Palin

OK… I’ve had a few days to think about this and I’ve been a little… no, a lot… torn.  The first thing I heard was that John McCain chose a woman as his running mate.  This made me very happy and excited.  Shortly, within minutes, actually, I read that she was the mother of a new baby with Down’s Syndrome, plus four other children.  I was quite concerned at that point.  In my extended family, there are two special needs children, technically adults now, one with Down’s Syndrome.  As adults, they need to be supervised by their mothers or another adult.  I know that their mothers would never have had the time to run a government of any size and still given the attention needed to their special needs child and other children.  My step-brother with Down’s Syndrome is one of five children and my sister-in-law is the oldest of six.  Both of their mothers held full-time jobs when they got to a certain age because the kids were in school, but I know that they spent every minute taking care of the children when they weren’t at work.

I don’t know how much time the job of Vice President takes.  Maybe they don’t have a whole lot to do and can take a lot of time to care for an infant, let alone one with Down’s Syndrome.  Maybe Palin hasn’t gotten to the hard part yet and still doesn’t realize how different her new son will be in comparison to her other children.  Maybe she and her husband have enough money to hire a couple of nannies to care for him and she can see him from time to time and chooses not to be a hands-on parent. 

Then about a day later I found out about Palin’s sixteen year old daughter’s pregnancy.  They say that McCain’s people knew about this ahead of time.  I wonder if that’s true.  I find it a little hard to believe that he would take such a risk.  But, on the other hand, I find it hard to believe that they wouldn’t have found out something so important before choosing her.  Regardless, this showed me that Palin and her husband might not be the most diligent parents.  I also don’t think that the fact that they’re planning to get married lessens the seriousness of the problem.  Every sixteen year old girl who’s having sex with her eighteen year old boyfriend is “in love” and wants to marry him.  That doesn’t mean it’s ok to be careless with birth control.  But, you know, this happens to thousands of teenaged girls in all types of families, so this young lady is not to be considered an outcast, I hope.  People say that the candidates’ children are off limits.  I agree with that, but I’m not trying to attack the children.  I’m attacking the parents’ values.

I wasn’t happy with McCain’s decision anymore.  How can I vote for McCain when he could die and we’d end up with this woman as our president? Then, I thought, well, maybe I should vote for Obama after all.  I would have voted for Hillary Clinton if she was the nominee. But, I still don’t know about Obama.  I guess I don’t feel he’s quite right.  So, I still don’t know what to do, but I’ve still got a little time left, some debates to watch, I’m sure, and try to let it all sink in.

Now, after the RNC tonight (I only watched a little of it) I was thinking about this family values issue that I’ve been having a problem with.  I thought about the arguments I had with people who were so upset about Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.  My argument was that it was none of anyone’s business and it had nothing to do with the way he ran this country.  So, now I’m thinking the same about Sarah Palin.  So what if she’s a bad parent?  So what if she’s more concerned about her job than her family?  I feel bad for her kids… all of them… like I felt bad for Hillary (I only felt a little sorry for Hillary because I guessed she stayed with Bill for her own agenda. Was I right?)  But if she can help the country as Vice President (and God forbid President), then why should I care? 

I could totally change my mind on this at any time and it doesn’t mean that I’ll be voting for McCain for sure, but I feel a little less torn about the issue.  I just wish I could be sure about someone.  This happens every time.  Why does it have to be so difficult?  If Hillary was the nominee, I wouldn’t have this problem.  And if Obama had picked her, I’d vote for him.  And if Giuliani was the Repulican candidate, even if he picked Palin, I’m pretty sure I’d vote for him.  But the way it stands, it’s a difficult decision for me.

Peace.