EAllusion wrote:Really? Because the official line is completely the opposite. There have been individual Democrats who have offered this line of criticism, but on the whole this isn't what the party is saying. The Obama campaign specifically repudiated it. But if a few people saying this is all it takes, then the exact same criticism can be lobbed in reverse.
EA, it has been far, far more than "a few" voices on the left expressing the concern that a woman with five children including a Down syndrome infant and a pregnant teenage daughter can not perform the duties required to be Vice-President. I've seen this take dozens of times from major liberal pundits and blogs, and if you add in the related concern of whether she sought proper prenatal care during her pregnancy with Trig, then the list blows up in your face.
In fairness, yes, a few voices on the right have said as much, but the conservatives who say that have never claimed the feminist mantle nor have they ever advocated that women can "have it all." The left has.
I think it's a nice thought that Obama has spoken against some of these smears; I've praised him for it before. If he's sincere then that's very classy on his part. However, Obama is in fact a member of the Daily Kos (which has backed most of the smears against her) and has yet to call out a single leftist blog, pundit or group by name. Just today right-wing bloggers
uncovered strong evidence that the Obama campaign is behind an anti-Palin YouTube ad campaign that was meant to look like the work of anonymous grassroots "concerned citizens." Is his campaign behind the smears supposedly being orchestrated by "individuals" in the Democratic party? I don't know. But my former faith in his ability to stay above it all is certainly fading.
What makes Palin a feminist? I'm genuinely curious.
As you said yourself, it's hard to pin her down one way or the other. One can just as validly ask what makes her
not a feminist. She's pro-life, but pro-life feminism is hardly anything new with Feminists for Life having been around since 1972. She's a Christian of some sort of background with the Assemblies of God, but the Assemblies of God in the US are on the egalitarian side of the evangelical system where women can be pastors and leaders. The definition of a feminist is very general: someone who advocates social, political and other kinds of equality with men. There's little to suggest Palin doesn't fit that bill.
In another thread, you posted a picture of Palin working on the phone with kid in hand and noted this is what a real feminist looks like. I found that baffling. Indeed, there are few ways I see for interpreting that comment that aren't blatantly misogynist drivel that is antithetical to feminist ideals. Real feminists have children? No. Real feminists still embody the nurturing gender role even while working? No. One wonders what you were going for there. My most charitable interpretation is that real feminism doesn't mean one has to avoid having children and taking care of them. Ok, that's something of a strawman, but then you just missed the mark, as being a working Mom also doesn't make one a feminist, real or otherwise.
You're remembering wrong EA. I never described Palin as a "real" feminist. I do think that a working mother running for an office that has hitherto only been held by men is a powerful expression of feminism. What's more feminine than motherhood? And at the same time, what's a better way to advocate equal rights for women than to aspire to an office no woman has ever held before? So yeah, I think a picture of a woman cuddling her baby while she works on a Blackberry after giving her first Vice-Presidential nomination speech is a good snapshot of what feminism looks like.
That doesn't mean I think the Gloria Steinem crew aren't feminists. Just as I recognize Mormons as Christians, different from my own form of Christianity but still valid, I'm willing to recognize different brands of the broad concept of feminism.
And for the record, I don't consider myself a feminist.
