It started at least as far back as 1992 when Patty Murray won her Washington state Senate seat campaigning as just a "mom in tennis shoes."
The progeny-as-experience argument was back in the news when Barbara Boxer grilled Condi Rice over military casualties in Iraq in January 2007: the California senator said the childless Secretary of State had no "personal price" to pay in the war.
Then a year and a half later Sarah Palin paraded her brood (and soon-to-be grandbrood) on the campaign trail, as supporters like Fred Thompson touted her "experience not only in politics but in life ... She's a mother of five."
And now comes Caroline Kennedy, who brings her experience "as a mother, as a woman, as a lawyer" -- in that order. (She's also extremely wealthy, or just a "mom in Manolos.")
Am I willing to dismiss her motherhood as experience? Of course not. I plan to walk outside at some point today -- and I'd rather not be castrated by an angry gang of knife-wielding stay-at-homes. (In that sense I'm no different than any of the other male TV or print journalists who have yet to question the "mommy" credential.)
But is having kids an unqualified qualification? If it were, the RNC and DNC talent scouts better hightail it to the YFZ Ranch, because those ladies are really qualified.
Let's face it, there are good mommies and there bad mommies. If we're going to include motherhood as experience, then we need to make sure we're electing a competent, reputable, good mommy.
We need transparency. To that end I propose the following measures so that voters can evaluate Caroline Kennedy's performance as mother:
- Report cards for Kennedy's three children for the last ten years.
- Footage of the family eating dinner: how are the kids' table manners? how do they talk to each other?
- Bedroom inspections: have the kids been taught to clean up after themselves?
- Sit-down interviews with each of the kids for their candid thoughts on their mother's child-rearing.
This vetting is hardly failsafe: the kids, after all, have a father. And who's to say which parent is responsible for the Kennedy-Schlossberg kids' best qualities? But some vetting is better than none at all.
What do you think? Is being a mother a qualification for higher office? What other mommy vetting measures would you add to the list above?
And what about the guy who had the baby last year? Is he extra qualified?
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 3)
16. If I were judged by the state of my teens' bedrooms I most likely would not qualify. As a freedom-loving person, I think they deserve a modicum of privacy and autonomy.
I would add another item to your vetting list:
Interview the kids' teachers. Does the parent treat the teachers as equals? Or are they condescending? Does the parent respect the school's rules? Or are rules for everybody else?
P.S. I caught another error. It's the GAL who had the baby.
JillJG at 1:26PM on Jan 5th 2009
17. jen in CA,
If you honestly think Sarah Palin lacks brains then you are either uninformed and/or stupid, yourself.
Cut it out. You risk sounding like a bore.
JillJG at 1:34PM on Jan 5th 2009
18. TOO FUNNY - On The View just now - they said that Carloine said 'you know' something like 200+ times in a 1 hour interview... And 150+ times in another! Ya know!?!?!? Then they showed a clip. OY! Articulate is not the word for her - she said 'you know' about 10 times in one sentence, alone!! Sorry - Caroline. You know?
Celiene at 1:44PM on Jan 5th 2009
19. Just something to think about... We engaged in a war, largely on right to rule. Does god have the authority to install rulers? Does being born in a particular family give you a right to rule? Just drop the god part out, and that's what we have now, it would appear. Putting all our eggs, so to speak, in a basket because one family member was good at it, speaks volumes about our collective intelligence.
Ken at 2:16PM on Jan 5th 2009
20. Ugh. Please stop calling that mid-op transexual that had the baby (ies?) a man. She is not a man she is halfway through a sexchange operation. And not even the big half she only had her breasts removed. Just ugh.
Michelle at 2:38PM on Jan 6th 2009
21. Well I'm both a father and a mechanic and this countries broken so I guess that would make me the ideal candidate on two counts. I could charge reverse discrimination if MY parenting was ignored, and my mechanical abilities would come in handy in fixing the nations problems! It's actually no less silly than that whole Palin debacle we recently witnessed. Being able to breed should never be considered a qualification, crack whores can do that as well.
the heretic at 3:59PM on Jan 6th 2009
22. Mo,
Why do senators serve a six year term?
They've paid off their campaign debt, achieved some notable accomplisments and are now getting bitchy or desirous to please just for another term.
Yes, Mommies will do just fine in the Senate.
Ned Pepper, Ph.Doh at 10:42PM on Jan 5th 2009
23. Though,
Which is not to preclude a Father-of-Our-Country Senator who is in touch with his feminine side and has an appreciation of family origin:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSrKNVF2VI
Edgar Pepper at 10:54PM on Jan 5th 2009
24. Sheesh - how sexist can you be? You just followed along with all the others by commenting on her experience at motherhood. How about parenthood? The other 49% of you deserve to be examined, or not, on the same standards.
neeferduir at 11:34PM on Jan 5th 2009
25. 21. Well I'm both a father and a mechanic and this countries broken so I guess that would make me the ideal candidate on two counts. I could charge reverse discrimination if MY parenting was ignored, and my mechanical abilities would come in handy in fixing the nations problems! It's actually no less silly than that whole Palin debacle we recently witnessed. Being able to breed should never be considered a qualification, crack whores can do that as well.
the heretic at 9:05PM on Jan 5th 2009
-------------------------------------
Start by improving your own neighborhood. Surely, you can think of something.
JillJG at 9:31AM on Jan 6th 2009
26. What's cookin Mo?
I admire Caroline Kennedy in one respect Mo. Here we have a 50 year old mommie with grown kids who decides to pursue a "second career".
And Caroline Kennedy's second career choice of becoming a United States Senator.....not bad. What the heck, great benefits, good pay, will train.
I jealous Mo that Caroline Kennedy and AL Franken beat me to the punch on this one. What the heck, I'd move to New York or Minnesota to pursue a second career as a US Senator.
Willet at 10:18AM on Jan 6th 2009
27. Hey, Yo Momma, uh, I mean, Mo Rocca -- isn't it odd that we have three states in which their senatorial representation is in doubt? - Minnesota, Illinois, and New York. In the case of New York, the seat really isn't open yet as Hillary has not become Secy of State. But even still, it's an an upper house mess. I can't recall it ever being this way.
Rich at 10:47AM on Jan 6th 2009
28. We're forgetting that Kennedy would only be finishing out Clinton's current term. If she does a horrible job, hopefully the citizens of New York state will be smart enough not to re-elect her. Whatever qualifications she doesn't have, she couldn't do much worse than a lot of the buffoons in public office (Illinois governor, anyone?). We're not appointing a Supreme Court justice for goodness sakes. And if the NY governor approves, along with all the necessary others, then so be it. It's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
But I think that having motherhood be a qualification for public office sets back the feminist movement quite a bit.
mo-NEEK-a at 11:43AM on Jan 6th 2009
29.
Feminist Sarah Palin kicks MAJOR ASS!
JillJG at 12:08PM on Jan 6th 2009
30. Much like CEO's, how do you know if a senator is doing a "good job?" Our government is run by lobbyists, corruption is rampant, they can't agree on anything unless money is directed to their pet projects, which they then claim as victory, when they go along with something they're vehemently against, because they got their future campaign commercial tacked on. The pork weighs more to them than whatever legislation stands before them. Like the CEO's, as the company tanks, they get "performance" bonuses... Good job? Look around you, and ask yourself if any of them are doing a "good job."
Ken at 1:17PM on Jan 6th 2009