The adage about when you're in a hole stop digging? Far be it from me to give helpful advice to either Romney but they keep going back to the Mom well. Thing is, they keep poisoningthat well:
“I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.”
Would you like more cake with that let them eat cake? What does that even mean "I love the fact that there are women out there who don't have a choice...."
If it was something said in isolation it might be a throwaway....awkwardly worded ( still don't know what it's supposed to mean) but not a big deal. But it's not. It's one more thing in a long line of awkwardly worded, out of touch with the real world, we really don't get it statements made by either Romney.
This line was part of a speech given to Republican women in Stamford CT so it probably didn't resonate with that audience ( at all) the same way it would to women who actually don't have a choice. This was her comment immediately prior:
“I know what’s like to finish the laundry and to look in the basket five minutes later and it’s full again. I know what’s like to pull all the groceries in and see the teenagers run through and all of a sudden all the groceries you just bought are gone,” Romney said to the crowd. “And I know what’s like to get up early in the morning and to get them off to school. And I know what’s like to get up in the middle of the night when they’re sick. And I know what’s like to struggle and to have those concerns that all mothers have.”
OK me too. But Ann, do you know what it's like to pull all the groceries knowing that you spent your grocery budget and there's no running back to the store unless you put in some overtime at work and maybe not even then? The magic pantry fairy doesn't come to everyone's house. And I'm saying this as someone who's fortunate enough not to have had to face that.
Do you know what it's like to get up early , get them off to school, get yourself ready for work , get to work on time, get everything done so you don't have to stay late and work that overtime paid or not? Stay up all night with a sick kid and finish the presentation due in the morning when you feel like crap yourself but have to go in or risk losing your job and oh, no childcare?
Maybe you could weigh in on this Ann:
The New Breadwinners: 2010 Update Rates of Women Supporting Their Families Economically Increased Since 2007
Or maybe you were and you were celebrating this?
How about this Ann:
Infographic: The Gender Pay Gap See What Inequity in Earnings Costs Women and Their Families Each Year and Over Their Lifetimes
Let's be clear. She had the choice and the financial means to enable her to make the choices she did. Fine and dandy. But when are they going to realize that for many to most families, this choice isn't one, and that her husband's economic policies don't positively impact families and further that goal? Because until then ( and I'm not holding my breath) it just comes across as indulgent, fake, and clueless.
Until then, you're in a hole Marie Ann-toinette Romney. Stop digging.
Update: Have to run to the dentist. Pretty bad that's more appealing to me than Ann Romney's comments.