I don’t disagree with Stephanie often, but I guess there’s always a first time, and I really don’t think it’s any of our business how long Sarah Palin chose to take off after giving birth. Who knows what the circumstances were? Whether she was able to bring the baby to the office? What other reasons there might have been for why she felt compelled to do what she did? Can’t we hold more than one idea in our heads at the same time: Disagree with Palin’s choices in politics (including the ironic choice to deny women a choice… but I digress), without taking issue with her decisions as a person? Can’t we fight for every woman’s and every man’s right to family leave (and flex time, and job-sharing, and the whole work-life agenda that dropped out of the national discourse sometime in the 80s thanks in large part to GOP culture warriors–but I digress again) without worrying that one very prominent working mother’s choices will undercut our whole argument? (If our argument is that weak, we have other problems.) For an example of how to do all this better, let’s see how France’s Minister of Justice works it out–as a single mom, no less.
Oh, and while we’re at it: When Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick wonder, in their otherwise excellent Slate piece: “Is it passing judgment to observe that for most mothers, a pregnant teenager is a sign of parenting gone awry?” all I can say is, um, my first assumption would be birth control gone awry. I know it’s not going to happen, but I really, really wish we’d just focus on stuff like Palin’s global-warming denialism.
