http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/valerie-jarrett-lilly-ledbetter-112827.html?hp=l2_4Valerie Jarrett brushes off recent criticism, cites Lilly Ledbetter
By Kendall Breitman
11/12/14 3:32 PM EST
Updated 11/12/14 4:21 PM EST
Valerie Jarrett defended herself Wednesday against recent criticism, saying it’s nothing compared to Lilly Ledbetter and the sacrifices of other women who fought for equality.
“When you break glass ceilings, you’re going to get minor scrapes by a shard or two from the glass,” Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said on MSNBC’s “The Reid Report.” “But what I really focus on is the hard work that we have in the these last two years.”
After the midterm elections that resulted in a strengthened Republican party, Jarrett has faced critical and probing coverage in the press. A piece in POLITICO called for Jarrett’s firing, while another in the New Republic labeled her “The Obama Whisperer.” The reports have drawn criticism from MSNBC’s Mike Brzezinski, who called the coverage “sexist.”
(Also on POLITICO: Watchdog: Ex-Rep. Alan Mollohan should be indicted)
Jarrett, one of the Obamas closest friends, said the attacks make her think of “women’s suffrage and the sacrifices women had to make back then when they went on fastings to try to get attention” and she added, “Lilly Ledbetter and everything she went through to fight for equal pay.”
“So if I take a bump or bruise along the way, that’s nothing compared to the sacrifices that the women whose shoulders I stand upon made along the way,” she said on MSNBC.
