Thursday, September 4, 2008

I find this very interesting

I've generally stayed away writing about politics. For one thing, I figure that Rob has already more than burned through our household quota for political blogging. Also, being married to a political junkie, any passing want I have for a political conversation, I can have in person--I generally don't need to start a comment thread. :) For politics, I can talk to my husband or my father. And for all those other sanity-saving conversations of young motherhood--potty-training, recipe swaps, how-do-you-like-the-schools, and what are you reading for yourself these days anyway (all of which really fall under the category of "reassure me that I'm not the only one dealing with these things), for all of those conversations, I have the usual round of contacts of playdates, other church moms, old friends, etc.

And now the two are starting to overlap. Sarah Palin's speech last night was the play date conversation of this morning. ("I like her!" one friend declared while herding her kids in the door and getting shoes off). A friend of mine who is usually politically clueless by choice ("Tell me who's running in October") made a point of looking up and listening to Palin's speech online today. We're a voting demographic for whom the political process really doesn't intersect with our daily lives all that much. We may turn out to vote, but we're not usually that engaged with it . . . Now we've got a candidate who we can very well imagine having over for a play date. Who gets it that the conversation about which teacher your kid had for first grade and I'm not sure that I like what they're doing with this latest math curriculum matter--and joined the PTA to do something about it. A candidate who respects us. A true feminist who lives the fact that whether I want to have a career or want to stay home with my kids, or whether I want to combine those--it's all good. Not a faux feminist who's implying that my kids are a waste of my time. A woman who's inspired usually silent multitudes to say "I am Sarah Palin. Her story is my story." (Maybe I ought to get me one of those t-shirts. I like her.)

4 comments:

Caleb said...

But she's highly corrupt, thinks killing a million innocent Iraqis is "doing the right thing", and laughs at service without worldly status (community organiser).

Fair enough to celebrate a woman rising to worldly prominence without turning herself into a man - but come on - how much less Christian can you get than the above?

I only bother saying this because i like what you said about beauty and theology so I assume you have a brain.

Anonymous said...

Dude, you're in New Zealand. What makes you think you know what you're talking about? (You clearly don't, since you call a corruption fighter "highly corrupt" and think the US has killed "a million innocent Iraqis." For that matter, she made the point that Obama shouldn't dismiss mayors when he made such a big deal of being a community agitator, and you think that adds up to "laughing at service without worldly status," which is also bogus.)

Sara said...

Caleb, while I appreciate your taking the time to comment, I'll simply state, respectfully, that I disagree with your assertions.

Thanks for the kind words, Vanderei.

Rob Harrison said...

In case anyone trips over this on a Google search looking for evidence that Sarah Palin is corrupt, I thought it might be worth putting a link here on the real story: Gov. Palin fights corruption.