on sarah palin

so, i've been thinking about this a lot and have decided to weigh in on the sarah palin circus, because i have a perspective that i haven't heard anyone else mentioning.

now, to start, i agree with barack obama and others who are saying family is off-limits and should not be a factor in people deciding whom to vote for. and i think it's ridiculous to blame sarah for bristol and levi's stupidity and carelessness. we all know that parents of 17-year-olds can't possibly control their every move. you raise them as well as you can, but they start making their own decisions and some of them are pretty stupid. (topic for another day=why teaching only abstinence is also careless. you'd think kids would know by now that, if you're going to have sex, for pete's sake use a condom. correctly. clearly, they don't. oh, and even nice Christian kids who go to church and all that are also having sex. it's a fact. realize you have to deal with it!)

sarah palin's qualifications or lack thereof for vice president do not begin or end with her abilities as a mother or the dumb things her kids do. running a country is hardly the same thing. this i can agree with and stand behind.

and as to dr laura's claim that palin should never have been picked because her responsibility is to her family first and that will be a hard call should she have to choose... well, plenty of women are able to find a way to make it work. not all can juggle it well, but it's not up to me to decide how much time she gives her kids--won't her husband be there for the kids, anyway? this sounds like a copout as i write it, and, while i'm inclined to think dr laura has a point, i'm not sure i can fully stand behind her on it.

no, my problem with sarah palin is this: how dare she thrust her daughter bristol and her out-of-wedlock pregnancy into the international spotlight like this? i keep hearing that this is a family matter and the family should be allowed to deal with it in private. yes, i agree. but clearly sarah did not. she knew her daughter was pregnant; she knew it would become news, all her 'how dare you's notwithstanding; she knew that everyone in the world with access to CNN would know the names bristol and levi, and be able to pick them out of a lineup. (honestly, i can't believe i do. i would never have known which kid had which phoenix-familyish name except for the pregnancy and poor trig.)

the one to blame here is mommy sarah. had the family already been on the campaign trail before the pregnancy, that would be one thing. but sarah knew about the pregnancy, knew what would happen, and pressed on with her own agenda anyway.

how mortifying must it be for bristol? she's 17 and pregnant, and now the whole world knows it. she was probably dreading the day she'd start to show and her friends would notice it. now, bump or no bump, we all know about it.

and this levi kid gets flown down to the lower-48 to be trotted out with the others so he can hold bristol's hand through the whole thing. ugh.

sarah palin is a young woman. she's in her early 40s. if she is such a valuable and clear choice for a running mate, she would certainly be asked again in 4 or 8 years. and then this mess with bristol would be completely behind us and just a footnote to her mother's life, instead of one of many sideshows. her time did not have to be right now.

i think it's rotten that sarah palin would knowingly subject her 17-year-old daughter to such intense scrutiny and publicity about her pregnancy. it's one thing for 600k in alaska to know the story; it's another completely for everyone with a tv on earth to know about it. (and don't tell me she couldn't know that; that's what they pay teams of people millions of dollars to know in advance.) this was a mother's decision and she placed her own career before the emotional and psychological health of her underaged child. ugh.

and, while i'm on the subject, i might as well say what i think about bristol and levi marrying. don't do it, kids. you're too young. this is such a brilliant possibility for demonstrating the beauty and selflessness of adoption. so you won't abort? great. but don't ruin your lives. give the baby to a couple who are ready for a child and have the resources, emotionally and financially, to care for it. that would be beautiful and a real power move for the pro-life folks to show that there's a third option beyond aborting or keeping for youself.

tell me all you like about how hard it is to give up a child you've carried for 9 months. i believe it. i've never heard anyone saying adoption is easy for the bio mom. but it's about the child, isn't it? abortion might be a selfish choice, but so is keeping a child you're not ready for.