Vice Squad
Sarah Palin electrifies the Republican base — and the mommy wars.
by Kate Tuttle
September 3, 2008
Some, including Democratic nominee Barack Obama, argued that the family of a candidate should be off-limits period (Obama also pointed out that his mother was only eighteen when she gave birth to him). Democratic strategist James Carville, on Larry King Tuesday night, attacked
Palin's credentials while constantly deflecting questions about her family situation, focusing instead on her lack of experience and international knowledge (including the fact that she only got her passport in 2007).
But it's Palin's positions on social issues like abortion that make it so hard not to comment on, or at least ask questions about, her family life and choices. Palin, a member of Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion group that favors overturning Roe v. Wade, says she chose to continue a pregnancy after she was told at four months that the baby had Down syndrome. Supporters see her as someone who "walks the walk" of her conservative positions, even at a time when some 80-90% of women (including, presumably, thousands who consider themselves "pro-life") choose to abort in the same situation. If the campaign chooses to share the Palins' very personal story to gain favor among these voters, can it on the other hand ask for privacy as they deal with Bristol's pregnancy? Similarly, many social conservatives see the Palins' support of Bristol as a sign of strong family values during difficult circumstances; is it off-limits to ask whether Palin (or McCain) would consider abstinence-only education a success? How about their position on birth control, itself under attack by the lame-duck Bush adminstration? Or funding to health and other services for pregnant teenagers, a budget item Palin cut as Alaska governor?
When a candidate is chosen in large part for her biography, how can her life choices be off limits?
It's certainly true that most of those who have worried about Palin's ability to handle her family crises while running for VP did not express similar qualms about her counterpart Joe Biden's decision to serve his first Senate term even while his two sons recovered from the car accident that claimed the lives of their sister and mother. Yet is it fair for the campaign to suggest that any query about Palin's qualifications for office is itself offensive and sexist? When a candidate is chosen in large part for her biography (as a friend put it, her foreign policy credential is "son in Iraq," while her family values credential is "son with Down's"), how can her life choices be off limits?
Certainly there are other, non-maternal scandals in Palin's portfolio, and I'd like to see the media get to work on them. Her one-time membership in the Alaskan Independence Party, which advocates secession from the Union, is intriguing, as are the statements of her pastor, who believes that God speaks to him and allows him to read people's minds. I would like to know more about her attempts to ban books from the Wasilla Public Library, especially since her vast executive experience is often cited to her credit.
But when even Lindsay Lohan, a lifelong expert on lousy parenting, goes online to criticize your parenting choices, this is clearly a mommy issue.
For most women, most mothers anyway, Sarah Palin's situation will seem both alien and familiar. Most of us have never run for high office but we've all had to justify our work lives to our families and vice versa. The question in her case is, just what does her family life tell us about how she'd do the job she's asking us to give her?
What do you think about all this? How do you think Sarah Palin's mothering relates to her potential as V.P.? Tell us in comments!
Photo courtesy JohnMcCain.com. (Seriously, this is an official press photo.)
©2008 Kate Tuttle and Nerve Media
About the Author
|
|
Related Articles
|
|
Kate Tuttle is a writer and editor raising two children just outside Boston. |
|
|
-
by Melissa Rayworth
We're saving less and spending more — much more.
-
by Lisa Carver
Kids need controversial books like The Higher Power of Lucky.
-
by Jessica Wakeman
School-lunch crusaders take on the USDA and the slushie.
|
