Bush Won’t Keep Women’s Issues Office

President Bush will not revive a special White House office on women’s issues that was created under President Clinton, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The National Organization for Women decried the decision as “really foolish and high-handed.”

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the function of the old office--gathering policy and political input from women’s advocacy groups and disseminating information on the administration’s activities--will be handled by aides in the White House Office of Public Liaison.

“We’re still working on how exactly that will be structured, but we’re committed to having a strong relationship with women’s groups in the Bush White House,” Buchan said. “The president believes the best way to address issues important to women is through a broad variety of fronts, through his policy initiatives, through outreach by the White House and by the agencies.”

NOW President Patricia Ireland pointed out that, to date, Bush has not reached out to women’s groups, except for a meeting last week with Republican-leaning female business executives.