Am I "Off Message" on Sarah Palin?

Warning! This pundit isn't feeling the same way as most of my colleagues about Sarah Palin. She is being attacked for her lack of experience for the job and for whether she should be putting her family first instead of her career. This just isn't that unusual in my book. And the more it goes on, the more uncomfortable I feel with that message.

I am a woman who someone took a chance on several years ago and gave me a job that had only previously been done by old white guys. Experience? How do you get any if no one takes a chance on you? And the decision to take a chance can be instinctive, as John McCain said. Sure it was a gimmick. But would we feel better if it was Tim Pawlenty? What someone does on a small scale can be a good indicator of what they do on a large scale. So suggesting that she would do any worse than the host of guys who have auditioned for the job isn't that compelling an argument to me. And what about the argument that she is a negligent mother who will be distracted from her important role. I am a mother who constantly feels the pressure from others about whether I am fit to be a parent, whether I put my kids first often enough and whether my son with learning disabilities gets enough of my attention. Who has the right to to judge my family?

My grandmother always said "You can't tell time on someone else's clock". Judgments about people's personal lives are better left unsaid and unrealized.

So why then do I think that Sarah Palin would be a terrible vice president? Because I also think that John McCain would be a terrible president.

I don't care about how Sarah Palin or John McCain take care of their families. I care about how their policy choices affect my family and millions of other Americans.

-McCain and Palin get their health insurance paid for by the government (hers in Alaska and his in Washington). Yet they oppose giving the 42 million other Americans the same access to affordable healthcare.

-John McCain's kids don't have to worry about paying for college. Yet, he has opposed every single education support program to help others.

-McCain and Palin say they will stand up to oil companies. Yet the only energy policy they support gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies to do more drilling and he has opposed every piece of federal legislation to explore alternative fuel sources.

-McCain and Palin say they will revamp how Washington does business. Yet his campaign is filled with lobbyists and she has been in bed with Senator Ted Stevens funneling federal money for useless projects in Alaska for years.

-McCain and Palin have refused to answer very real questions about her potential abuse of power in Alaska when it came to her firing a State Trooper because she was on a revenge kick for her sister costing an officer his job. And McCain and Palin have no solutions for Americans worrying about their jobs in a fragile economy.

-McCain and Palin want us to leave their families alone. Yet they want make rules for our families by eliminating our right to make our own choices over abortion; eliminate our access to family planning education or domestic partner benefits; and our freedom from discrimination. They want to control what our kids learn in school about sex and about science. In short, through the policies they promote and the judges they support, they want the government to be more in control over our private lives than at any time in history.

-McCain and Palin now say their campaign is about change, too. Yet, the only real change they have proposed is a change from a suit to a skirt in the VP's office and one man fighting a misplaced war for another in the Oval Office. That seems to me to be the right reason to oppose them in November. It's not the process or the people, it's what they represent. This unconventional choice of VP by John McCain won't stand up to the hype and result in a win in November because they are the wrong choice for the country.

Follow Hilary Rosen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hilaryr

Comments

[TariTam]

Amen. Right on, Hillary. It's not about Sarah Palin's accomplishments or lack of them. It's her dubious message.

[ATruthBeKnown]

Hilary, I am shocked and saddened by your article. For a while there I was concerned that no one could summarize why this pick doesn't stand up to the "basic" test. He has resorted to, "If I can't beat Obama on the issues then I'll pander to people prejudices".

I'm shocked that you haven't been "blasted" to hell for your sanity. I'm saddened that most Americans are or have fallen for McCain's "maverickism".

Thanks for a good read ....

[egal]

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign is now trying to banish all contentions with Palin's politics as
"sexist", so no matter how much we focus on the issues and her disastrous past actions on the political scene and how little this prepares her to lead in any degree, we're going to be painted as attacking her for gender reasons and "unfairly" bringing up said political history.

[phae100]

Could everybody get a grip and stop acting like it actually matters how repubs paint things?

They are a party of PATHOLOGICAL LIARS, and they own the msm.

The way to combat that is not to moan about how they'll spin this,that, or whatever..­. the way to combat it is
1. spread the truth
2. believe in ourselves and Obama/Biden and KNOW they will win
3. stop being Chicken Littles worrying about the sky falling just becz the rethugs are in spin mode.

[lifejunkie]

All this whining about attacks on Palin. Has everyone forgotten what our current VP has done to our country. We have every right to know EVERYTHING and discuss all of it. Thanks for giving us the platform.

[dtd]

Yes you're off message in the respect that this woman said in a Newsweek forum that Hillary Clinton shouldn't have been whining about her treatment as a woman. Maybe Palin should take her own advice.

[mesut]

I really don't care about her family and what type of mother she might be. Only she can answer to that and if her family is happy then who am I to say different.

And, I agree with the rest of your post because I care about the McCain/Pailin policies going and how those policies would impact my family. Get to it McCain and tell us how you will run the country. I don't want to hear in 2013 what the country will look like. I'm not about the future but what you going to do right now.

[ExpatDane]

This is exactly what the Obama campaign is saying and, of course, it is right. We should be debating Palin's policies, not her private life, althougn Palin should not be using her private life - gun toting evangelical mother of five as a character reference. That puts discussion of her parenting skills into play as they reflect on her judgment relative to issues such as sex education and birth control.

[tellthetruthalways]

PumaAnn, you do yourself and the women's movement no favors when you argue that Palin is more qualified to be president than Obama. Your case is that any woman, even one with limited exposure to the pressing issues of our time, is better than a truly brilliant man who has spent more than seven years in the legislature of a major state and another four years in the United States Senate. Look, we all know this experience crap McCain is sputtering is nonsense. If it was about time on the job the longest serving teacher should be principal and the employee with the most time on the job should be the CEO. Leadership is about judgment, and time and again McCain has shown poor judgment and Obama has repeatedly been right on issues from Iraq to the economy. My problem with Palin's experience is that it shows her to be narrow minded and dangerously bigoted. For heaven's sake she wants to ban books and punish her political enemies. Who does she think she is...W?.

[sonnysj76]

Hillary...­Beautifull­y written!
We should have all the voters read your article and let them decide who's side they want to be comes november!

Just Beautiful!!

[mik311]

Trig and Track are free game to talk about but Bristol is not?

[nccp1870]

Bravo, Hilary! I am not going to let gender bias cloud my eyes, either. This is not about a female candidate, not about experience, and definitely, not about change that means a lot in everyday terms to average folks.

This is about arch conservatives tightening their hold on our lives. This is about 4 more years of Neocon Nonsense, and all the lies and losses we've only begun to experience during the past 8 years.

[RENREVARD]

For being the party the party of pro life they sure do not support bills or programs that make it easier for women to keep there children.L­ike day care,health care,affordable housing,educational programs,a living wage and on and on.Instead the Republican vote down bills that make it impossible for women to keep there children.I also be interested in how many pro lifers have taken children out this country's God forsaken foster care system? Or supported programs to clean up that system.I say time put up or shut up about being the party of pro life.

[AmericaIsAwesome]

I have to agree with you. They are self-righteous hypocrites to say the least.
How do they sleep at night? They have no shame.

[cylindar]

Excellent piece! An interesting approach and one of the best posts I have read on HuffPo.

[kesiac]

I too, was given an opportunity 20 years ago, that allowed me to enter into a career that I had absolutely no experience in. I have sense excelled in my career. In saying that, I have also turned down a position that I had sufficient experience in, but knew that most of my peers had more experience in. I knew that if I took that job, while I could learn it, my team and the companies customers would suffer. I have also turned down a position that I was fully qualified for, because I knew it would negatively effect the time with my child. Sarah, on the other hand is applying for the second most important position of the WORLD. We don't even know where she stands on issues. Listening to the few quotes from her, it doesnt sound like she has even expressed much curiousity on issues.

This to me goes beyond democrat or republican. I have a disdain for this woman. As a mother, she should have first wanted to protect her daughter from the public backlash that she knew would take place. Even if her daughter said mom I can handle it. Her mother should have known it would be to much. Her judgement is bad with the people she loves, what hope would I, as an American have.

[whatever2]

Not defending Palin. I have no plan to vote for her. That said, can the overall lessen learned from this election by "Women need not apply, period"? Sadly, I think that's exactly what it is.