Class Act

"Let me be a clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics...It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor, or her potential performance as a vice president...And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that's off limits...
I hope I am as clear as can be – so in case I’m not, let me repeat: We don't go after people's families, we don't get them involved in the politics. It's not appropriate and it's not relevant."

- Senator Obama, when asked if he had any response to Gov. Sarah Palin's statement that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant.

I wish the media would realize this story is completely irrelevant to this election and has nothing to do with Palin's inexperience, the fact that she "hasn't really focused on the war in Iraq," and that even the McCain campaign itself can't give a good reason why she's qualified to be commander in chief. And as far as the experience argument is concerned, I don't pretend Obama has a world of experience, but lets be sure to make the distinction that while she may have "executive" experience as governor of Alaska for less than 2 years, Obama has plenty of experience in the state and United States Senates.

As far as how historic this choice is, and all the cries that this election just got a lot more interesting, I cringe. FYI--we've had a female vice presidential nominee before--Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. And I'll be danged if Hillary Clinton and her supporters put those so-called 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling for Palin to waltz on in and claim some kind of victory for women's rights. I don't want to hear it. It's not that big.

And can I just say that I'm scared by the near fanatacism she has about abortion, saying she would oppose abortion even if her own daughter was raped. Yikes, that's a hard line to tow. To paraphrase one of my favorites, James Carville, as a Democrat I'm thrilled with this choice, but as an American I'm horrified.