Monday, September 1, 2008

Smells Like Teen Pregnancy

When I first heard the news that Sarah Palin's 17-year old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant, I'd be lying if I said that one of the first thoughts in my head wasn't, "Yes!  Now I get to use that blog post title I thought of a few nights ago and have been dying to use!"  I figured I would have to wait for another Jamie Lynn Spears incident of teenage starlette pregnancy, but apparently I got lucky.  Now I can fit the title into my blog in a completely relevant manner!  

My blog-centered joys aside, this news brought the same delight and fear that any other news I've heard about this Palin character has brought to me.  Delight at the fact that I now know that not only is she completely inexperienced and underqualified to be vice president, but I now know that she is also a mother of five, one of whom is a pregnant seventeen-year-old, and the youngest of whom is a four-month-old with Down's Syndrome.  No way can this woman be our country's VP!  Not that I have anything against Palin's family facts...in fact it's quite admirable to know that she manages to hold her post as Alaska state governor while also dealing with these 'issues'.  Clearly she has accepted and embraced these things that most people may see as misfortunes and continues on with her responsibilities both to her family and her job.  But not as VP.  There is simply too much going on that would fall on her shoulders and too many distractions in her family for her to take on this magnitude of responsibility.  Even if her youngest child did not have Down's Syndrome, requiring more care and attention from the family, it's still a four-month-old child who needs his mother more than our country does.

The fear that I feel is the fact that this woman actually could become our VP.  It gives me a headache just thinking about it.  And the fact that this is clearly just a ploy of McCain's (or whoever's pulling his strings) to get him into office, but what then?  What happens when we realize that our VP is completely unavailable because she's busy attending to her plethora of family issues.  Family does come first, but when taking on a position as globally involved as the VP of America is--at a time when our economy is basically in a recession, we are in a seemingly never ending military entanglement with Iraq and Afghanistan, globalization is at its peak, our environment is deteriorating--the person assigned that post should definitely have the family issues at a minimum.  

I hope I've managed to make my point without sounding too arrogant or anti-feminist.  If not, as long as I made my point I'm at peace with it.

5 comments:

loitoastmasters said...

I agree completely that it shows a character deficit to be willing to shoulder the responsibilities of VP of the United States while mother of such a young infant. More power to her, I guess, but I question her judgment.

Madilyn Peiper said...

I whole heartedly agree with you.

Brian said...

First controversial comment: If something gives you a headache, stop thinking about it!! Nah that's all. You're kinda smart sometimes...

Barefoot and Pregnant in the Kitchen said...

As I've said time and time again...there are those of us who stop thinking about things that give them a headache and those who do all the thinking. I'd personally rather be the one doing the thinking. Very controversial, indeed!

ng2000 said...
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