Michelle Bernard
Bernard also went to Howard, where she got a heart of D.C. No nonprofi t, she reasons, should pay
degree in political science before going to law school at downtown rent. On her desk is a photo of her parents
Georgetown University. She politely declines to disclose and an unkempt pile of big-city newspapers she reads
her age, though several published sources place her at daily.
around 43. She arrived at the Women’s Forum in 2006 Ready to make the three-hour trip north on Amtrak’s
after an illustrious career as an attorney in D.C. that ran high-speed Acela, she plots out the dash she’ll need
the gamut from white-collar criminal defense to inter- to make from Penn Station to the MSNBC studios at
national law. She eventually channeled that work into 30 Rockefeller Plaza to make her scheduled appearance
championing women’s rights worldwide. on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. But fi rst, one
Working as an attorney in the nation’s capital got her last item of business here at home:
interested, and involved, in politics. One of her earli- Her mom brings the kids to the
est accomplishments was founding the Iraqi Women’s Forum offi ce to say goodbye.
This election
Democracy Initiative. It is “Mommy loves you,” she tells
proved
diffi cult to teach Iraqi and them. “See you on Wednesday.”
Iranian women “what we This trip — and the Democratic
particularly
mean by the universal rules and Republican conventions — are
exciting for
of human rights, what is the only times to date that her chil-
meant by free speech, free- dren haven’t traveled with her since
Bernard, who
dom of religion, freedom they were just weeks old. It’s part
counts among
of association,” she says. of the price of the growing profi le
This past election season both she and her organization have
her fields of
proved particularly exciting garnered in the torrid campaign sea-
expertise the
for Bernard, who counts son.
among her multifarious “I have no secret,” Bernard says
voting trends of
fi elds of expertise voting trends of African-Americans when asked how she accomplishes
African-Americans
and women. everything. “I just do it. You have to
be very organized, and I have a lot of
and women.
T
hese days, she spends much of her time split between family support.” She lives within 10
the Women’s Forum — a right-of-center feminist minutes of her parents, one of her two sisters and her
think tank with the credo, “All Issues Are Women’s brother, and everybody helps.
Issues” — and her role as a top media opinion maker As for the Independent Women’s Forum, despite
and MSNBC political analyst. While other groups prefer economic problems and the Republican drubbing at the
to pound the steps of Capitol Hill to make their cases polls, Bernard remains steadfast and upbeat in her goals.
to policymakers in Congress, the Forum, a research She calls the government bailout of fi nancial institutions
and education institute made up of women scholars, “the lesser of many evils.”
advances its causes through radio, TV, print news out- So where does the Forum go with Democrats in
lets, books, and the like. control of the White House and Congress?
“Members of the media, opinion, and policymakers, “We will become more focused not only on conserva-
as well as left-wing groups, do women a disservice when tive women,” Bernard says. “There are women who reject
they fail to recognize that women’s voices should be the conservative label, but who are [still] common-sense,
heard on things like national security and terrorism, and mainstream women.”
not just on sexual harassment in the work-
place or abortion rights,” she says.
For More Info
Early afternoon on election eve, Bernard
libertarian-leaning, Independent Women’s
Righting Feminism: Conservative Women
is straightening her offi ce, which sits some-
Forum (www.iwf.org). Author Ronnee
& American Politics explores the methods
Schreiber, a political science professor
what inelegantly in a mall in Chevy Chase, of increasingly powerful activist women
at San Diego State University, says it’s
Md. The place appeals to the fi scal conserva-
through the lens of the nation’s two most
important for such groups “to show that
Y OF MICHELLE BERNARD
prominent conservative women’s groups:
conservatives care about women’s interests,
TES tive in Bernard, who moved the organiza-
the socially conservative Concerned Women
therefore conservatism should appeal to
C
OUR
tion’s headquarters from prime turf in the
for America (www.cwfa.org) and the more
women.”
JANUARY 2009 / NEWSMAX 21
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