I'm disappointed.
Here are the reasons I'm not disappointed:
-She's awesome. She's put-together and poised, and does a great job giving speeches. (And, she looks a lot more cute (and feminine) than a lot of women you see in politics).
-She has great executive experience, even if it may not be as long-term as some would wish.
-She has done a lot of good reforming in Alaska, which is promising if she gets to Washington.
-She's staunchly pro-life, including giving birth to a baby she knew had Down's.
-She's an evangelical Christian (yeah!!).
-She has 5 children, and she even wears her baby in an awesome sling.
And, the children lead me into my reason for disappointment. I'm disappointed that there was no one else in the entire Republican party to choose from. A better choice would've been somebody just like her, but male, and not with 5 kids at home. Those kids need their mom, and Mr. Mom just isn't the same. I know, there's an advantage to choosing a female for the spot--you're going to attract a lot of voters that want women to shatter glass ceilings. I'm disappointed that almost nobody is talking about whether Christians should think that's it's ok for a woman to have one of the highest offices in our land. Here's an article from my pastor, linking to an article that Doug Wilson wrote on this stubject, which expressed my feelings much more articulately than I would be able to.
But, most of all, I'm disappointed at the message one evangelical mom is sending to all the other evangelical moms, and the message is this: "If you're smart and talented, you don't have to give up your dreams for your kids. You can do it all." It makes those of us who have given up dreams (and, who are smart, for some remind me that I was valedictorian, after all :) for the good of our husbands and kids feel like fools.
3 comments:
Anna, I agree with much of your post. One problem to consider is that if Sarah Palin had been a man, she would not have been on the Republican ticket. Picture this: white, pro-life Christian male with 5 kids. That person does not get elected in this country in 2008. Ask Mike Huckabee. That doesn't make it right, just a fact. Maybe, like Esther, Sarah Palin was raised up for times such as these.
[This isn't bill bray. This is MRS. bill bray]. Sarah Palin might be SAYING an evangelical Christian woman can be smart, pretty, 100% committed to her husband's mission, including raising a passel of kids, AND not sacrifice her own ambitions. But the proof is in the pudding. Her daughter needed to get married yesterday. Her son joined the armed services -- with no history of being a hero previously. Back in the day, there were two reasons young men enlisted -- they or their family needed the money, or the guy needed to grow up (as in, somewhere else besides home.) If the ground rules are that we women are supposed to pursue excellence, isn't she clipping a few corners? How come her husband isn't sitting amongst the elders in the land? How come her husband isn't known in the gates? If she's capable of being Wonder Woman, how come she hasn't invested her energy in sprucing up her husband?
Enough about Sarah Palin. We want more pictures of grand-kids.
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