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Look at Palin's record, not her parenting skills
by Nancy Crawley | The Grand Rapids Press
Sunday September 07, 2008, 6:26 AM
Piper Palin waves at right as her mother, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, holds her 4-month-old son, Trig, while talking with daughter, Willow, after her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday.
As Sarah Palin makes the case for being the next vice president, there is one question she should not have to answer: What about the kids?
That should be off limits for her and anyone else applying for a job.
But Gov. Palin's five children -- Piper, Bristol, Willow, Track and Trig -- are front and center within moments of any discussion of whether she is qualified.
McCain's seven children are not brought up. Barak Obama's two children are not. Nor are Joe Biden's three.
I'm not endorsing Democratic or Republican, but this fuss over the family of the only woman on a presidential ticket in 24 years is alarming.
Perhaps most disturbing , the 45-year-old Palin's abilities to keep hearth and home are being raised by high-profile women who should be defending equal treatment for women, not bashing them.
"When the phone rings at three in the morning (with a national emergency) and one of her children is really sick what choice will she make?" columnist Sally Quinn asked last week in the Washington Post.
Quinn did not ask the same of the candidates carrying a Y chromosome.
Daniel Mulhern, husband of Michigan's governor, asked during a Detroit radio show last week whether Palin "really knows what she's putting her family through." And the CBS Early Show held a roundtable discussion on whether Palin, mother of five, including an infant with Down Syndrome, could be an effective vice president.
News commentators asked if she will have enough time for her infant.
This is wrong. A person's qualifications for a job should be the one and only issue, not how they arrange for child care or react to their teenager's pregnancy.
Voters should ask her and Biden about their track records, their greatest accomplishments and most embarrassing moments. Let them debate issues and attack each other's positions.
But leave their parenting skills out of it.
Women, and men, should reject the idea that someone might be discredited or even denied a job because they have a child with special needs or a teen-ager in trouble.
Introducing her children and husband at last week's Republican convention, Palin simply acknowledged the swirling criticism by stating the obvious. "Our family," she said, "has the same ups and downs as any other."
Not only is that true, that should be the end of discussion.
Absolutely, agrees Rita Williams, mother of 12 and grandmother of a child with Down syndrome who ran Gill Industries in Plainfield Township for years and now chairs the board.
Williams, 74, recalls how difficult life was for a working mother when she took over as general manager in 1985 when her youngest child was 12.
"Sarah is obviously well aware of the challenges she is going to take on," Williams said. "She has been a working mother for a long time, for goodness sake."
In the work world, bringing up someone's family status during a job interview is not only irrelevant, but it could be discriminatory, said Rebecca Dernberger, president of the 15 West Michigan Manpower offices along the Lakeshore.
Palin is bidding for public office, not a private job, but she sees the parallel when it comes to how a job hunter will care for her children.
"We never ask that," Dernberger said from her Holland office. "In fact, I would find it troublesome."
It's a question of relevance. "How they fit that (job) into their personal life is neither here nor there, said Dernberger, who has four daughters, 19 through 4, all born since she joined the job-placement firm, where she supervises 70.
An employer should be concerned about a job hunter's children only to the extent it becomes a performance issue, she said. "It could also be aging parents, family illnesses or being over-extended in community commitment."
Palin, with a reputation for toughness, dismisses the uninvited concern for her family.
But this campaign by the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket is stirring up issues I thought were settled long ago.
Maybe it's time to get this out into the open and banished.
It is just plain wrong to say a woman dare not aspire to leadership because she has young children or a child with special needs.
E-mail Nancy Crawley: ncrawley@grpress.com
COMMENTS (17)Post a commentPosted by Vandertown on 09/07/08 at 8:27AMSarah's such a wonderful mom. Still having kids in her 40s (why exactly...4 wasn't enough?). Was she getting bored as Governor, so she decided to have another child? Now with a pregnant 17 year old daughter, she wants to teach abstinence only sex education. You Republicans are a pretty silly lot. Keep it up...your providing great material, for the late night talk show hosts!
Posted by onebigfan on 09/07/08 at 9:11AMThe conundrum is the GOP wants it both ways. Photo-ops with Palin, husband and special needs infant on stage at the GOP convention. Sure TV cameras and media photographers are at the airport to make sure there are images of John McCain embracing her pregnant teenage daughter and the boyfriend. When Palin's family are brought up we hear the campaign cry foul while she and the GOP are putting her family on display.
The GOP wants to highlight Palin's tax cutting. Suppose Michigan's major exports were oil and natural gas, the Michigan population was 10% of its current size. Oil and gas royalties from those exports were giving the state government $11 billion, more than twice the state budget. Add to that Michigan was being sent the most federal money per capita than any other state.
If this was happening in MI we would have tax cuts too.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYdZoyTvFrTc&refer=home
Posted by dharvardd on 09/07/08 at 9:38AMNone other than Dr. James Dobson (in the past 5 years or so) and Dr. Laura (are these people real doctors?) are weighing in and saying this is bad choice. B
Being a mother and being veep is one thing. Having a pregnant teenage daughter and, even more importantly, a Very Young special needs child is another. I've noticed that many single/divorced women choose to "prioritize" their lives and focus on raising their kids before they "date." So one must wonder what Sarah Palin's "family values" priorities are? For sure, if she's elected, there'd better be free day care in the White House. And for others with special needs kid? Fight for that change?
Posted by culdaff on 09/07/08 at 9:57AMIt seems the Democrats do not care for pregnant women, be they 44 or 17. Whoop!
Posted by jacobmaxdad on 09/07/08 at 10:36AMWhen right-wing commentators make statements that it's a terrible thing that a mother has a daughter who gets pregnant out of wedlock, eschewing abstinence, that should apply to any mothers, not just some. In this particular instance, the commentator think it's OK for Palin, but not OK for Jaime Lynn Spear's mom.
As for her qualifications - you're right, we should go on her qualifications, and she is clearly unqualified to be VP, much less President.
Any question about this? Just listen to her speak in various YouTube-posted videos, including one from not too many weeks ago, in which she states that she doesn't even know what a VP does. Yikes.
Posted by philmm787 on 09/07/08 at 11:22AMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEQdYdCfl60&feature=related
There is evidence that Trig, the newborn baby with Downs, is actually Bristol's child. Watch the video.
Posted by mikeh2000 on 09/07/08 at 11:33AMNo business stories to talk about in GR for this week's column?
Posted by jxnuser on 09/07/08 at 12:23PMIf you are going to be the party of family values, you live and die by that particular sword. I find it difficult to believe that Gov. Palin would stick to her abstinence only education in light of her daughter's situation.
You are absolutely correct though: a person's family should never be a consideration for hiring.
Posted by chuckie12 on 09/07/08 at 12:51PMWhy do the neocons want it both ways? If the roles were reversed and a Dem VP candidate had a 17-year-old pregnant daughter, they would be hammering it through the roof through their "family values" platform. Can't have it both ways.
Show us pics of the young daughter licking the baby's hair, and that's okay, but we aren't supposed to comment on the pregnant teen. Again, can't have it both ways.
Repubs can make their nasty comments about Michelle Obama, but the Dems can't touch Palin's family. Again, can't have it both ways.
Posted by echobabe on 09/07/08 at 5:50PMThe liberals and the media did not bring this into American homes, the GOP did.
Women are outraged for 2 reasons: 1) most of us put aside career aspirations, choosing part time work or full time motherhood. We expect other women to share our values: kids come first. Remember, the GOP has blamed the disintegration of the American family on a) women working outside the home, and b) women becoming educated. Only after children were grown and gone was a woman not questioned about her priorities. Now the GOP is apparently reversing decades of rhetoric to accommodate Palin?!
2) A Democrat candidate under similar circumstances would have been crucified in the media. The GOP would be the first ones to question her morality and her choices in raising her children.
Then there is the fact that they advertise Palin as a pit bull but complain she isn't treated with kid gloves. But Michelle Obama and Hillary are fair game?
This electorate isn't stupid. I understand some feminists are torn or conflicted on this one because of decades long fights for rights.
I hope most of them are clear enough to understand the GOP is using this manipulation to drive a wedge in the feminist base.
Posted by jvjr2007 on 09/07/08 at 7:38PMHer parenting skills are inextricably bound to her policies. If you are a big "God-fearing, no teen sex, parental provisioning, no sex education" advocate, then you must assume responsibility for what happened to your 17 year old daughter.
Hypocrisy in the McBush/Palin ticket, just like hypocrisy with all republicans.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
Michigan for Obama/Biden 2008.
Posted by fuzzynormal on 09/07/08 at 11:12PM"I'm not endorsing Democratic or Republican, but this fuss over the family of the only woman on a presidential ticket in 24 years is alarming."
What a load. Who's complaining, really? Show me a credible media outlet that's pushed this perceived theme. They've been gracious as far as I can tell. State an example or shut the heck up by perpetuating that nonsense.
The fact that her kid is pregnant is irrelevant, but I do take note of her policies regarding sex-education because of her family's situation, and that, dear columnist, is only fair.
Posted by fighterf7 on 09/08/08 at 8:07AMPalin is AWESOME
DEMOROCRATIC ARE GOING LOSE JUST LOOK AT THE POLLS IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS ITS ALL OVER DEMS
AND LIBRALS LOSERPosted by farmerjohn2 on 09/08/08 at 8:17AMNancy,
We all know there is a price to pay for high demand careers. It is reasonable for me to say that Mrs Palin made a choice to have a large family and now she is moving away from that responsibility. You sound as if you make no distinction between a mom with children who need a mom and one whose children are leaving the nest. I have chosen a career that allows me to spend time with my 5 children. I don't respect Mrs Palin's choice!Posted by farmerjohn2 on 09/08/08 at 8:19AMNancy,
We all know there is a price to pay for high demand careers. It is reasonable for me to say that Mrs Palin made a choice to have a large family and now she is moving away from that responsibility. You sound as if you make no distinction between a mom with children who need a mom and one whose children are leaving the nest. I have chosen a career that allows me to spend time with my 5 children. I don't respect Mrs Palin's choice!Posted by mrdubbs on 09/08/08 at 8:24AMI know nothing about Sarah Palin and dont claim to.... But now I will make my rant about parents these days and how they name their children. Palin is moving to the top of the names list. Cant we go back to the days of John, Tom, and Sue. Sorry this is something that has bothered by for a while. But I guess alot of people would say I am crazy because I have seen a lot of wacky names out there.
Posted by Atir7777 on 09/08/08 at 8:53AMSarah Palin has done just what the politicians wanted she has taken the thrust of this election off of central issues like the economy. She is 100% behind the war in Iraq and has even stated that this is God's war? I can't explain that comment I just heard her say that.
I agree that it is too bad that her children have become such a central issue but I believe that Mrs. Palin greatly responsible for that. Perhaps her husband is the care giver in their family. She has pushed those children and her stated values front and center in this election. So while my sympathy is with her kids it certainly is not with Mrs. Palin.
Just imagine should her daughter decide that marrying her 18 year old boyfriend is not a good choice - would she even be allowed to make that choice since the entire country and her mother's statments are front and center. I believe that her daughter was 16 when she got pregnant, I don't know about AK but in most states her boyfriend could face serious consequences.
Her decision to hold the second most important position in this country is a daunting one. Considering John McCain's age she stand a very good chance at ending up the President of the United States. I can't help but wonder if she truly believes that she can leave a top level meeting or have her child in senate chambers with her. I think both the country and her family will be short changed. One thing I learned the hard way is that you can't have it all, you can try but something has to give. I am working mother with two children and the number of important milestones that I missed - first steps, first words, etc., can never be gotten back. I worked because I thought a career was necessary and because my ex-husband didn't like family responsibilites and if we were to have a decent place to live and eat I had to work.
This is a choice that she has made, but I hope all women voters will stop and consider the mesages she is sending younger women. She is not concerned about our environment (polar bears interferred with Oil so she tried to prevent them from being placed on the endangered species list). She doesn't support equal pay - she says we just need to work harder. She doesn't support a woman's right to choose. That choice could and most likely would be life but she wants to regulate that choice. She talks down about community organizers and charity workers.
I am thrilled that we have finally come to a point where a woman is on a Major Political Parties ticket, yet I am disgusted that the choice is a woman who want to turn back the clock on woman's rights.
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