I'm feeling the need to speak out on behalf of some of the "irresponsible mother" judgments being made about Governor Palin. The NYTimes and others have suggested that perhaps a mother of 5 with two special need situations, a Down's syndrome child and a pregnant 17 year old, should not be running for office that will pre-occupy her.
First, I don't think I agree with any of Gov. Palin's viewpoints with respect to abortion rights, role of religion and science in education, global warming, oil drilling, polar bear protection, etc. Judge her and McCain on those positions, and please rejuvenate your commitment to Obama-Biden, and influence anyone else you can.
Yet, I am a kindred spirit to Palin in that I am a single working mother of three (and three more common law "step" children) with executive responsibilities -- I've run public or start-up pharmaceutical companies for 20 years. I also travel 50% of the time; hid my pregnancies until I physically could no longer, returning to work the day after -- if not the hours after -- giving birth; I work ridiculous numbers of hours. And, here's the thing that's hard to believe -- I've spent many summers in Alaska with conservative sportsmen, and I too, in the words of Fred Thompson, can "properly dress a moose."
I've written about how impossible it is to have it all -- a "Life Im-balance". However, there is an irony here. When it comes to a family, essentially, it's impossible to have anything, let alone having it all, in today's society. Electronics, internet monitoring, junk food, poor public schools, competition for colleges, degenerating economy, 24 hour work pressures, relationship issues -- arghh! It goes on and on.
What allows one to "have it all" is having it all -- all the resources to make it work, and the ability to organize and utilize resources, which I've always posited that any working mom who continues to work after her second child has figured out. If you can (resource wise), surrender the laundry, surrender the cooking of dinner, surrender the matching of the socks and the location of your favorite underwear. In Gov Palin's case, surrender the research and advocacy for special need services for your child. If you have the resources, there are other people who can do that for you -- and possibly even better than you can. If you didn't work, you'd spend potentially all your time doing such things -- a full-time mom without help is a hell of a job!
If you can (resource wise), let someone else research the best schools for your children, then rest-assured that your child will get in and have tuition easily paid because of your position and resources.
I can speak for myself that I have not surrendered my most important and cherished responsibilities as mother -- providing a sense of security and values, work ethic, and an open environment in which to discuss my children's life experiences, decisions, and formulation of judgment upon this backdrop; time to talk each and every day to each and every child (phones do work around the world); attendance to key events of importance to each child; dedicated weekends to the children and family togetherness; making sure the "village" of other adults in their up-bringing are accounting for their whereabouts and what-to-dos (i.e. coaches, car-poolers, etc.)
As Michelle Obama herself has admitted, it's actually easier for her to manage motherhood during the campaign vs. her working mom status prior to her husband running for president, because of the resources she now has available to her.
Gov. Palin may be doing the most responsible thing for her family by accepting the VP nomination and the staff and resources it will bring to her. And remember, she also has a dedicated husband who is father to the children, who has probably had a significant role in raising the children as well.
This doesn't mean she shouldn't use such resources to evolve her thinking about evolution, climate change, and a woman's choice about her body... but that's another blog!