Democrat should not underestimate the impact of Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket. Sure, her speech lacked policy specifics and was full of inconsistencies, but she was also able to relay to millions of soccer moms out there that she was one of them.
Michelle Obama tried to play the mom card at the DNC. At the time I thought she a good job of it, but Palin was better. Michelle is a little too well dressed, a little too thin. I heard some rumbling in the blogosphere that she hadn’t really raised her kids.
Palin, on the other hand, looks like them. The PTA mom wears a pressed white t-shirt from Kohl’s, a pair of capris, and slip on shoes from DSW. There’s a little extra bump in that hump. She’s neat, but casual. Practical shoulder length hair and maybe a pair of earrings that she bought at a jewelry home party. An accessory would be a diaper bag rather than a alligator purse. She would feel self-conscious in the sleeveless dresses that look so fabulous on Michelle. She goes to Curves to work out, because the hard bodies at the other gyms are a little intimidating.
She may work a paying job, but it is a flexible job that she can work around the kids’ schedules. Since the job is flexible and part time, she’s probably under paid and taking orders from a man.
The PTA mom has a lot on her plate. She’s coordinating after school schedules and going to meetings in the evening. She’s quite certain that her husband and any other man could not pack a school lunch to save their life. To get through the day, she puts on her commando-hat and marshals the forces and sets on her way. She and the other PTA women give each other pats on the back, because they feel that men aren’t doing that.
At the PTA meeting, she’s given her first taste of power. Husbands are discouraged from attending, because finally they can run things and not take orders from men. They have the gavel in the front of the room and they learn about convening political meetings and finding the best place to buy cheap pizza for Pizza Day at school. Sure, some meetings might end with a poem about their kids with apologies to "The Night Before Christmas," but there is also some nice political training going on there. The women deal with school officials and have the power of their sizable fund raising efforts to get some respect from principals and superintendents. Some PTA moms even make the transition to local politics, just as Palin did, and they highly respect them.
Palin touched on the ideology of the soccer mom – the belief that they are tough as nails, that they would fight to the death for their kids, that men underestimate them, that their job is just as hard as any man’s. Michelle missed the boat on that one.
Democrats better get to talking about policy and issues, areas where the Republicans are weak. They’ve got to let the experience thing go. They’ve got to talk about the policies and issues that would actually help the soccer mom – universal pre-K, health care, special education, daycare services, and so on. They’ve got to point out that this hockey mom never mentioned the word education in her speech. And they really shouldn’t underestimate the secret sorority of PTA moms.
Apt. 11d 
Robert Putnam is smiling.
LikeLike
Heh. You know I love him.
LikeLike
“Palin touched on the ideology of the soccer mom – the belief that they are tough as nails, that they would fight to the death for their kids, that men underestimate them, that their job is just as hard as any man’s. Michelle missed the boat on that one.”
Laura — you know that evaluation is simply and absolutely mostly about race. Very few are ever going to believe Michelle in the guise of a PTA mom, even though she is one, every much as Palin is. It was a boat she simply couldn’t catch, and pointing out that she missed it (and I’m not saying she didn’t) is not particularly different from pointing out that Michelle is a black mom from Chicago.
Your point needs to be made, because this is one of the independent battles the Obama ticket is fighting, that there are fewer people who truly understand that Michelle every much the Mom who will fight to the death for her kids, works in a job that’s just as hard as a man’s, and is underestimated in her job.
But, I agree with your main point that the Democrats should not underestimate the secret society of PTA moms. I can only keep dreaming that those PTA moms see where those of us who do not look like them are fighting the same battles for our children.
LikeLike
They’ve got to point out that this hockey mom never mentioned the word education in her speech.
Not true: “I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. [Emphasis added]”
LikeLike
“you know that evaluation is simply and absolutely mostly about race”
I need to buy myself a pair of those special x-ray glasses that allow people like BJ to see the racist bones in everyone else’s skeleton. (eye roll)
LikeLike
BJ’s point isn’t that specific people are racists. It’s that, when Laura conjures a particular image of the “PTA Mom,” or the “Soccer Mom,” the image that pops into most people’s minds is of a WHITE PTA Mom or a WHITE Soccer Mom.
There is a difference between describing unconscious racism and calling people racists. Was everyone who didn’t get that old story about the surgeon who couldn’t operate on the boy because “this is my son” — who couldn’t figure out the solution to the puzzle because they forgot the surgeon could be a woman — sexist? No, they (I) live in a sometimes sexist society and their default image of “surgeon” was male.
“Suburban soccer mom” reads white, especially when used to talk electoral politics in the States. There’s nothing offensive about pointing that out.
I was struck by how much Palin SOUNDED like my cousins and aunts, all of whom are not sure whether to vote for Obama or not. I think she will help McCain with those women for exactly the reasons that you describe here, Laura.
LikeLike
“Very few are ever going to believe Michelle in the guise of a PTA mom, even though she is one, every much as Palin is. It was a boat she simply couldn’t catch, and pointing out that she missed it (and I’m not saying she didn’t) is not particularly different from pointing out that Michelle is a black mom from Chicago.”
Yea… right… They are very different. Michelle Obama may be a PTA Member but she is no PTA soccer mom. How many PTA member, kid raising, husband managing, soccer moms do you know that live in multi million dollar Chicago mansions?
LikeLike
Yup, I’m going to keep pointing out how our view of the world is shaped by our society, and the biases we bring into it. I’d heard before that making those points would bring out people like spartee accusing me of “playing the race card.” It’s never happened to me before, but, so goes life.
It’s an interesting conundrum, because if you don’t point assumptions out, they go unnoticed, but if you do, you get accused of seeing ghosts.
And yes, Jody, your context is exactly what I meant. The surgeon joke is a great analogy, and one that I’ve always loved.
LikeLike
Ha ha! You nailed the PTA mom description. When I first saw photos of Palin’s lovely family, one of the things that came to mind was my 30% off Kohl’s coupon that was about to expire, The fact that DSW is a few blocks away from Kohl’s certainly makes for efficient shopping around here.
Regarding the issues, I wonder if many of these same soccer moms would support raising taxes in order to expand the types of social programs you listed. We can’t ignore that another part of the persona that Palin projects is that of the independent-minded, small government, up by the bootstraps American. That voter seems unlikely to want to pay for universal pre-K and daycare services for all.
LikeLike
PTA moms had never heard of a community organizer before Obama, don’t know what a community organizer does and have never met one.
As bj says, different views of the world.
Obama’s campaign manager just sent out a helpful letter explaining what a community organizer does, and included a request for donations.
LikeLike
Why? Why would anyone want someone just like them to lead this country?! I don’t want anyone like me to lead this country. I want someone infinitely better than me – someone who is so intelligent, so cool under fire, so prepared and so well educated that I couldn’t possibly relate to them. I don’t want the PTA to run America. I want someone who is well trained in the art of state craft. This is bizarro land. You were a shareholder you wouldn’t hire a PTA mom to run microsoft. You would want the best trained business person you could find.
This character narrative is egotistical idiocy, and one of the reasons America is falling behind.
LikeLike
The PTA mom/Soccer Mom in the Palin family is the dad. Anyone who thinks that someone who is governor is the main caregiver/childraiser is delusional.
LikeLike
Ok folks, thanks for bringing me back to not letting “them” frame the question. Indeed, there’s no reason that we want the head of the harper valley PTA to run our country, and most of us, would realize, cognitively, that that would be a bad idea.
And, this gives me another chance to reiterate that though I love the personal narrative of Obama’s story, I support him for president because I agree with his ideology and I believe that he is a smart and capable person who is going to help us to work together towards a common goal.
LikeLike
Well, I have no intention of ever voting for McCain (or be extension Palin). But I still think it’s a good thing for me as a woman to have people view a PTA mom as a potential VPOTUS. In the past that was not the case.
That said, we all know PTA moms that we absolutely cannot stand, or who you love but would not want setting policy. (Sometimes those PTA moms are relatives!) You can recognize the role and yet still see the opinions and policies separately.
LikeLike
Jen, I would like PTA moms to be held in high regard and to be seen as comptent for MANY things, including mayor, council member, state representative, member of Congress, even governor. But VP?!
When we’re discussing VP we need to think of it as POTUS, since the main job, whether Palin knows it or not, is to be able to step in for the prez. at a moent’s notice. I just can’t buy the PTA mom as president of the United States. Sorry.
LikeLike
I agree with RCinProv — this particular PTA mom doesn’t have it. But take that model and give it 15 more years’ experience, and it could work.
I guess my point is that we’re a long way from the days when any woman was inconceivable for a leadership role. The stereotypes that women have been associated with are becoming empowered. What used to be a pushy librarian is now the chief economist of a major trading house. The former excellent high school teacher is a college prof; the type who used to top out as PTA president now have other options.
LikeLike
But take that model and give it 15 more years’ experience, and it could work.
Fair enough. Laura in 15 years! And I don’t mean Bush.
LikeLike
“Indeed, there’s no reason that we want the head of the harper valley PTA to run our country, and most of us, would realize, cognitively, that that would be a bad idea.”
Why not?
That would seem to be bj’s cue: “…you know that evaluation is simply and absolutely mostly about gender…”
Oh, wait.
LikeLike
That may be the case at your school – but ours is very different.
Half of our PTA officers are Dads (including the Co-President) and every single one of us (moms & dads) has a job outside the home.
Our PTA meetings this year will have translators for 2 languages (because over a third of our population doesn’t speak English), and will serve a meal because most of our school doesn’t get enough to eat.
I’m a PTA mom, and I wear suits with heels because I’m heading to meetings with clients or Partners at my firm.
I’ve never been to a home jewelry party.
I’ve never stepped into a Curves, but I regularly run marathons.
Although my job is flexible, I’m not underpaid and my boss is a woman.
…just doing my small part to counter what I see as mean-spirited sexist stereotypes, one blog comment at a time…
LikeLike
K – You may not be typical. I never said all PTA moms were of this variety. I go to PTA meetings. However, a good number of PTA moms are like this. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with Curves, Kohl’s, flexible jobs and practical shoes.
And I was just talking identity politics in this post. I was not endorsing Palin’s message. I just think that a lot of women recognized themselves in her tonight. I’m not sure if it will make them change their vote or not. I’m just saying that there was something very familiar about her.
I went to get my eyebrows waxed this afternoon and I was talking to the gravel-voiced receptionist and two of the hairdressers. Two out of the three of them had stayed up to watch the speech and said that they loved her. Anecdotal information, but interesting.
LikeLike
K: interesting and relevant contribution, but you migth need to work on the differcne between a little snark and being mean-spirited. That was not, as I read it, at all mean-spirited!
LikeLike
“”Indeed, there’s no reason that we want the head of the harper valley PTA to run our country, and most of us, would realize, cognitively, that that would be a bad idea.”
Jen already called me on this one, and she’s right. Dissing the PTA compared to community organizing is indeed gender bias. I don’t consider myself immune to the influences of bias in our society. The PTA counts, too. I didn’t mean to diss the PTA as a road to public service, and don’t feel that its’ not. I’ve always respected Darcy Burner (Democrat, running for Congress) when she said that she decided to run because she couldn’t’ figure out a simpler way to make the world a better place for her son).
LikeLike
I object to the characterization of PTA mom as one who is typified by Palin, more than Obama, and still don’t see why one would say that. You don’t really mean a PTA Mom, who as K mentions are a very diverse group of people, you mean a certain stereotype of a PTA mom, and that stereotype, by definition, excludes Obama (and me) and includes Palin.
Someone tossed out that Obama isn’t a “PTA Mom” because she lives in an expensive house.
But how many “PTA Moms” live in governor’s mansions? How many of them kill caribou? How many of them participated in beauty pageants? How many have pregnant 17 year old daughters?
The first question is snark, but the rest are legitimate. Laura was defining a particular identity, and saying that Palin was pulling of identification with it. But, I don’t see where Laura is getting her definition of PTA mom from? It certainly doesn’t fit the PTA moms I know (who have done none of the 4 above).
The bigger point I’m trying to make on identity politics is that people out there are always trying to define an apocryphal American, and when they do so, they often exclude many of us. Palin is defining, and then saying, she fits a self-defined stereotype, and one that might be frequent enough, in say, television commercials, that she fits, and Obama doesn’t. But in the underlying fundamental values, why doesn’t Obama? Why don’t I? My kid plays soccer; I’m a member of the PTA; I manage my husband and fight fiercely for my children? Why do I not count as the typical mom?
Palin struck a familiar chord in Laura, and Jody, and the hairdressers. Interesting, but it doesn’t definite typical, any ore than the “white working class voter” is the most important demographic.
LikeLike
Why do I not count as the typical mom?
Uh, Dems need not apply?
I agree with your point that the GOP message is one of exclusion of many people.
The difference between the demographic make-up of the delegates at these conventions is beyond striking. I find the Dem version inspiring and the GOP version incredibly narrow.
LikeLike
Why do I not count as the typical mom?
Uh, Dems need not apply?
hey who said I was a Dem? I though I was keeping that well hidden 🙂
LikeLike
Palin didn’t strike a cord with me. I just can understand how she can strike a cord with others. I was just trying to explain to you all how that works.
bj – Let’s just admit it. We are not typical. We have advanced degrees. We can’t be defined by the IRS as middle class. We read blogs for fun. We’re aren’t typical. We are outliers. That’s okay. But we aren’t the average PTA mom. We aren’t the average voter. Perhaps in our circles, we feel very average. But we’re not. I’m sure that you are a great mom who has much in common with the PTA mom that I painted in the post, but we’re aren’t typical. And I don’t think that race and ethnicity has much to do with it any more.
Look all this identity stuff with soccer moms and small town politics is bad, bad news. I’m not happy about it. I just feel like I need to report the bad news, as well as the good.
LikeLike
“But we aren’t the average PTA mom. We aren’t the average voter.”
See, I don’t agree with this, because though I can’t lay much claim to typicality (and don’t want to), I don’t think that Palin is the “average” PTA mom either, unless you use stereotypes and not reality.
It’s true, I am not typical. But neither is Palin. We are now a country where there is no average. 15% of Americans identify themselves as not having any religion. 30% are not white. Does being in the 70% make you typical? only marginally, and if we add caribou hunting, mother of a downs infant and a pregnant teen to that mix, we certainly don’t have typical anymore, no more typical than the non-white, non-middle-income, graduate degree holding me. I think we have to fight the media/hollywood/republican definition of “normal” not accept the fantasy as reality.
LikeLike
bj, there was an article about that in the Sept. 1 issue of The Nation–“The End of Bubba Dominance.”
I work at an HBCU. My African American colleagues told me of their tears the night of Obama’s speech. My students are enthralled. I worry about the repercussions of him losing for the future of my students’ willingness to emotionally invest themselves in the political process. I am waiting for the day when demographic shifts mean that elections are no longer “a competition over fundamentally conservative identity groups”, as the article puts it.
LikeLike
Maybe it’s the word typical here that’s the problem. Let’s stick with average. If 70% of the population is Type A blood and 30% is Type B, you need to appeal to Type A blood to get elected, because 30% doesn’t get you elected. If 85% of the population is type A blood, you better be sure to not offend them. This isn’t about Hollywood stereotypes. It’s about polling data.
The average PTA mom does work a part-time/flexible job with far less money than she did before she had kids. Crittenden has numbers on that. The average PTA member is a woman, not her husband. I can’t quantify the capri pants, but there’s data on the rest of it. The average mom has some sort of crisis in her family, such as a kid with special needs, a knocked up teenager, a kid with poor grades, a flaky husband, a sister with a drug habit. Something. Palin played that up and people liked it.
They might not like her tomorrow. They might see that she’s a big phony with no real policy agenda. I hope they do.
LikeLike
We had about 3,000 people here today.
LikeLike
Palin is traffic gold – not just here. Ratings gold too. It points to the nerves she strikes across the board.
LikeLike
Palin is also raising LOTS of money — for Obama!
LikeLike
Is she? I hadn’t seen those numbers. Awesome. Palin backlash.
LikeLike
Politico and Drudge say: $8 million from more than 130,000 donors since Palin attacked Obama last night.
LikeLike
I haven’t seen the fund-raising numbers either, but it might just be because Obama’s people are being very active. They called me twice yesterday, both times asking for me by name (i.e., they were not calling for the registered Democrat of the house). Then again, maybe it was just that kind of a day for me. My alma mater and some guy trying to catch a bus also asked me for money. Except for my alma mater, they all stopped asking when I said I was a Republican.
LikeLike
Laura — you should read the article that Lisa cites to. It says what I was trying to say, but with much better math. We are a nation of pluralities. The article proposes that Democrats can win elections by winning a majority of the pluralities. Of course, that doesn’t mean that they can without attracting white voters, but they don’t need to win a majority of white voters to win elections any more, in this pluralistic America.
LikeLike
I’m sure that’s right. They can get a big chunk of white voters, plus all minorities and win. But I think we’re talking at cross purposes tonight.
LikeLike
This disagreement that I had with bj about the definition of a PTA mom was interesting, because it reveals a peak at the culture war that is lurking behind the surface of this election. The PTA mom that I describe in this post may read bj’s and K’s objections and feel like they are a little embarrassed of her. She could interpret their objections as slights. “What? I’m not hip enough for you? You want to distance yourself from me?” I think that culture wars are dumb, dumb things, but that was a big theme of the RNC. They must think that they have something there.
The PTA mom that I described is enough of the population that the label is understandable to most people. If you don’t think the label is appropriate, change it. Call it the Capri Mom Set or whatever. The point is just that the Capri Mom is a big part of the population and Palin, for the moment, reached them.
LikeLike
I’m starting to realize why some women of my mom’s generation had an extreme dislike for Hilary Clinton, and I think it’s the same reason I dislike Sarah Palin so much, and why I (and perhaps others) have been so obsessed with this choice for the past week. With so few women as leaders at this level, maybe we feel like we’re supposed to identify with the woman of our generation, and it makes us angry when they’re not *us*.
My mom was a PTA mom – college educated, but only worked for a few years before having kids and then spent the rest of her life (so far) volunteering and taking care of her family and other people she knew. She was moderately supportive of feminism, but it wasn’t a big issue. Hilary is not *her*. And at Sarah Palin’s age, I’m still single, no kids, and opposed to her on all the issues. (And the latter is true for most women I know, even those who otherwise fit the profile for the soccer/hockey mom.) She’s not *me*.
Maybe once we have more women at the top level we’ll stop getting so upset when they’re not us.
LikeLike
“PTA moms had never heard of a community organizer before Obama, don’t know what a community organizer does and have never met one.”
Of course PTA moms have met them.
A “community organizer” is one of those skinny little dweebs who comes around to your front door, clipboard in hand, right as you are sitting down to dinner, and tries to get you to sign some inane petition to Save The Whales or some stupid thing.
Average Americans, including soccer and PTA moms, can’t stand them.
LikeLike
Well, I wouldn’t overestimate the “secret sorority of PTA moms” either. Beyond the fact that there are, as BJ and K point out, many mothers who don’t fit the profile, there are many women for whom that experience does not resonate at all. There are now more unmarried than married women in the US, and 20% of women never have children. Thirty eight and a half percent of births (as of 2006) are to unmarried women (with 24-29 year olds experiencing the greatest rise). These women are not leading that “typical” life of part-time work, managing husbands, etc. that you posit.
For most of these, I think Palin’s status as a “PTA mom” is not a plus, it’s not a minus. I wouldn’t presume to speak for other women who are unmarried/no children, but I thought, when I heard Palin’s story, okay, yay for her, now what? How would she govern? What sort of understanding/experience does she have with the concerns that affect us as a nation? What policies would she seek to put in place that will help the breadth of her constituency? How does she relate to the people who have different life experiences than she has? And the answers aren’t good. So yes, there’s a percentage that will choose Palin because they think she looks like them, but I believe (that is, hope desperately) there are fewer than you suppose.
LikeLike
Yeah, Suze. Palin didn’t speak to me either; I just think she spoke to a specific group — the hockey/capri pants/Palin-esque mom. And the Palin-eque mom, while not reprentative of all women or all moms, is a big chunk of the population and far more likely to vote than some of the other segments of the female population that you mentioned.
But all this may be irrelevent. I think McCain bombed last night. After seeing that speech, I’m not sure he’s going to pull in any independent voters who were momentarily swayed by Palin.
LikeLike
I agree that Palin spoke very effectively to that group, I just disagree about the size and the influence of that group on the election (with fingers crossed). I think we’re in the midst of a significant demographic shift, and that these traditionally powerful blocs (eg soccer moms) are waning in importance. Here’s one poll that agrees: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/
2008/04/15/unmarried-women-are-the-soccer-moms-of-
the-2008-presidential-election.html
LikeLike
You know I spent 12 years as a PTA mom, though our school never had a PTA. I was a down in the trenches volunteer with the rest of them. I don’t know a one of the women I hung with she would appeal to. The fact that she is anti-choice would kill a ton of support for them. They may all have grown a little more conservative as they age, but most still remember what it was like to be in college and have an unplanned pregnancy, or a friend had one. They are willing to go back. Especially when she said no abortion even if her daughter was raped. These women look at their daughters and can’t imagine saying the same thing.
And many of them have degrees, sometimes advanced degrees. They are educated and thinking. That’s the reason they can afford to be a volunteer mom. Their husbands are educated as well.
I think Palin more likely appeals to a whole generation of likely more blue collar women who were told they didn’t have a chance to be in power, never wanted it because they did not dare dream it. It was just too far out of their grasp. They don’t care about banning books because they haven’t read the books that are being banned. They’ve heard they are bad, and they believe them. They want fewer taxes, because they make hardly any money as it is- and they don’t have an accountant beyond H & R block.
The more I think about it, what we are really talking about here is class, not gender.
LikeLike
Aargh- it should have said “they aren’t willing to go back” in the first paragraph.
LikeLike
Suze – I’ve got to find another article that discusses the unmarried female demographic, because that US News one was rather limited. I couldn’t tell if they were lumping together unmarried, childless, hip, urban, highly education, middle to upper income, mid 40s women with rural, young, with kids, no husband, under poverty line, no GED women. If so, then that that label is useless for predicting voting outcomes and policy interests.
LikeLike
OK, here’s another POV. Don’t forget that a lot of people can’t *stand* the PTA moms because they always act like they’re better than you because they volunteer at the school and their husbands make enough money so they don’t have to work full-time. They’re always the people who know the school staff by name while you’re trying to figure out who the nurse is. They always know the gossip you’re dying to know, why someone retired early, why so-and-so is still teaching math even though they can’t add (it’s because they’re married to the School Board Member’s cousin), where to go to get soccer cleats at the best price, and they don’t tell you because they have their friends already and they’re so busy talking to the principal about Important PTA Things that they can’t be bothered with you.
And no, I DO NOT HAVE ISSUES*, thank you very much.
*Lie.
PS: I actually related quite a bit to Laura’s description of the PTA mom except I’m not an active member right now (may change depending on whether I’m run out of town on a rail over my residency dispute). Also, I don’t wear earrings.
LikeLike
Except that I was making a point about who these women are NOT (“typical” PTA hockey moms of the sort you described), not who they ARE. Of course a category as large and diverse as Unmarried Women is not going to have a cohesive set of policy interests. My point is that there are more women out there who do not recognize themselves in Sarah Palin and who therefore would not support her on that count than there are women who do identify with her and care enough about that commonality to vote on that basis.
LikeLike
Wendy, I would’ve completely told you all the gossip, and shared why the principal was a figure head, and instead the power was with his assistant. I’d also let you know who kept scotch in their drawer. 😉
LikeLike
LisaV, LOL! Thanks. 🙂
LikeLike
There’s a funny video at the Onion: “Latest Poll Reveals 430 New Demographics That Will Decide Election”
It ends with the voting plans of the “Employees of the Riggins, ID Washington Mutual who have a crush on the girl, Amy, who works on the Wendy’s nearby.” They poll in favor of Obama, but the demographer thinks the support is soft, ’cause it depends on Amy, who supports Obama.
LikeLike
Laura, I wasn’t trying to say that I looked down on your version of the “PTA Mom” – I was only trying to say that the PTA can be different in some schools than what you and Wendy and many others seem to have experienced.
It sounds like we are very atypical, but I run into that PTA stereotype more often than I’d like. I’ve been the President of the PTA for over 3 years…only because I’m pretty much the only person in the entire school who can afford the time to do it. (or who is willing to deal with some of the messier issues that a school of poverty brings.)
My kids go to a very poor school. I think our latest poverty percentage was 70%. Most of our neighbors think we are crazy and most of them go to private schools. (I suspect that if we went to a private school, I’d run into your version of the PTA mom more often.)
If your version of a PTA mom walked into our school, I would welcome her with open arms. I could care less what she wears, or where she works out. We are so incredibly short of people who can volunteer…it wouldn’t matter to me.
And for the record, our kids are getting a GREAT education at this school.
But I get my heart broken a lot by knowing so many children who don’t get enough to eat or have a parent in jail or who don’t have a single book in the house. *THAT* is what keeps me active in the PTA – to help those kids.
So, I guess perhaps I get a little over-sensitive about the PTA characterizations. (I hear them a lot) I felt that way during Palin’s speech, too – when she kept dissing the “community organizers” – what’s wrong with wanting to do some good in the world???
LikeLike
Yea… right… They are very different. Michelle Obama may be a PTA Member but she is no PTA soccer mom. How many PTA member, kid raising, husband managing, soccer moms do you know that live in multi million dollar Chicago mansions?
Uh, I know plenty of those moms–PTA, kid raising, husband managing, ballet dance wrangling, women who live in multi million dollar Cambridge Mansions. Does that count? So, yeah, I totally get that Michelle obama is also a “soccer mom” of no mean proportions. Often those women also chair the fundraising committee, the auction committee, the board of directors and etc… of their kids school.
aimai
and hi wendy, thanks for linking to this site. Its a keeper.
LikeLike
It appears that people miss the distinction between a “PTA mom” and a parent who happens to be a member of the PTA.
The defining characteristic of a “PTA mom” is someone who puts “family first.” While they may be employed, its a “job” rather than a “career”, their “career” is their family.
And those who say that a governor can’t be a PTA mom are being deliberately obtuse. “PTA mom” describes how Palin entered politics — and that’s a vital distinction.
Michelle Obama may be a PTA member, but she’s first and foremost a career woman and political wife. (and this is not a criticism, but an observation; I’d rather vote for Michelle Obama for President than for Barack Obama, or McCain, or Biden, or Palin).
LikeLike
Excellent post. It was very helpful for me. if I would not read this article then I wouldn’t learn new knowledge. I just loved this post.
LikeLike