Who Needs Sarah Palin More: America or Her Family?

In theory, I like to believe I’m a feminist. The kind of new-line feminist who believes in supporting all women who are trying to make good choices for themselves and their families, whether they opt to stay at home with their children or work outside the home and hire someone to help out, or hold down a job while their husband stays home with the kids. In theory, that’s how I feel.

But as a mother, I have to admit it troubles me that Sarah Palin has accepted the offer to be John McCain’s running mate.

I want to be supportive of her decision. It would certainly be politically correct of me. But I can’t.

I’m troubled because Palin’s family clearly is at a crossroads. Her youngest has Down’s syndrome. Her oldest daughter is seventeen and pregnant. Let’s face it—for most families of Palin’s economic and social status, these factors would create a situation in which the parents would circle the wagons, cut back on outside responsibilities, and deal with the issues facing the ones to whom they’ve made the greatest and most important commitment: their family.

But Sarah Palin is hitting the campaign trail. And if she becomes vice president of the United States, she won’t have a whole lot of time for her family, any way you cut it.

The mother in me has trouble coming to terms with her decision to run for office. The mother in me has trouble believing that any person out there can adequately take Sarah Palin’s place as a fill-in mom to her children while she jets around the country. I got a lump in my throat when I heard Michelle Obama tell Brian Williams a few days ago that when her oldest daughter saw her father talking to her on a satellite TV screen at the Democratic Convention, she burst into tears because she misses him so much. It actually pains me to think that Barack Obama might become president and as a result, miss much of his daughters’ childhoods.

But frankly, it pains me even more that Sarah Palin might do the same thing. Because I remember being small, and I remember how connected I was in my early years to my mother. If I’m honest, I have to admit that if my mother had taken a job that required her to be away from me on a regular basis for days at a time, it would have had a very negative impact on me and on my emotional development, far more so than if my father had been the one on the road.

I haven’t yet decided who has my vote. I actually liked much of what Sarah Palin had to say in her speech last night. I liked how she came across. It’s just hard for me to believe that this country needs Sarah Palin more than her own children.