Anchorage AK – It’s quite a compelling image: An accomplished working mother, projecting to the world that she can and does have it all: five children, a successful career and a husband who doesn’t mind being Mr. Mom. Oh, and she’s going to be a grandmother, and her infant has special needs, and she’s running for vice president.
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The facts of life for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are fascinating and seem, frankly, exhausting. Her children range in age from 18 years to 4 months. Track, the oldest, recently enlisted in the Army and is headed for Iraq. Daughter Willow, 14, is in high school, and Piper is 7. The baby, Trig, was born in April with Down syndrome. Daughter Bristol, 17, is pregnant and is going to get married, her parents announced yesterday. That news added fuel to an already heated debate on blogs and in the street about the appropriate balance between child-rearing and working — and whether Palin can balance the extraordinary demands of both without shortchanging either.
Palin has carefully portrayed herself throughout her career as someone committed to both family and profession — and tough enough to handle both. She made a show of dismissing the chef at the governor’s mansion saying she wanted to do her own cooking, and that the kids were old enough to make their own sandwiches. And no one can recall her ever having a full-time babysitter.
“You walk into her office and Piper is sitting there, the baby is in the crib — that’s just the way it is. This is how she lives her life. Someone who was in a meeting with her recently said she was discreetly nursing Trig,” said Palin’s biographer Kaylene Johnson.
From interviews with those closest to Palin emerges a description of a hectic lifestyle, but one in which the hominess and rural community of Alaska have enabled her to have her kids around her while she works and have offered a deep bench of family and friends for child-care support. She has shown up to meetings and news conferences carrying Trig in a baby pouch.
Even in the story of Trig’s birth, Palin paints herself as feisty and fearless. She told the local media that she noticed her amniotic fluid was leaking right before she gave a speech in Texas last April. After her keynote address to the National Governors Association, and obtaining the consent of her doctor, Palin boarded an eight-hour flight to Anchorage. She never told the airline she was in labor. She and her husband drove 45 minutes to her hometown medical center; the baby was born seven hours later.
Palin kept her pregnancy secret for seven months, stunning even her staff with the announcement. She pointedly said at the time she would not miss work. “I had Piper on a Monday, and I was back to work on a Tuesday. I even brought her to work with me,” she said, referring to the birth of her daughter.
And, in fact, after Trig’s birth, she was at her desk within a few days, baby in tow and crib in her office.
Although a clear majority of mothers today are in the workforce, studies show that the pendulum has swung back, and most are skeptical about mothers working full time; they see part-time jobs as the ideal. A recent survey by Pew Research reported that only 11 percent of working mothers believe it’s good for children when the mother works full time.
Trig Paxton Van Palin could end up being the best-traveled infant in America. Campaign sources said that the baby would be with his mother a good part of the time, and that arrangements are being made to have a babysitter travel with them. Confirms grandmother Sally Heath, “I can’t imagine she would leave him behind.”
I hope Bristol gets married before the baby is born. Makes it so much cleaner politically
McCain has lost his mind. Babies having babies is not the message to send to our kids.My goodness this is about leading the county not a soap opera or reality television show. Of all the candidates he could have picked from, we are in trouble as a nation.
i like her
she’s a breath of fresh air in polotics and will bring “CHANGE” a breath of fresh air for this country
i think that its no ones business if her daughter is pregnant and how old she is. Thats a private thing and has do be dealt in the family not in the media why is the media so in to it. It sounds like that they had just revealed a crime
in this case she would have want to make abortion but she can not pull back the string she is already anti abortion for years. So her seventeen year old daughter will have to suffer.
Zoltan,
Would you like to start talking about kids of politicans? The Libs have it MUCH worse so dont go there.
Granted as Yehudim we cannot condone this behavior but for an ayno yehudi she seems to be doing the “right” thing (despite what Dr. Laura would say).
we marry our daughters off at 18 years old and they have babys right away so what is the difference, oh she is getting married second! but that is the majority of america – so she is perfect!
Would you like to start talking about kids of politicans? The Libs have it MUCH worse so dont go there.
What like Chelsea Clinton Harvard Grad?
Would everyone cut this out!! how pethedic is the Obamas campain and this leftest midea that they dont stop talking about this 17 year old whos pregnant!! Its really really nuts that thats what they are looking at and bugging about! they are sticking their foot in their mouth because if this is what they are making a stink about then she is in good shape.
Yes the Libs kids are much much more screwed up! Al Gores son, Cintons,and the list can go on and on, so to the libs: STICK TO THE ISSUES!!!
More to the point, did McCain show excellent judgement and did he have the advice and support of a well managed team when Palin was chosen? Is she really the person best suited to lead this country should he become incapcitated? She may be a great mother, governor, wife, etc. – but you have to wonder – is she the best choice? Speaks to McCain’s ability to weigh options and decide issues after collecting relevant data.
LRS…..the question is does Obama have the ability and judgement to lead the country
as far as im concerned McCain will be alive for quiet a while and um yeah SARA PALIN was mayor and governer and a councilwoman combine that and Obamas 6 year in the senate half of it runing for president so yes she does have the credentials
My point isn’t about Obama – my point is, McCain/ Palin should find a graceful way of bringing someone else onto the ticket – it’s been done in the past and for the good of the ticket and country, I think it should be done again. Whether or not I support either candidate, I’d prefer to feel secure in the leadership of this country.
yes i agree with anonymous 2.07
look at all the kids in public schools who are having babies at 14,15,16years of age
at least palin’s daughter know’s who the father is and is marring him
why does;nt everyboby leave them alone already
The Democrats should stop playing on Palin.
Obama was born Aug.4,1961, his mother was 18 then
His parents married Feb.2,1961 in Maui, Hawaii
DO THE MATH
Let me put it a different way…your friend has a friend who has a daughter, lives nearby, you and her father went to the same yeshiva, large, healthy family. Are you interested in hearing more in pursuit of a match for your lovely 19 year old bocher? You want to know more of the family – after all, this is your child, he’s precious to you and you are within your rights and you are obligated to do due diligence. You learn that there have been some “mis-steps” in her immediate family – nothing criminal, but some judgement calls with which you wouldn’t agree and probably wouldn’t wish to align your family. It may speak to the kind of upbringing, the home environment, the genetic line – whatever – not what you would want for your son and your family.
Am I wrong to think we as citizens have a right to a certain level of responsible behavior and thoughtful judgement for our future leaders? I don’t wish ill on anyone’s family, but I have the right to choose what’s best for my family and in the big picture, I can’t choose the vp running mate – I have to depend on others to advocate for me – to act as a good shadchan. I’m saying this doesn’t appear to be the case.
Zoltan 1:28PM. …What like Chelsea Clinton Harvard grad… …You area trying to hold up Chelsea Clinton as an example, sort of, in a “Left-handed-compliment” way. She is a Tzadekes bas Tzadekes, bas “Tzaddik” [Hador]!!!
Obama hasn’t attacked Palin or McCain over the unwed mother issue. Obama, himself, pointed out that his mother was 18 when he was born.
Does Palin really represent “change”? Not according to the Christian right that see her as one of their own and were worried that none of their kind had made it through the Republican primaries.
As for her support for Jewish causes, would it matter to anyone here that her church is one of the biggest funders of missionary programs aimed at Jews??? I hope that she gives an interview to a Jewish paper or radio station, and someone asks her: “Do you support efforts to convert Jews to Christianity?” Lets see if she answers that one as badly as Lieberman did about saying “she lo asani ishah.” (My sources say that he never said it because he didn’t get to shul early enough.)
She believes in the “End of Days” don’t we know by now what the Christians in their prophecy have in store for us. WAKE UP!!!
Zoltan,
Chelsea was a farshtinkina 12 year old kid when her poppa arrived in the White House! Hate to break it to you but going to Harvard isn’t exactly my kind of “OH WOW!” school. They are so left wing there; they are almost making a u-turn.
There is a reason we don’t talk about them and drag them thru the mud just because their ‘rents are running for office. They are usually not what we should judge the parents on.
Let’s turn the tables on you a little, say CHV lo’alaynu a prominent Rov had a kid that went off the derech. Would you say the Rov should not be a Rov because of his kid who nebach is a bit lost? If you would, you would lose many Rabbonim. Casting aspersions on the parents and pasuling them when they did the best they could is quite ludicrous.
Is your family 1000% clean without any kids with issues of any sort?
Get your head out of the sand Mark. Wrong is Wrong and the Mother should be tending to the needs of her other children too. Not to mention the poor child with Down Syndrome. She should be in the home and not running for an office that she is not qualified to be in. There were better picks and this shows that McCain has poor and reckless judgment. Putting this family through this kind of press scrutiny.Gnuf
Mark Levin,
You wrote,
“Granted as Yehudim we cannot condone this behavior”
I don’t see what is the issur. Premarital sex does not violate Noachide prohibitions. What, exactly, has she done that is wrong?
And I agree with Barack Obama that Palin’s daughter should not be an issue, period. I was disgusted when I saw the saw the photographs on the covers *New York Post* and the *New York Daily News*.