Kay and I have been sitting here tying ourselves up in knots, trying to figure out what we think about McCain’s surprise pick for VP, who went from little-known governor of Alaska to the country’s most famous Mom - and soon-to-be unexpected grandmother - pretty much overnight. The New York Times has already weighed in on the new front on the Mommy Wars.

As working mothers, we’re torn. After all, amidst the consternation over Palin returning to work three days after having a baby with special needs, why isn’t anyone asking if Todd Palin stayed home longer with the baby?

So as we sort our thoughts, pull apart our contradictory feelings (maybe never), here’s a thought from H.J. Cummins, our longtime work and life reporter and now consumer affairs writer….

There are so many things to be said about Sarah Palin, but what washed over me this morning was this: “As a mother, would I put my daughter through this?” And my answer is an immediate, “No.”

That gets us into all kinds of complicated territory: Should a woman turn down a ground-breaking opportunity because of a private family issue? Would I ask this if the nominee were a man?

What I keep coming back to is me picturing my daughter at 16 or 17, and me looking at that little-girl face and saying, “Sorry, honey, but this profound fact of your young life will now be public, for all the world to see, and say horrible things about you.” And that stops me. I can’t imagine imposing that new scale of fear and pressure on her when she’s already struggling with what is happening to her.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am and is filed under Guest Bloggers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.