Obama v. Palin: America Picked the Right Family

From the time that "Family Values" became an empty phrase regularly trotted around the political arena with all the reverence of the last surviving soldier of a war that was never actually fought, the totality of the family which occupies the White House has reached the same level of curiosity as the quadrennial question of whether or not a presidential candidate can bowl above one hundred.

The shocking, never-saw-it-coming implosion of the forced relationship between Bristol Palin and self-described "f***in' redneck" Levi Johnston underscores the fact that America sent the right family to Washington.

With regard to Bristol and Levi, regardless of how loving, committed, devoted and generally available a parent is, no parent can guarantee how far an apple will fall from the tree. However, knowing that, no parent should seek higher office on the rhetoric of abstinence only/ sanctity of marriage/gays-are-ruining-family-for-us so let me impose my "values" on you for you. Especially when the empirical evidence is those "values" do not work beneath the very roof from which they are being espoused.

But the unfortunate choices of Bristol and Levi are the least of it.

What family values does one represent when he or she socks it to the taxpayers for government presidiums when staying at home, or chisels supporters out of tens of thousands of dollars in upscale campaign trail wardrobe?

What family values does one represent when one doesn't stand up to potential in-laws who are facing six felony counts of misconduct involving controlled substances, including the distribution of those substances?

And what kind of family values are represented when one's spouse quietly belongs to an anti-American secessionist organization to which you send a taped video welcome to their convention wishing them all the best?

And then there are the Obamas. The occasionally thrown "terrorist fist jab" seems quite tame in comparison.

Politically, those of us who are true Americans of any persuasion hope that President Obama succeeds.

As a First Family, the Obamas already have.

For more perspective, please visit thatminoritything.com

Comments

[BBC9nch]

09:57 PM on 03/16/2009

Every politician uses their family to get votes. I didn't care much for Palin but it had nothing to do with her family for me. They are imperfect like most of our families.

[deosil]

12:12 PM on 03/17/2009

I don´t know, I understand where you are coming from but it´s more then imperfect LIKE OUR FAMILIES..­.it´s a circus-

[joycehelene]

06:06 PM on 03/16/2009

Sarah Palin used her family to get votes, she trotted them out and didn't seem to care how they felt. She hardly ever carried the baby herself and he does need special care, she just didn't seem like a caring parent, either did Dirst Dude. What mother would parade her unwed teenage daughter for all the world to see that she was pregnant, didn't she even care about Bristol feelings or Levi's for that matter. All she did seem to care was for her political ambitions, her lack of knowledge let her down for all the world to see what a sham she really was.
How can anyone compare the Palin's so called family values with those of the Obama family who really care about their children and are teaching them how how to grow up responsibl­y.

[Pithaughn]

05:26 PM on 03/16/2009

President O said it best, focus on valuing families.

[Demetria Nelson-Mcnaulty]

04:32 PM on 03/16/2009

First of all the so called fist-bump is called in the black community (giving dap) it is like a handshake, whomever called it a fist bump has the total name and meaning all wrong. Secondly Palin is a hypocrite, she wants us to believe that all is well when it is not and oh! by the way you did not mention the raise that she just gave herself after the election, meaning the per diem that she was charging the state of Alaska and the children's free trips was not enough and what was Levi doing staying in the Govenor's Mansion with Sarah's daughter they were not married, but rest assure that they were still sleeping together, that is why Bristol went home so she would have no more parental interrupti­ons when she does what she does. Who would let there daughters stay at home when they are in a different city? Sarah Palin is a train wreck, and if this is parenting well I've been doing it wrong all these years.

[sjpersonal]

04:44 PM on 03/16/2009

Hi I posted a similiar comment regarding the Dap but HP did not post it, guess my language was a little strong. Hypocricy and BS tend to really piss me off LOL!

Anyway thanks for posting this informatio­n, although to those who were spreading the whole terrorist BS this will matter not! Factual informatio­n has never been high on their lists.

[DMM1029]

04:19 PM on 03/16/2009

I wish one, just one, interviewe­r would ask this slug if she is a creationis­t. Frankly, those people scare me.

[morninmist]

04:10 PM on 03/16/2009

John Riley hits on a family because he does not approve of the mother.

John, you make all Democrat stink. And the ones agree with knocking a family bhelong in the stinking cesspool with you.

Shame on you all. America grows on the strength of its families--­all families.
Leave the families along and pick on someone your own age and who can fight back.
What a coward you are to pick on this family.

[Palema]

04:25 PM on 03/16/2009

I don't care for Palin and didn't vote for her team, but I agree with morninmist­; Palin's personal problems are her own now. Don't keep fighting the last campaign. If she is nominated for another national office, that would be time enough to bring up any issues of hypocrisy. Lay off, John Riley.

[Pithaughn]

05:21 PM on 03/16/2009

oh come on , "the last campaign". She has started a PAC AFTER the last campaign, she is the keynote speaker this June at a big GOP fundraiser­, AFTER the last campaign. Bristol appeared on a national cable show for an interview AFTER the last campaign. I tell you my freind, she is running for something so the NEW campaign is on already!
She deserves NO sympathy, and I'm sure if you asked her she would never own up to being a victim. Or would she?

[foxbat]

03:50 PM on 03/17/2009

I don't have a problem with saying that a family's personal issues are its own, but when the head of that family thrusts its issues into the spotlight and tries to impose those "family values" on others via policy, then pushback/b­lowback are certainly to be expected.

There are many who espouse things like abstinence­-only sex education, but also have the financial and other resources to absorb the hit when/if things don't go as planned. There are others who don't have the resources and use the "safety net" of welfare to handle that. Unfortunat­ely, the ones who end up being most vilified, those who teach condom use in addition to also presenting abstinence­, seem to be the ones who are making the more responsibl­e choices. Whther you like Palin or not isn't necessaril­y the issue; however, she's a very visible icon of the myth of "perfect family values" and I think it's more than fair to use her situation to bring light to the fact that many who would push the family values agenda are flawed just like many of the rest of us.

[sjpersonal]

04:26 PM on 03/16/2009

Sorry I do not understand your anger. THIS MOTHER ran for President on a Moral Platform so yes she should be called out for all the hypocricy that she displayed during her campaign.

[GhiseldaManifesto]

03:25 PM on 03/16/2009

Well said indeed, Mr. Ridley. From her hypocrisy to her self-indul­gence to her lies and fomenting of hate, the marketing of Sarah Palin as a credible VP candidate is best described as a harebraine­d, prepostero­us fiasco.

[Russn3]

02:37 PM on 03/16/2009

Great article. Call a spade a spade.

[DemoGoddes]

01:50 PM on 03/16/2009

"With regard to Bristol and Levi, regardless of how loving, committed, devoted and generally available a parent is, no parent can guarantee how far an apple will fall from the tree. However, knowing that, no parent should seek higher office on the rhetoric of abstinence only/ sanctity of marriage/g­ays-are-ru­ining-fami­ly-for-us so let me impose my "values" on you for you. Especially when the empirical evidence is those "values" do not work beneath the very roof from which they are being espoused."

Exactly! This is the very thing that bothered me.

[David Rozgonyi]

12:46 PM on 03/16/2009

Excellent article! I do find it odd that none of the Republican­s seem to be able to take a step back when presented with new informatio­n. Once their mind is made up, that's it. Look no further than our ex-Preside­nt. Same thing here. Would it kill them to be able to admit that, hey, this Palin woman isn't exactly who they thought she was, and so they'll look for someone else. Things would go a lot better for them if they could learn a few variations on the phrase: In light of this new informatio­n, it seems I was misinforme­d/incorrec­t/wrong. That isn't so hard now, is it?

[7granny]

01:37 PM on 03/16/2009

Sarah Palin is exactly what I thought she was. A wife & mother doing the best she can. You raise your kids then hope for the best but they are still human. I'm proud the family has stood by Bristol & the baby. What a shame if he had ended up in some garbage can.

[BGM1906]

02:54 PM on 03/16/2009

True, but at the end of the day if you support abstinence (as a political candidate) and your teenage daughter turns up pregnant, then your methodolog­y seems a bit flawed.

[morninmist]

05:45 PM on 03/16/2009

You are so right.
Bristol will have lots of learning to do but her family will be there when it counts.

[Ipanemagirl]

12:35 PM on 03/16/2009

Obviously, the pregnancy should have been terminated at th onset, period! They are too young and immature to be parents and ABSTINENCE has never been proven to work! We are all sexual beings and we no longer marry at age 16 or 18, so we cannot be expected to wait until our late 20's or 30's to have sex when we finally get married!, come on! Thats what birth control was made for, so we can abstain from getting pregnant while still enjoying sex! And we dont have to rush into marriage just because we want to have sex! If Levi had used a condom, all of this would mess would be history!

[janet1003mn]

02:54 PM on 03/16/2009

Why are so many in the pro-CHOICE camp assume that Bristol didn't have a choice and didn't use a condom? Really? There was NO way that Bristol could have gotten an abortion if that's what she really wanted? It amazes me that people think a 17-year-ol­d is so lacking in resourcefu­lness, when so many buy liquor and drugs, get tattoos and piercings, have sex and do many things most of their parents, no matter how liberal, might frown upon. WHO gets to decide who's "too young"? And here I'd been surmising that everyone decrying Bristol's lack of "choice" was doing so because of her mother choosing FOR her. Evidently, some people think she shouldn't have been allowed to have her OWN choice--ei­ther way. Also, for the record, with PERFECT usage, latex condoms have a 2% failure rate during the first year. With TYPICAL use, that percentage soars to 10-18%. Contracept­ive "perfectio­n" is as a big fat lie; it serves no one to perpetuate it. Given the reality that contracept­ive fail (a reality many seems hell-bent on denying) why has everyone assumed that Bristol and Levi -- who were already defying the Palin family moral code by having sex -- would have pangs over using a condom? Not saying they did. Just saying we don't actually KNOW they didn't. The baby's existence, in and of itself, ISN'T proof.

[timm553]

05:08 PM on 03/16/2009

I didn't know that I was supposed to use a condom for a whole year. I'm surprised that they don't fail more often under such a regimen.

[joycehelene]

06:15 PM on 03/16/2009

I doubted if Bristol would have wanted to abort her pregnancy if given a chance. You are right that there should have been proper sex education given along with condoms, we all are sexual beings and nature provided us with the means to keep the population going.

[7granny]

11:51 AM on 03/16/2009

Mr. Ridley really sounds like a very angry person. The name calling is uncalled for. How does he know what has or has not been said between the families away from the cameras? Seems the Palins do not have a lot of secrets, what about Obama?

[HopeisEternal]

01:46 PM on 03/16/2009

Granny, where in this article do you see "name calling"? Mr. Ridley is just stating the facts. Sarah Palin did bill the Alaskan government for staying in her home. She did accept the designer wardrobe when she was running for Vice President until it became public. Sarah Palin acted "holier than thou" with regard to cultural values and it backfired within her own family.

Let me know what you find out about Obama. In the meantime I''ll continue to enjoy their wholesomen­ess and dedication to family and community.

[7granny]

02:56 PM on 03/16/2009

HopeisEter­nal, you do not think Mr. Ridley calling a teenaged boy a "f***'in redneck" as name calling? Even though it has been explained that Mrs. Palin did not ask nor buy the clothes some will just not give it a break. What ever she billed to Alaska as their govenor is between them & her. What did the dem. Nat. Committee spend on the Obama's clothes? why isn't anyone asking that? There are a lot of questions about Obama's associatio­ns through the years. When he comes clean with his college activities & grades then we all will know a little more about him. I think he is the first president I can remember that the public knew so little about. In the past their lives have been open books. Clinton would not release his medical records but if Bush had refused we would have heard the Dems screaming bloody murder. Why shouldn't we expect the same open book from Obama? After all he keeps talking about transparen­cy. Where is it?

[scully05]

09:18 AM on 03/16/2009

A that aside, the man is BLACK, the family is BLACK.

That is all they can see.

[dontvote4him]

10:35 AM on 03/16/2009

Half white

[DandaPanda]

11:42 AM on 03/16/2009

whocares. I know that my daughter and the President'­s daughters have a similiar up bringing and schooling and I know that Bristol Palin has nothing in common with my girl. I value education just as the President does, and I value teaching my child about the real world, sex included and I am positve my kid will not be a pregnant high school dropout and neither will the President'­s daughters.

[7granny]

11:48 AM on 03/16/2009

According to the news media he is BLACK, they convenient­ly forget the white part.

[Adrienne Williams]

02:23 PM on 03/16/2009

Obama is black and white, when are we going to start thinking about the 1% drop rule!

[Godweiser]

03:51 PM on 03/16/2009

What, you mean delve into the mass-psych­ological goop that is America's perception of identity?

That's definitely­, "Here be dragons!" territory for the American psychologi­cal landscape.

[sjpersonal]

04:37 PM on 03/16/2009

Exactly!

[Deli]

03:16 AM on 03/16/2009

John, I can see why "Emmy-Winn­ing precedes your name. Incredible writing.

[MissElaineous]

02:19 AM on 03/16/2009

Problem is that the god botherers think Obama's the devil incarnate because he's pro-choice­, a "muslim" (ie black and with a funny name), not a citizen (pure sour grapes), and did I mention black with a funny name. Nothing can shift the shiftless. Its amazing what silly shift their Rovian masters tell them that they believe.

[Ipanemagirl]

12:49 PM on 03/16/2009

Funny, because God , if he exists, is pro choice too! He causes countless of miscarriag­es to happen every day, but none of these blind believers ever even acknowledg­e this! He obviously thinks its quite ok! Why must believers insist on punishing women for not wanting to go through with their pregnancie­s? In Jesus's time there were no birth controls to speak of...other­wise I'm sure he would condone them big time! Stop living in the past and getting too attached to scriptures written 2000 plus years ago by some self serving fanatic MALE chauvinist­......how people get suckered into this is still a mystery to me! Women, its time you start standing up for yourselves instead of letting yourselves be put down all the time!

[7granny]

01:51 PM on 03/16/2009

I never felt so loved & cherished than when I was carrying my children. To feel that life move inside you is truly a miracle. Ipanemagir­l you must have had some terrible things happen in your life for you to be so bitter. The only times I've ever felt put down in my life was when I worked in an office of all women. So much back biting & snide remarks.