Over the course of the term we will be talking about all of the negative stereotypes attached to poor mothers and the ways in which welfare/workfare programs establish a norm against which everyone is to be measured. In many ways, Sarah Palin is that norm – the supermom who is able to work and run a family all by herself. As you keep reading about her in the media, consider how she is being framed and think about all of the ways that she plays into ideas about “personal responsibility”.
One really interesting thing to think about is the difference between how the republicans talk about Palin as a mother vs the ways in which Hilary Clinton is discussed as a mother.
This is one piece from the NYTimes today.
So according to the article.. Palin happens to be a mom & wife who happens to be a Politican vs. Hilary who is a politican who happens to be a wife and mother…
It also has to do with good PR..in the article from Times, Palin has a picture with her holding a couple of fishes with her little daughter… with her CAN DO attitude..Palin is trying to her best to protray an image of the “typical” American mom…i guess if typical means having lots of money..living in Alaska (????)…having a shotgun wedding…having rumors of your husband supporting the indepenant alaskan party..
to me it seems like shes just using her baby & the whole thing with her preg. daughter just to scream HEY IM NORMAL..JUST LIKE YOU…WELL.MAYBE!
This is my third try, I can’t stop writing too much about this.
I don’t think I get the personal responsibility aspect of Sarah Palin + society. Is it because she is perceived as can afford to take care of her daughter, son-in-law and grandchild? Does that qualify her as personally responsible? I dare say it’s not that simple.
I don’t know what you all think, but I think there was surprisingly little criticism about Britney Spears’ sister. A little, but very little. However, it seemed to me like the tone was more about a lesson learned/shared and not anything to aspire to. (agree/disagree?)
Is the idea that Palin & Spears don’t get much criticism because they can indeed obviously afford their children? Maybe, could be. Frankly, I think Republicans are much more hypocritical than that, and I think they seriously denounced Spears, and are willing to completely look past it for one of their own. Can someone who watches Fox News confirm or deny that?
I think Sarah Palin is a despicable mother for not abstaining from running for Vice President. I absolutely feel the same way if Barack Obama had a 5 month old infant in the home with a disability and another daughter, underage and pregnant about his running for national office. I say this because of the spotlight it puts on her family, her relocation if she wins, and the 24/7 job she is taking on. Whether or not her focus outside the home has been a contributing factor to any of these problems, what parent would make the decision to take a 24/7 job with the seriously important issues requiring attention at home? Is there something odd, if not psychologically detached (sociopathic?), about seeking work outside the home to such an extreme during this time?
I agree with Rob about the issue of Sarah Palin running for office with her family in the state that it is in. Her attention should be on the care of her children and (soon to be born) grandchild. Running for Vice President not only will change Sarah’s life, but also that of her whole family. She does represent the “American Hockey Mom”, but all things considered, I think at this time in her life her family should come first.
Sheesh, I just reread my post and boy am I jaded.
Every time I read an article regarding Sarah Palin, I get a little dumb-founded. To me, it just seems so obvious that she is not ready to run for VP yet there are soo many people infatuated with her. They talk about her rimless glasses, that she has a child stricken with down syndrome, that her daughter is pregnant at 17, that she is a hockey mom with all american values. She sounds more like the mother from Home Improvement than she does as a VP canidate (though that family did live in Detroit, not Wasilla). The article did touch on the fact that she is seen more as a mother who happens to be in politics, rather than Hillary, who was a politician who happened to be a mother. Politics is now more about good marketing than stances on issues. If Palin can be seen more as a mother than a person who has zero credibility and no knowledge of foreign/domestic affairs, Mccain will likely win.
I found out an interesting thing in my foreign policy class that ties into this. Using a pyramid they broke down the general public into 3 categories and gave percentages of the population for each one. They were trying to show how much americans pay little attention to issues in the news,especially foreign policy. At the top, 2% of the public were the elites, the professors, teachers policy makers etc. who know what is going on in the world around them. In the middle, 10% of the population were the attentive public. People who read/followed the news and again, followed the goings on of the world. The overwhelmingly dominant group was the bottom of the pyramid, 88% called the mass public. These are the people that don’t really follow the news, don’t know what the key issues are and are basically dis-interested in whats going on around them, broadly speaking. This is the key group that McCain and Palin are trying to capture, those who vote for good characters, not good politicians.
This is more of a stream of consciousness then actual good writing, but its a blog right?
me personally never heard anything about this woman likewise many others prior to her nomination. over the past few days i have been listening to her interviews and i am quite impressed with the way she represent women in America and all around the world. I personally thinks Sarah is a very strong, motivated and family oriented woman who loves her country and want to try and make a difference. on the other hand i do not think American is ready for a WOMAN to vice president or even the president.
Sarah has too much going on with her personal life, i think she would not be able the balance work and her family, which may lead to divorce or evening losing her kids. who knows..
Sarah has some strong points on where she stands politically which i think might help her in the elections, but the media is emphasizing mainly on the fact that she is a woman with a husband, kids and grandkids who they “media” feel might be a problem for her in this elections.
I’d have to disagree with that statement entirely. I watch many heavily left wing programs and many news services and while they do mention her family situation is not ideal for a job that literally requires 24 hour devotion, they state it merely as a side-point. What they do stress is her complete lack of knowledge on fundamental issues that a VP must understand fully. The fact that many of her “facts” can be proven completely false if given 30 minutes and a google search also doesn’t endear herself to the media. I just wish people didn’t write off the criticism she is given as sexism, especially when the democrats almost nominated a woman themselves to represent them. The facts are that she has no experience, she has completely different domestic views then most of the population (abortion and global warming etc.), her foreign policy experience is that of being a governor of a state that lies next to Russia, and she has a history of abusing power. These are not the qualities that the #2 leader of the free world can possess. Again these are factual criticisms, not sexist remarks. Those who do make the sexist remarks you are talking about are complete idiots, and wouldn’t vote for a woman regardless of her credentials. But Palin has no credible credentials, and her nomination, given the importance of the next 4 post-bush years, would be one of the worst blunders in American political history.
I believe Sarah Palin represents women today…for the most part, a women who can take control of her life including her family life and one that can still maintain a high power job. She worked hard to be where she is today, from being on the city council, to mayor(serving 2 terms) and then to becoming the first woman serving as governor of Alaska. She has her list of credentials, experience and toughness in jobs that men are most often found “qualified” for. I think all these sexists remarks are defaming her experience and her stance in politics. Her life is in scrutiny only because she was unknown to most people, but against all odds and criticism she gave a boost to McCain’s campaign, and a vast majority of woman are supporting her efforts.
I’m sorry again, but I just don’t see the sexist remarks that you see. I have been watching the news non stop and I’m not hearing or seeing sexist remarks when it comes to Palin. What I do see is that the Mccain campaign plays the media game when Palin is mentioned and likes to pin people down as being sexist. When Obama made a comment regarding “putting lipstick on a pig”, the Mccain camp was quick to attribute it as a sexist remark, NOT a commonly used phrase. I feel like an idiot harping on the same comments over and over again, but I think lending credence to all this sexist talk is just too much of a stretch to be taken seriously. Liberals don’t dislike Palin because she is a woman, they dislike her because she has absolutely no qualifications to become VP!
The sexist remarks I am referencing to are not from the other party, or other candidates… its the way the media is portraying Palin( what about the photo-shopped pictures of her, and the coverage on her family). The media is just attacking her image.
Some people think that discussing Palin’s credentials or readiness to be president is a form of disguised sexism – in just the same way that the right’s previous attacks on Obama’s lack of experience was a disguised form of racism.. In my opinion there really arent any innocent parties in this one – I think the Republicans as well as the mainstream media, have made a big deal out of palin’s gender – and the democrats have inadvertently or not played into the dialogue.
What seems to be missing is any real discussion of her politics – which regardless of whether she is a man or a woman are extremely conservative – as much as or even more so than George W Bush – she is staunchly anti-abortion, in support of the current foriegn policy, in denial about global warming, and thoroughly in support of lowering taxes for the rich…
its too bad these arent the things that the democrats and others who see themeselves as liberal or progressive are talking about.
JG, fair points, but… let’s face it, if you vote red, you’re voting to overturn roe v. wade, start preemptive wars and boil the planet. It seems as if there is no wiggle room within the Republican platform.
I would propose that we are talking about her politics when we bring up her experience. I’ve heard two answers to the foreign policy question and one is living close to Russia and the other is that she’s worked with energy.
You know what? People are stupid and they’re not. Her inexperience is really quite comparable to Obama’s experience, and he’s running for president. We had this conversation for quite a while with Obama, and if McCain wanted it to be over with by now with Palin, then he should have named her in May.
Obama got swift-boated last week with the lipstick pig BS, and I think he’s going to lose the election. Hillary Clinton was a better choice for the democratic candidate. People pointed this out to me a long time ago and I now agree.
John McCain may be crummy but he’ll be better than George Bush. McCain’s ads just keep saying he’ll bring change to Washington like we all just woke up from a 10 year coma and don’t know any better, but I think enough people will settle on him with the newbie assistant rather than the newbie president (and add a sprinkling of racism + sexism in there.)