MAN, THEY'RE BAD AT POLITICS:

The messaging started Tuesday in the early afternoon at the White House with Obama citing the 77 cents on the dollar figure that has become a convenient political cudgel, but has in fact been widely disputed, even by his own Labor Department.

Flanked by a diverse array of women, including Lilly Ledbetter, Obama signed an executive order that lifts the veil of "pay secrecy" from the federal contractor workforce, ensuring that federal contract employees don't face retaliation if they share salary information.

Obama hammered Republicans for "gumming up the works" when it comes to closing the gender wage gap.

But the real "gumming up" came when White House press secretary faced a second day of questioning Tuesday afternoon about the White House's own gender pay gap. 

 

According to an American Enterprise Institute study, women in the White House earn 88 percent of what men earn.

Here's where it got tricky and will likely stay tricky for the White House and Democrats trying to make the equal pay argument:

If the 77 cents on the dollar figure is evidence of discrimination outside the workforce, isn't the 88 cents on the dollar figure also evidence of discrimination in the White House?

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