Questions that can be asked...and shouldn't

In an opinion piece, Star-Ledger columnist Kathleen O'Brien has written about the questions that may be asked of Sarah Palin and those that she thinks should not be.

Sarah Palin: Questions we can ask...and ones we shouldn't

Posted by Kathleen O'Brien September 07, 2008 6:30AM

In the steamy soup that is the state of public opinion about Sarah Palin, we have beauty, brains, child care, sex, abortion, the glass ceiling and mooseburgers all brewing in a hot, ugly mess.

Oy.

Forget al Qaeda. Forget the housing bubble. Forget that looming winter heating bill.

It's all about Levi, Trig, Bristol and Todd.

It has been my experience that we're in trouble when nearly every sentence in a debate starts, "Well, if I gave birth to .¤.¤. blahblahblah" or "Well, if my daughter .¤.¤. blahblahblah." Everyone's an expert -- on someone else's life.

So grab a pot holder and a set of tongs. We're going to pluck out of that soup all the things that are none of our business:

-- Palin's teenager daughter's pregnancy -- what choices she made before getting pregnant and what choices she made after getting pregnant. It surely can't be a private choice -- not with John McCain greeting the young couple at the airport -- but it is theirs alone.

-- Palin's teenage daughter's wedding plans. Their family, their call.

-- Any of Palin's own pregnancies, from her first to her last. When we reach the state where the local newspaper is relying on third-hand accounts of comments her obstetrician made to other patients, we've really hit rock bottom.

-- How they raise her kids, how she and her husband manage their family affairs.

-- How they schedule time to pursue their (multiple) livelihoods. It appears they have so many jobs it's unclear when they sleep, but good for them. We should all have such energy and ambition.

That leaves only a few issues floating in the soup. Unfortunately for Palin, they are doozies that may not go away:

-- Numero Uno, front and center, top of the list: Will she be willing to change her current routine so she could carry out the duties of the vice president without too much distraction?

Thus far she has juggled all her jobs by often bringing her kids to the office. I'll come out and say it: I want a vice president who can concentrate on the job. It may be a dull job, full of obligatory appearances at state funerals of obscure national leaders, but it still deserves her full attention.

After the birth of her youngest, she actually announced that she intended to take no maternity leave and would bring the baby to work with her. That's a cozy and heart-warming scene -- but not if you're trying to be the actual vice president of the United States at the same time.

I can hear you saying, "But you'd never raise that issue if she were a man!" I submit that I would, if that man routinely brought a newborn to work.

Hire a nanny (or have hubby quit his job) and this issue goes away.

-- She's got 'em and she lives 'em. Her family twice came face to face with the abortion question and both times rejected it as an option. (And probably never even seriously considered it in either case.)

Those remain private decisions. But here's what remains a legitimate voter issue: Will she push for laws that order everyone else to make that same choice?

Read the original post HERE.