This is Julia. She’s the newest part of President Obama’s campaign team.
On Thursday, “The Life of Julia” hit the interwebs. A series of infographics show an American woman going through life – going to HeadStart, starting college, beginning her career, having a child, getting Medicare (anybody else think it was odd Julia didn’t need birth control until age 27?).
The campaign shows how Julia fares under an Obama presidency compared to how she would under a Romney one (SPOILER ALERT – she does better when Barack’s in office). Cute idea, right?
“The Life of Julia” is just the latest installment in this year’s battle from the female vote (assuming you believe women vote as a bloc, which the WashPo doesn’t).
What’s interesting about this graphic is that it doesn’t just touch on women’s issues. Sure, they bring up birth control and Lily Ledbetter, but Julia definitely doesn’t get an abortion or take action after being sexually harassed on the job.
She doesn’t take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for her son or her aging parents. She doesn’t seem to need services under the Violence Against Women Act (which 31 Republican men recently voted against) or apply for welfare benefits as a single mom.
Instead Julia goes to college with help from Pell Grants. She benefits from being allowed to stay on her parents’ health insurance until the age of 26. Her son goes to public school, Julia gets a small business tax incentive, and she eventually receives Social Security and Medicare – all generally non-gendered benefits.
Opponents are blasting Obama’s depiction of Julia’s life as a classic example of the cradle-to-grave welfare that makes government too big and have countered with a #Julia hastag on Twitter. (”#Julia is bummed. Her share of the national debt went up $16,345 under Obama,” tumbled the RNC.)
Does Julia’s life look like yours? Are these services that you use or want to use? Or ones you think we should cut to reduce the size of government?