Chad’s Morning Brief: Carly Fiorina Attempts to Take Away Clinton’s Gender Card Play, Obama Executive Actions on the Increase, and Other Top Stories

Here is your Morning Brief for April 23, 2015.

Fiorina Gets Ready

If Hillary Clinton goes on to win the Democratic nomination, we can expect the media to play up the "War on Women" storyline. According to the Daily Beast though, one candidate believes that she can stop Hillary and defeat the "War on Women" accusations.

It was hard to tell who was more taken aback, former CEO Carly Fiorina, or the reporters assembled to question her, when one of them prefaced his question with the comment, “I’ve never met a presidential candidate who had fingernail polish on.” Without missing a beat, Fiorina said, “Well, there’s always a first.”

The remark, retro as it was, served to elicit an interesting response as Fiorina mused about what it would be like if Hillary Clinton were to face a female nominee.

Fiorina has presented herself as the only person in the current GOP field who won’t really have to worry about inadvertently launching a war on women and the lone foil to Clinton’s “first woman president” claim.

“She wouldn’t be able to play the gender card,” Fiorina said. Clinton would have to run on her track record, “not identity politics.”

Yet, Fiorina’s public remarks are often peppered with identity politics. Fiorina has not officially declared her candidacy, but as the lone woman in the GOP’s large contingent of male contenders, she is unabashed about the virtues a woman brings.

“Get women involved in any problem, the problem gets better,” she said at one point during her breakfast meeting with reporters last week, sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington. “The data is clear.”

During a speech in New Hampshire last weekend, Fiorina responded to a Dallas city councilwoman’s recent comment that a woman shouldn’t be president because of her hormones.

“Not that we have seen a man’s judgment clouded by hormones, including in the Oval Office,” she said, a clear reference to a different Clinton.

If Fiorina decides to run I think she would make for an interesting candidate, but one I wouldn't consider in the top tier. She has a business background which is needed in the discussion, and yes she would help deflect the War on Women storyline.

While I don't see her capturing the nomination, it would not surprise me if Fiorina ends up on the shortlist for VP.

Obama Executive Actions

According to the USA Today, President Obama is continuing to roll out executive actions and now faster than he ever has before.

But by one measure, such policy rollouts are actually increasing in pace. The White House often announces executive actions with a fact sheet from the press office, and those spiked last year during what Obama called the "Year of Action." The White House issued 228 fact sheets in 2014, more than the first three years of his presidency combined.

This year, the White House has already issued three more fact sheets than last year at the same time.

The Obama strategy on executive actions closely parallels that of the Clinton White House. In Bill Clinton's last two years in office, chief of staff John Podesta launched what would become known as "Project Podesta." In an effort to flex presidential authority, Podesta canvassed executive agencies for actions Clinton could take without going to Congress.

Podesta came back to the Obama White House last year, and when he departed forHillary Clinton's presidential campaign his responsibility for climate policy fell to Deese.

"One of the ways that the White House plays a role is to think forward and challenge the agencies to be proactive in saying, 'What more can we do? And what more can we do that's consistent with certain themes?' " Deese said.

This year, the major theme is "middle-class economics." The Obama White House has also used executive action to lower mortgage insurance premiums and regulate retirement accounts. And coming soon: new overtime regulations from the Department of Labor, which Obama ordered in a presidential memorandum last year.

According to the article, Obama rolled out more executive actions yesterday targeting climate change.

Other Must Read Links:

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Lubbock City Council Preview

Patrick Advisors Blast Abbott’s Pre-K Plan

No, Public Pre-K is Not the Nanny State

Was the Texas House Tricked Over Open Carry Amendment?

Rick Perry Says He Probably Would Attend a Gay Wedding

Marine Corps Weighs Lowering Standards for Women

Police Kill More Whites Than Minorities

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard on our KFYO YouTube page after the show and online at kfyo.com.