paying-attention

I like Sarah Palin, although I am relieved that she is not going to be vice president. This isn't because she is overly religious, or not well-read, or speaks with an annoying accent. I think her biggest mistake -- and it is a common one -- is her unwillingness to admit it when she doesn't know the answer to a question.

McCain didn't pick her as a policy expert, but as a charming outsider. Instead of claiming that Alaska's proximity to Russian indicated foreign policy know-how, or hemming and hawing when asked her reading preferences, she should have said, to the first, "I don't know, but I'd find out before I made any rash decisions." To the second, "I have five kids and a full-time job. I only wish I had time to read magazines!" In both cases she could have followed up with a pledge to surround herself with well-informed professionals and take heed of their briefings.

This week MSNBC offered an alternative take on the significance of her run for vice president. Perhaps we can take comfort in the fact that a woman just as underqualified as Dan Quayle or Spiro Agnew can earn serious consideration from voters. An excerpt:

"...the governor may become, in some ways, a landmark figure for future female candidates, said Astrid Henry, a visiting professor of gender and women’s studies at Grinnell College in Iowa.

First, Henry said, Palin may well be an example of feminist Bella Abzug’s observance: 'Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.'

'This is a good example of that, that someone has been put out there, grilled and found wanting,' Henry said...."

Labels: Alaska, Astrid Henry, Bella Abzug, feminism, Grinnell College, Sarah Palin

I don't think there is much more to be said about Sarah Palin. Is she a bad mother? Not as far as I can tell. Is her son Trig really her grandson? None of our business.

Sarah Palin is a likeable, camera-friendly evangelical woman and committed lifestyle conservative. That means that philosophically she has no problem making it illegal -- or at least legally uncomfortable -- to be different than she is. It is no surprise to see a candidate with these views on the Republican ticket. She is a smart choice for McCain if only because her judgmental take on many issues of personal choice is infinitely more palatable coming from a young attractive woman instead of a dour middle-aged man.

So let us move on or, in this case, go back to a previous issue. Why is it that women who call themselves feminists are so hung up on legalized abortion? There is a whole spectrum of opinions about whether Roe v. Wade is a good thing for women. Even if you subscribe to the Clinton formulation that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare," you can be unhappy about the absolutist implications of the so-called right to privacy. The fetus is human, and is alive. The only dispute is about whether, or at what point, it is a separate entity with rights apart from those of its mother.

Before any of us had heard of Sarah Palin, i.e. a couple of days ago, I was still curious about whether the die-hard Hillary Clinton supporters were going to join the push to elect Obama, or at the very least shut up. It troubled me that so many professionals and citizen commentators kept falling back on the Emily's List mantra of "You can't vote for McCain because he might be pro-life." There are many other reasons that a supporter of either Clinton would be crazy to vote for any Republican, but that one seemed to trump all other arguments in the hearts and pens of the Democratic Party faithful.

The thing is, and I'm sure I'm repeating myself here, many Americans are ambivalent about the right to choose. We aren't comfortable criminalizing it, but we'd really rather address the issue of unwanted pregnancy at a different point. Maybe there should be better access to birth control. Maybe young women should be raised to value themselves beyond their sexual desirability. Maybe boys as well as girls should be taught to take responsibility for their behavior. Maybe fathers as well as mothers should be encouraged to take time out to raise children. Maybe we should stop treating young parents as social failures.

There are lots of maybes that could reduce the interest in abortion on demand. If the "war on drugs" has taught us anything, it is that making something difficult or illegal doesn't make it go away. The first thing we need to agree on is that abortion, even as a choice, is usually a bad one. I know it is boring and long-term and might make people have to talk to and associate with those they don't currently respect. Maybe the answer is in the gray areas.

Maybe it does take a village.

Labels: Emily's List, John McCain, pro-choice, pro-life, Sarah Palin, Trig Palin