What the Hilary Rosen/Ann Romney Story Is All About
All moms are moms. All the time.
So if you haven’t heard, a democratic strategist – Hilary Rosen – got in hot water, with the media at least, because she said that Ann Romney (Mitt Romney’s wife) “hasn’t worked a day in her life.” Here’s the actual quote:
“What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country, saying, ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.’ Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” Rosen said on CNN.
What this is really about are our dear political parties trying to harness this incident for their own benefit. The Republican Party is trying to win the favor of moms who stay at home, trying to say the Democratic Party thinks they are out-of-touch. The Democratic Party is trying to win the favor of moms who work, alleging that the Republicans just don’t understand their plight of finding appropriate affordable daycare, ensuring adequate leave and healthcare, etc.
Of course, the media is playing into this firestorm, keeping it in headlines and putting Romney’s kids in the spotlight. Josh Romney was interviewed, defending his mom. Here’s an excerpt from a CNN article about it:
Romney said his parents didn’t take the easy way out by hiring someone to take care of him and his brothers growing up. “My parents really did try and do things the hard way and taught us the value of hard work and being at home.”
It’s very sweet that he’s defending his mom. However, in grand fashion of fueling this moms-who-stay-at-home vs. moms-who-work debate, he defends his mom’s choice by essentially insulting others who do things differently. He implies that hiring somebody to care for children is the “easy way out” and that “being at home” has greater value than not being at home during the day.
Is this so-called debate ever going to away? When are we going to stop pitting moms against each other based on how they spend their days and how much time they do or do not spend with their children, either by choice or by force?
This mom thing is hard. Regardless of how we spend our days, all moms are moms, all the time. Let’s all agree to not let media firestorms affect neither how we feel towards other moms nor our choice of candidate come November. All moms are smart and capable enough to make decisions about other people on their words and actions, not their politics.
About Mary Beth Cox