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 3 of 3)
31. BTW - if I recall correctly, Patty Murray did not campaign that her motherhood gave her experience. Rather her very inexperience made her qualified, according to her election platform. The fact that she was "just a mom" meant that she supposedly had a better grasp of what her constituency required from their government.
That's much different from an heiress claiming that running a household is good practice for public office.
mo-NEEK-a at 1:39PM on Jan 6th 2009
32. I only wish to take a little bit of issue with the column and responses. Having raised a child and managed professional staff as well, I must say that the longer I was in a management role the more it became clear to me that it is often exactly like raising children. One must identify and deal effectively with the troublemakers, the attention seekers, the quiet but competent, the ones who take credit for others' work, and a whole host of other sorts of human behaviors. AND their roles change. Go figure!
I certainly don't say this to imply that mothering prepares one for political office ... just to point out that the skills one develops in that capacity shouldn't be undersold.
TX58RiverRat at 4:12PM on Jan 6th 2009
33. I say, give her a shot! The last name alone will magically make it all right.
I do wish that I knew more about her though...
***
Hey, it's a tangent, but...
Funny Video Contest!
All are invited to participate!
http://saintbrianthegodless.blogspot.com/2009/01/funniest-film-clip-contest.html
Saint Brian the Godless at 7:44PM on Jan 6th 2009
34. "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?"
- Mo Rocca
Hmmm.....
A) I'm not sure;
B) Maybe;
C) The ability to get your whites white, after Jr. reaches puberty, w/o blushing.
D) Flipping a tasty stir-fry, steaming rice, & mixing a decent Manhattan (for yourself) simultaneously...
E) Knowing when to skip C & D (except for the Manhattan) & just order out.
I'm pretty sure she's damned *overqualified*, given my criteria.
Oops.
Sherry
S.L. at 9:25PM on Jan 8th 2009
35.
Wow Sherry,
Looking at C through E above I would have to agree with you...not to mention laughing :-)
BUT, I wonder any of the Mommies in question have actually experienced any of that ??
Yes, I do like me some stir-fry !
mac at 12:43AM on Jan 9th 2009
36. Mac.. You are @ least 6 ft tall, right?
LIAR!!!!
XOXO
S.L. at 2:21AM on Jan 9th 2009
37.
If I wear boots ;-)
5'10" sorry :(
....justmac65@aol.com.
What the heck, I put it out for D'Souzas blog, why not Mo's, it's a much nicer here anyway.
mac at 7:17AM on Jan 9th 2009
38. #8,
The "helpers" need help.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154657089469819.html
JillJG at 3:24PM on Jan 10th 2009