Each of our hosts watched the broadcast of President Biden’s speech in Philadelphia on 9/1/2022. Read the President’s full remarks per the White House website here. Read Betty Spence’s response below.
President Biden finally has used his bully pulpit to confront the long-simmering crisis that our country faces: the cult of Trump and his MAGA devotees.
Until last night’s speech in Philadelphia, the President had not called out the former president by name for his continued inciting of violence, his ceaseless lying about the 2020 election, or his bludgeoning of democracy. I hope President Biden will continue to speak out, as the time for a president’s silence about a predecessor has long passed.
Now, like President Biden, we cannot and must not stand by as our democracy faces mortal peril. We must get to work to hold onto the Democratic majority in the House and increase our Senate majority. Our podcast Lady Liberty is V.E.R.Y. Pissed shares many actions you can take, so we hope to see you on the streets registering voters — especially young women! — and then working to get out the vote.
A bully pulpit is a conspicuous position that provides an opportunity to speak out and be listened to. This term was coined by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, who referred to his office as a “bully pulpit”, by which he meant a terrific platform from which to advocate an agenda. Roosevelt used the word bully as an adjective meaning “superb” or “wonderful”, a more common usage at that time.[1][2]
Dr. Betty Spence has been an advocate for women’s advancement in the private and public sectors for 30 years. An expert on women in leadership, she wrote the top-selling book Be Your Own Mentor. From 2001-2021, Betty served as President of the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) where she started the annual list of the “Top Companies for Executive Women;” and she founded and chairs the “Women’s Advancement Roundtable” of senior corporate women working to advance other women.
Featured image source: Deutsche Welle
