Bristol Palin, Sarah, Paula Jones and a Question of What’s Right

I’ve started three new posts today trying to avoid writing about Bristol Palin.  I don’t think I can.   But I’m going to borrow someone else’s words, someone who has said it so much better than I could.  The link in this piece came from the always wise Jill Miller Zimon, whose blog Writes Like She Talks is sharp and smart.  She’s among those posting really thoughtful ideas about this very sad situation. 

I’m as concerned as many of my peers about the choice issue and the complicated role it plays here; just as troubled by much of this candidacy and the tragic exposure of a very young woman to a national furor.  My biggest problem though, is with what I see as the (noisy but far from majority) inappropriate writing and speculating about this family.  In my mind, these attacks run a real risk of ending up as a "brie v beer" class war, and we’re not like that.  We shouldn’t sound like we are.  It’s the same feeling I had during the Paula Jones debacle when people wrote about her as "trailer park trash."  Whatever the substance of either Jones or Palin, or this pregnant young woman, what’s been going on: trashing Sarah Palin for going back to work after her child was born, implying that if she’d been a better mother this pregnancy might never have happened… interpreting her values as "redneck" — is dangerous.  I’m old enough to remember when conservatives talked like that – fought against all our efforts for equal pay, for non-mommy track hiring, for not only abortion rights but also contraception — all of it. 

As I said though, Richard C. Harwood has written what I think is a very thoughtful piece about this potential battle – an unwinnable one, I fear.  Here are two of the best quotes but you really should read the whole thing.

Moreover, I have said that I
know two families with specials needs kids where both parents work, and where
there is so much love and affection that I would be more than willing to have
my own two kids join those families. Further, I have wondered aloud why
stay-at-home dads who were once professionals are okay, but not Palin’s
husband. . . .

Let me be clear: I am not defending
Sarah Palin.  To me, there is some virtue in her selection, but also the
rolling of dice. But how we talk this choice is just as important as our final
judgment. Why? Because so many of us want a different kind of politics in
America, a politics that is more reflective of reality, more thoughtful, and
more hopeful. We want a politics that transcends Red States and Blue States. We
want a politics that encourages honest and tough debate, but not unnecessary
discord and divisiveness. Now is our chance.

In 1984, I worked for Walter Mondale
when he nominated Rep. Geraldine Ferraro as his choice for Vice President. Of
course, the initial burst of excitement for Ferraro dissipated quickly as she
found herself mired in family problems, with Mondale losing in a landslide.
While Palin’s selection and her running mate may take a similar route, the race
is still far from over. But no matter what, my question is, what route will you
take?

There is so much we all want to say.  How we say it, though, could make all the difference.