Insiders see 'new feminism'

ST. PAUL, MINN. — The topic was Sen. John McCain's vice presidential pick, and talk show host Laura Ingraham was on a roll. Accepting an award from the Republican National Coalition for Life on behalf of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was under wraps working on her convention speech, Ingraham chastised anyone who would suggest that Palin is not up to the job.

As a pro-life working mother of five, including a special needs infant and a pregnant 17-year-old, Ingraham said, "Sarah Palin represents a new feminism. . . . And there is no bigger threat to the elites in this country than a woman who lives her conservative convictions."

That was the prevailing mood in the Twin Cities this week, as convention-going Republicans expressed delight that Palin, a newcomer to the national stage, would shore up McCain's conservative flank.

But her selection, and her unusual family situation, launched a thousand other conversations outside the partisan bubble.

Chatter ranged from what it must do to a 17-year-old to have her unplanned pregnancy announced to the world to whether discussion of Palin's decision to run, given her weighty family obligations, is fair or whether it plays into outdated stereotypes about the perils of working motherhood.

"The mom part of me says how did this woman expect to run for vice president with a 4-month-old baby with a disability and a 17-year-old about to have a baby of her own?" said Debra Haffner, a Unitarian minister and sex educator from Westport, Conn., who has educated parents on teenage sexuality for nearly three decades. "It's not a feminist perspective . . . but there are times when you put your professional aspirations on hold, and this seems like it might be one of them."

She said she thinks Palin has brought such scrutiny on herself. "I think when you keep proudly saying 'I'm a hockey mom of five' . . . you open your own parenting practice up for consideration."

Palin has raised the issue herself. In 2004, she told the Anchorage Daily News that she decided not to run for the U.S. Senate because her teenage son opposed it.

"How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. senator?" she asked.

Talking with reporters Monday, McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt took offense at the idea that Palin might have trouble juggling the vice presidency and her family obligations.

"Frankly," he said, "I can't imagine that question being asked of a man. I think it's offensive, and I think a lot of women will find it offensive."