I am rushing to draft this -- I have a flight to South Sudan in hours -- but I wanted to briefly weigh in on this latest storm. If I indelicately draft this, cut me some slack since I am rushing and have little time (none?) to spare, which I would use to proof read, think, proof read etc. because this is an explosive topic.
First, Hilary Rosen is my friend. I like her... a lot. She is very passionate about her views. She will give you a strong debate and is not mean spirited. Yes, I know many of you conservatives are now gasping after reading the foregoing. Time to read on... sample this: I also like Governor Sarah Palin and Representative Michele Bachmann. Now it is the liberals' chance to gasp. Maybe everyone who is reading this can share an ambulance?
I also speak up -- even at risk of getting trashed, too -- if I think someone is being misunderstood or mischaracterized. It doesn't matter to me if the person is all the way to the left or all the way to the right. My close proximity to many of the newsmakers (knowing them) can give me a different perspective about people in politics and what they might say than others who don't know them.
Now having written the foregoing, I know that what Hilary said is now being weaponized by her political opponents. That IS part of Washington. Everything you say can become a WMD. Both parties do it to each other. It can be wicked.
In making her remark about Mrs. Romney and her choice to raise a family and not work outside the home, I know Hilary knows raising children is hard work, really hard work... the absolute hardest work. Hilary has children. That is the best way to know the challenge of raising children -- have them! Hilary is not anti-stay-at-home mom.
I did not read Hilary's comments to in any way take away from the hard chore of raising children or staying at home and raising them and not working outside the family. I read it to mean that raising children without financial pressure is easier than having financial pressure. This is not to take away from Mrs. Romney -- she has done a spectacular job raising five great sons -- but to face the reality that financial pressure does make it harder to raise a family. This is also not to say that the Romney family success is anything to be ashamed of... the family should be very proud of its success. I admire success, don't you?
On the bright side (I always try to look at the bright side of these explosive political battles), at least we are now talking about a very important issue -- women and the economy.
PS: On a personal note, and I add tongue in cheek, one particularly good thing about me headed off to South Sudan today is that I won't be able to read how I am about to be skewered for this posting! It's called "post and run."
Below is the Hilary Rosen quote that is drawing fire (and you can see by the blue text that it was an economic issue and not an assault on 'stay at home moms.'
"His wife has actually never worked a day in her life [Hilary should have added to complete her thought 'outside the home in addition to the work raising 5 great sons']...she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids? How do we send them to school? And why we worry about their future?"
Cross-posted from GretaWire.