With 84 vacant and soon-to-be open seats on the lower federal courts, as well as potential openings on the Supreme Court at the close of [President Obama's] term, conservatives are primed for a fight over even the most moderate nominees," Kendall, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, and Lazarus, public policy counsel to the National Senior Citizens Law Center, write, adding, "The judicial nomination wars are back." According to Kendall and Lazarus, Obama's nomination of David Hamilton for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is "by all accounts a great pick" because Hamilton is a "brilliant young judge respected on both sides of the political aisle." However, "you wouldn't learn that from the far right attack machine," as "[r]ight-wing culture warriors have used hyperbolic campaigns against Obama's top Justice Department nominees to pilot-test their smear tactics against his judicial selections," they write. According to Kendall and Lazarus, the "White House is right to want to 'put the confirmation wars behind us,'" and Obama therefore "must reshape the political environment by changing the terms of the national debate about the courts." They continue that the "fight for the future of the courts cannot be finessed, but it can be won." However, in order to do so, "Obama and his allies need to take the offensive and propagate a vision that honors Americans' shared reverence for the Constitution as the basis for cherished freedoms, respects the courts as law-interpreters not policymakers and promises judges who faithfully enforce legal protections for ordinary Americans," Kendall and Lazarus write. They conclude that Obama now "just has to put the right pieces together, stay consistently on message and summon the unmatched eloquence he always seems to find when it is most needed" (Kendall/Lazarus, The American Prospect's Tapped, 4/27).

~ "Pro-Choice Progress: A Primer on President Obama's First 100 Days," Nancy Keenan, Huffington Post blogs: The 100th day of President Obama's administration on Wednesday is "yet another reminder of how electing leaders who support the fundamental American values of freedom and privacy does make a difference in the lives of women and their families," Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, writes. She notes "signs of change" from Obama regarding "women's reproductive freedom and choice," including his decision to repeal the "global gag rule," also known as the "Mexico City" policy; his move to fund the United Nations Population Fund; his efforts to commit to "medically accurate sex education by including it in his first ever budget outline;" and his intent to repeal the HHS provider "conscience" rule. Although there is "reason to celebrate," the "opposition is going to extreme depths to attack" three of Obama's key nominees -- Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) for HHS secretary, Dawn Johnsen for head of the Office of Legal Counsel and Judge David Hamilton for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals -- Keenan writes. She concludes, "The actions we take now will determine what additional points we add to this pro-choice primer in the next 100 days" (Keenan, Huffington Post blogs, 4/27).

~ "The Politics of a Potential Pandemic: From Sebelius to Smithfield," Josh Nelson, Huffington Post blogs: "Several political dynamics are running immediately beneath the surface of news coverage of the swine flu outbreak," the most prominent of those being the confirmation of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) as HHS secretary, which is "being held up by GOP Senators because she is -- gasp -- pro-life," Nelson writes. The confirmation will receive "significant attention today as the Senate prepares to vote sometime in the afternoon or evening," he continues (Nelson, Huffington Post blogs, 4/28).


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