Can a Mom Be VP?

Matt Lewis | September 02, 2008 3:37 PM

"Some Voters Concerned if Palin a Mother of Five Has Time to be VP."

... That's what's crawling across the bottom of MSNBC right now. I'm honestly surprised that the media is questioning whether or not being a mom should disqualify someone from being vice president. I wonder what

Hillary Clinton thinks of how this story has turned. She obviously felt the media were sexist -- particularly MSNBC. It also reminds me of Shirley Chisholm, who famously believed that her presidential chances were harmed more by being a woman than by being African-American.

Still, I suppose, it is not entirely surprising that we would be asking these questions now. I just interviewed Bishop Harry Jackson on this very topic. His belief is that this discussion on race and gender will ultimately be very good for this country. In the long run, that very well may be true.

Clearly, this is an historic year; it's been more than two decades since Americans had a female on a general election ticket.

The Democrats had the primary election to get all the racial questions out of the way. But Palin is new to the national picture, so I suppose it's not terribly surprising that we -- as a society -- are once again examining our thoughts regarding the status of women serving as president or vice president.

On the other hand, I can't imagine we'd be having this "national discussion" if Palin were a pro-choice Democrat.