Moms On Issues
with Sara and Veronica
We're two moms with different backgrounds, jobs and points of view, writing about our opinions on the political and social issues affecting working moms. We'll also keep our eye on the media and the celebrity mom world to highlight issues that are relevant to your life.
Check out our personal blogs: Veronica's Blog and Sara's Blog
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I received a review copy of “National Security Mom” by Gina M. Bennett and part of her thesis is that women and especially moms should be participating in politics. As a terrorism analyst and a mom, she parallels many issues from international affairs with what we deal with everyday as mothers. While I will fully review this book on my personal blog later this week, I was struck by her premise that our lives as mothers should be enough for us run for elected office.
Contrast Bennett’s message with the pounding that Sarah Palin has been taking since McCain announced her as his running mate. On one hand she’s presenting herself as just a hockey mom who happened into politics, on the other she keeps mentioning that she has executive experience. Then Charlie Gibson did many of us hoped he would do, pressed her on issues including her views of international affairs. Obama backers jumped on her inability to state what the Bush doctrine is while McCain backers including George Will on ABC’s This Week said that they didn’t get the memo about what the doctrine is exactly. Palin’s status as a mom plays as both her strength and a weakness.
I’ve talked in the past that I do believe we, women and mothers, should be running for office. But now that we have a working mom on the big ticket and witnessing all the mommy war gossip flying, I have to wonder if this will all end up backfiring on women?
I don’t kid myself to think that now that Palin is out there, win or lose, that the GOP attack machine wouldn’t tear apart a mom with young children running for Senate or a mom with a pregnant teenage daughter. But I do worry that the very necessary vetting of Palin in the press and in political circles won’t cause some mom out there to second guess whether or not it really is worth it to run for city council.
The question thus remains, how can we as moms capitalize on the experience we gain by running a household, multi-tasking, negotiating peace between siblings, and the other things we do without our opponents painting motherhood is a fluffy internship at our dad’s office? Or are we kidding ourselves to think that motherhood prepares us for anything other than being a mom?
What do you think?
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I don’t think it will keep qualified women out of politics. I’ve got a female state senator. In NC we have two women competing for the same Senate seat as well as a woman running for Governor. None of these have led to Mommy wars but none of these candidates have dropped the culture war bombs that Palin has either.
Here’s to ever expanding options for women.
Kate | September 15th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Oh, I am so tired of thinking about these stupid mommy wars. I wish everyone would get over the “mom” part of Sarah Palin and just look at her political positions. Alas, that is unlikely to happen while the media continues to fuel the fire.
Does motherhood alone prepare someone to run for political office? I would give that a resounding NO. Does fatherhood alone prepare a man to run for political office? NO. There’s much more to running a city, a state, a country than what one does as a parent. There are some applicable skills that GOOD parents must possess, but the level of leadership, knowledge and analysis necessary for a competent politician just isn’t automatically bestowed upon a person in the delivery room. Sorry, but it takes more than that.
Robyn | September 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Here is a nurse talking about Obama:
**video link deleted**If you want to state anti-abortion views, go ahead, but please don’t leave videos of “a nurse.”**
Why I’m voting for McCain-Palin.
Annemarie | September 16th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
No, Palin bashing will not keep women out of politics. Palin is not the first woman in politics for pete’s sake. Hillary was a mom with a teenager in the house when she was involved in proposing health care reform in the 90’s. Nancy Pelosi has 4? kids I think and she has risen high in the Democratic ranks. I understand the women who fought to get women the vote went through physical bashing much worse than what Palin has seen. The women who are called to politics are much stronger than I, and no verbal mud slinging will stop them. As for Palin, nothing has been said about her that I feel sorry for her, save maybe the stuff about Trig not being her baby. Like McCain keeps saying politics is a tough business. Moreso when an unknown is announced as vp candidate 2 months before gen election - man or woman. I think the never being allowed to speak freely in front of microphone by my running mate’s campaign manager would keep me out of politics more than the mud slinging.
As far as women actually campaigning on the fact that they are CEO of a household (hehe that line is from the movie One Fine Day with George Clooney) then they would need to be willing to air their family’s dirty laundry in the press and the kids would need to be accepted as a reflection of the parents. I am not a parent so I can’t say how many would be willing to do that.
Lindsay | September 17th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Came over here from Dad Gone Mad. Won’t be back. Might have if it wasn’t for the “GOP attack machine” comment. I think the “attack machine” is completely bipartisan. It’s unfortunate that a site for working moms couldn’t embrace bipartisanship as well.
Sharon | December 9th, 2008 at 12:11 pm