New Mom: Hockey Moms Delight

I can’t not talk about Sarah Palin, though I forewarn I do not invite a political discussion on this blog. There are lots of outlets for those who want to express their political views, and the mom-to-mom blog aims not to be one of them. This isn’t about which party I, or my fellow Mom to Mom bloggers may or may not support, this is about a mother running for office.

I do feel Sarah Palin’s candidacy inarguably brings to the forefront so many issues facing working mothers that it needs to be addressed here. Let’s face it, she’s a mother of five, including a newborn, she’s about to be a grandmother, and at the same time she’s been raising a family she’s had a successful career trajectory with an even higher profile goal on the horizon. As one of my sisters said, “Politics aside, she’s every working mother’s fantasy.” Let’s be real: she’s a mother of five; she’s been involved in the PTA and the hockey games; she’s a former beauty queen; she’s held impressive executive jobs of increasing significance; and now she’s doing it all in the public spotlight with relative personal grace and dignity.

To me, she seems like someone who I could have gone to high school with or whom I could know from my local town committee. She makes me feel that if I had had a little more ambition I could be running for Vice President, and there’s something about that that makes me want to achieve more. It makes me feel that my everyday struggles to balance my job with my one child are completely surmountable.

It makes me angry that people question her ability to be a good mother with the pressures of the job (or vice versa) when they never ask those questions of the men who run for office. Male politicians’ roles in their children’s lives have never been much fodder for discussion. Joe Biden was hailed a hero for ultimately deciding to be sworn in to his Senate seat just weeks after the death of his wife and daughter when he had two young sons in clear need of his fatherly attention. By all accounts, he seems to have achieved a remarkable high-power political career while raising two remarkable sons. To me, he has proven it can be done. Why does Sarah Palin have to do that all over again just because she does the job in high heels?