All my life, I’ve thought that if there were ever a female candidate for president, I’d vote for her. And now that there is a candidate who, I think one could fairly argue, is sitting rather much closer to the presidency than most other VP candidates, I won’t be voting for her. Although that still gives me a little pang of regret–just as Hilary’s lost nomination pains me–I’m just going to have to survive. As so many others have much more eloquently argued over the past few weeks, a candidate whose fundamental beliefs are so contrary to my own, whose experience seems so woefully lacking, cannot be ameliorated simply because she is a woman. Whether or not she could–or should– handle the vice presidency is completely irrelevant. I’m happy to let her personal choices remain her own. It’s her choices about what affects the rest of us that have me, frankly, more than a little worried about what the country would look like after another four years of war, failing economy, troubled schools, and increasingly activist social conservatism. I don’t think it’s a country I’d much care to live in.
My parents have a picture frame they bought when they were newly married, inscribed Love means never having to say you’re sorry. I’m reminded of this when reading a recent Slate article on the selection of Palin as VP; the author quips:
Feminism, to the GOP, appears to mean never having to say you’re exhausted.
Both sentiments are, frankly, ridiculous, as anyone who has ever gone to bed angry over the un-washed dishes in the sink could tell you. Just as love means ALWAYS having to apologize, even when you’ve done nothing wrong, even when it irks every fiber in you to apologize–being a feminist should mean being able to announce without shame that you cannot do it all. Superwoman does not exist. (All we ever had was the slightly lame, and, frankly, more than a little trashy-looking, Supergirl.) SuperMOM really does not exist, if that means doing it all–house, kids, marriage, work–to the highest of standards, with no help.
So, if “Supermom” is the new line that the GOP is selling, well, I’m not buying.
POLITICS. I’m actually really excited about the next few months on the political scene. I think–I hope–that there will be a lot of opportunities to hear about substantive, meaningful issues from both sides. I’m hesitantly hopeful that McCain heralds a move towards the center from the right, despite the campaign he’s run to date, although I guess that we’ll have to see how the Palin pick plays out in possibly moving McCain farther right.
I’m far from an expert, so I’ll leave the political analysis to those who are far more capable. I do just want to point out that, Palin’s politics aside, she’s a working mom! Hip, hip, hooray for working moms!
