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The mommy wars

Some people feel very strongly about working mothers (for or against), and with Sarah Palin, mother of five, including a special needs child as well as a teenage daughter who is pregnant, on the ticket, the debate is really heating up.

Some time ago, Sarah Palin said she was not even sure what the VP did (I am paraphrasing). And I have to say I am not entirely sure either, other than knowing that the VP is one heartbeat away from being president (I think I have heard that phrase no fewer than 20 times in the past five days). Sometimes I think Cheney's biggest claim to fame during his tenure will be that he shot his hunting buddy in the face. I have already forgotten most of the details about the Scooter Libby saga, as I am sure many have as well.

I am a working mother; I don't think I am wired to stay at home full time. But when I was pregnant, I don't think I gave it much thought; due to our circumstances, we had no choice but for me to work. Some people seem born to be with their kids all day. Some of my friends are so good at that. Maybe I would be too. I guess I will never know. If McCain is elected, I assume that Palin's husband will not work. Is it so bad that the dad spends much of the time with the kids rather than the mom? I have seen some families where the dad is very involved; it is so much more common today than when I was growing up. Not all families are made up of a mom and a dad anyway. Some grow up in single-parent homes, some with two moms or two dads, some with an aunt, uncle, sibling, or grandparent. What works for one family does not for another.

People have argued that the Palin family must not have been doing a good job to begin with because their teenage daughter is pregnant. I know almost no one who has not had sex before marriage. Yes, there are people out there (and I know of two), but of all the friends I have had in my life from high school, college, and beyond, I can't recall a single person who waited. Of course, this pregnancy makes a case for birth control and against abstinence-only education. I also know of only one person (and there could be more) who is against birth control. But that is another discussion.

I don't know who of any of our candidates will make the best president or vice-president. I do think that just because someone has kids, or because that person is a woman (or because a person is black) should have little to no effect on how they will lead the country; it just seems sexist and racist to think otherwise. You just have to hope these people know themselves well enough to make that call on their own. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

On another front, did anyone catch the speech that the dad from ALF gave last night? I liked it. What I found most amusing about the entire evening was the varying reactions from people on different networks. You would swear we were watching different speeches.

Comments

Facie said…
I don't know how this woman will do balancing the VP stuff with her role as mom and wife, but I thought she gave a great speech last night; it gave me no reason to believe she would do anything less than a great job.

For some moments throughout Palin's speech, I imagine I felt the same way so many women did when they heard Hilary speak and thought and hoped she would win the nomination. It felt great to see a confident, charismatic, intelligent, well-spoken woman up there.

Yeah, women.

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