I promise I will not let political discussion take over this blog as it has the TV, radio, internet, water cooler, grocery-store queue, and dinner table. At least I'll try not to.
But these last two weeks have been heavy, have they not? The soaring highs after the Obamas' speeches, followed quickly by the plummeting lows of the Palin nom and the Republican convention speeches. You all know I'm a registered Democrat with fairly liberal views, and I have been longing to see a woman in the White House since, oh, toddlerhood (which is around the time I first became aware of politics, watching my parents pace and wring their hands in front of the TV, watching the results being tallied after the 1980 election).
But Sarah Palin is not the woman who should get that first chance. The announcement of her candidacy initially made me laugh out loud at obvious Republican pandering. But then the more I read about Palin's views, the more I started to wonder if I was, in fact, in an alternate dimension: Alaska secessionist? gun-toting pro-lifer? abstinence-only sex education (with a pregnant teenage daughter)? polar bears removed from the endangered species list to make it easier to get to Alaska's oil? Her biography gets more absurd the more I read.
So I've had some fairly bipolar moments this week, to say the least, jumping between laughter to rage to sentimentality pretty quickly. But today I read this column by Judith Warner, a working mom who writes regularly for the NY Times. Read it. Please. It's like she pulled off the top of my head, reached inside, and put all my thoughts into words much more articulately than I ever could.
But more importantly, read some of the comments posted, too. These, especially, may restore your faith that there are other smart women out there who really are paying attention. Maybe the hope can creep back in, and push the other noise aside for a while.
But these last two weeks have been heavy, have they not? The soaring highs after the Obamas' speeches, followed quickly by the plummeting lows of the Palin nom and the Republican convention speeches. You all know I'm a registered Democrat with fairly liberal views, and I have been longing to see a woman in the White House since, oh, toddlerhood (which is around the time I first became aware of politics, watching my parents pace and wring their hands in front of the TV, watching the results being tallied after the 1980 election).
But Sarah Palin is not the woman who should get that first chance. The announcement of her candidacy initially made me laugh out loud at obvious Republican pandering. But then the more I read about Palin's views, the more I started to wonder if I was, in fact, in an alternate dimension: Alaska secessionist? gun-toting pro-lifer? abstinence-only sex education (with a pregnant teenage daughter)? polar bears removed from the endangered species list to make it easier to get to Alaska's oil? Her biography gets more absurd the more I read.
So I've had some fairly bipolar moments this week, to say the least, jumping between laughter to rage to sentimentality pretty quickly. But today I read this column by Judith Warner, a working mom who writes regularly for the NY Times. Read it. Please. It's like she pulled off the top of my head, reached inside, and put all my thoughts into words much more articulately than I ever could.
But more importantly, read some of the comments posted, too. These, especially, may restore your faith that there are other smart women out there who really are paying attention. Maybe the hope can creep back in, and push the other noise aside for a while.
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