At one point, the fate of female advancement in the work place seemed to rest on Sen. Hillary Clinton becoming the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States. Not too long after Sen. Clinton released her delegates into the arms of Sen. Barck Obama the spotlight shifted to the new woman of the hour Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

I’m sure for many people, myself included, that moment was the first time they’ve ever heard of Sarah Palin.

After the Clinton-Obama gender and race feud McCain picked what seemed like the ideal candidate. She 1.) may win over some of the angry Hillary voters 2.) She’s conservative enough for the right wing, and 3.) She’s already at an elevated position of power. The McCain campaign may never admit that her being female factored into her vetting, but not everything in the world is meant to be said out loud, true or not.

In a recent post in her blog, Dr. Laura, a conservative radio host and author, said she would vote for McCain but she was not pleased with his choice of Palin.

Dr. Laura criticized the fact that shortly after Palin gave birth to her son Trig in April, who was born with Down Syndrome and then went back to work not long after.

Laura also said, “I am haunted by the family pictures of the Palins during political photo-ops, showing the eldest daughter, now pregnant with her own child, cuddling the family’s newborn.”

She continued to say, “When Mom and Dad both work full-time (no matter how many folks get involved with the children), it becomes a somewhat chaotic situation. Certainly, if a child becomes ill and is rushed to the hospital, and you’re on the hotline with both Israel and Iran as nuclear tempers are flaring, where’s your attention going to be? Where should your attention be? Well, once you put your hand on the Bible and make that oath, your attention has to be with the government of the United States of America.”

The double standard of the sexes never ceases to amaze me. I may not be a fan of Palin, or the man she is running beside, and I do think her vetting was done purely to sway former Clinton voters into the McCain camp – but Dr. Laura’s comments de-evolve the years of the advancement of women. No one ever asks if a male President will have any trouble balancing international issues while dealing with family issues.

This is now part two of what may have happened if Hillary Clinton had been nominated for the Democratic party, but it is a little strange to see the criticism come within the Republican branches.

Laura obviously believes that Palin should be government before family if elected as Vice President. But seriously, considering how much vacation time Bush had during his run as President I really don’t think Palin will have any trouble balancing anything – as Vice President or anything else.
—Eming Piansay