John Boehner Doesn't Applaud Equal Pay for Women

In last night's State of the Union speech Obama stressed economic equality.  Mostly it was about creating a fairer tax code and reviving the American Dream, but he did throw us ladies a bone when he said we should also be entitled to equal pay for equal work.  It's a pretty mainstream position to take.  I mean it's not federal funding for abortion (don't get me started) or even, apparently, over the counter Plan B, neither of which Obama has gotten on board with.  It's just equal pay for equal work, one of the oldest and most innocuous requests of the women's movement since the right to vote. 

And yet, my buddy Boehner did not applaud the President's desire to ease entrenched sexism in the marketplace.  And clapping is what the State of the Union is all about.  Those people cannot stop clapping.  If they even remotely like something, they will clap.  So apparently Boehner does not even remotely like the idea of women getting equal pay for equal work. 

To give him a break he seemed kind of confused last night.  The parties did not sit on opposite sides of the (in this case not metaphorical) aisle as the often do; so it wasn't entirely clear in any case whether it was the Republicans or the Democrats clapping.  Sometimes Boehner would be seen clapping and then would quickly stop, like he had made a mistake.  And other times he would join in the clapping a little late, like Oops! I think I am supposed to support that.  The only time everyone knew exactly what side they were supposed to be on was any time Obama said the word "troops." 

So why didn't Boehner clap?  There are probably a few reasons.  The first among them being that unless not supporting the President will get him demerits (see: "troops") he's probably going to err on the side of not supporting the President.  But also, I think there is a reluctance among Congressional Republicans, and especially the white male members (okay, so most of them), to recognize the continued legacy of racism and sexism and instead to rely on the irrational belief that we can all overcome all of our obstacles, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and become part of the elite.  If you have to do that on 74 cents on the dollar, well then you'll just have to pull those bootstraps 26% harder.