Cross-posted here because the many people don't realize just how wonderful the mommy bloggers are, and I think they deserve wider recognition.
This weekend, while campaigning in California, Elizabeth sat down with 22 writers from the Silicon Valley Moms blog, plus another dozen or so moms joined in via conference call from sister sites Chicago Moms blog and DC Metro Moms blog. Elizabeth sat down with the Silicon Valley moms last year, before John announced his intention to run, so this meeting was both a reunion and a serious discussion of the issues.
If you thought these bloggers would be pitching softballs - think again. The moms came prepared to ask tough questions about John's positions on everything from universal health care to education to tax policy.
Sarah Granger has an impressive live-blog of the discussion.
The discussion started off with a few personal questions. To kick things off, as to be expected, there was a question about what it's like for Elizabeth to blog while the campaign is going on. The often asked question - does someone in the campaign see Elizabeth's comments before she posts them - was one of the first questions on the table. The answer: no.
Elizabeth:
"There is an immediacy to blogs. If I would get approval for things, it would be 36 hours later. I mark my blog favorites and check them regularly.
Over at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman, Suzie muses on this answer:
There's no taking something back once it is out in the Blogosphere...it does make you realize that the words that we put out there are out there for real.
Then came an interesting question about how Elizabeth envisions herself in the role of First Lady. Elizabeth said it was, "virtually impossible" to picture what that would be like. But she discussed several causes she would champion including giving a voice to military families and making sure they had a constant advocate (Elizabeth is the daughter of a navy pilot), after school centers for children who need a place to go, cancer research, ensuring fair elections and increasing the numbers of women who participate in the political process.
On the last item - increasing the participation of women - Elizabeth shared a tried and true organizing tactic - using ironing boards to register voters. Elizabeth's spin on this was taking the operation to places where women, especially women unlikely to be registered to vote, can be found, such as laundry mats and grocery stores.
From there the conversation veered into a discussion of other serious issues. As Pundit Mom writes:
...I do want to say this -- the conversation wasn't about broad strokes. The details that went along with each idea were astounding. This is a campaign that has thought through how to approach and fund each initiative they're proposing and they aren't afraid to explain it.
Sarah's live-blog is a great way to get an idea of the full conversation. Or check out Sassafrass' take - one of the moms that dialed into the call.
Alix has a detailed post about the health care part of the discussion over at Med Nauseum. The question was, "What should the U.S. health care system look like in 15 years?" Elizabeth talked in detail, (and Alix reports on it) about the need for more preventative care, the structure and impact of a universal health care system and how to get health care to the people who need it. She also touched on the importance of research and innovation - specifically with regards to chronic conditions.
CityMomma and Momocrats co-founder also joined via conference call and muses:
And as I was listening in on the call with some of the other DC Metro Moms (and IM'ing at the same time -- I know, we're such geeks!), we all had the same thought -- where are the details like this from the other campaigns? If we had the chance to ask Hillary or Barack or the others the same questions, would we get the level of thoughtfulness we got this afternoon?
Dawn, who blogs over at the wonderfully named, "A Blonde Walks into a Blog" writes about the fact that John would eliminate the Bush tax cuts for those making over $200,000 a year to pay for universal health care. She says:
One of our family's biggest concerns is being considered "rich" and being saddled with taxes we can't afford to pay..Knowing that we will be considered middle class was a HUGE relief. The cost of living in our area is so tremendous, and that added with our health care bills makes it very hard to get by these days. We are by no means "rich" despite my husband's three-figure income. I'm glad that the Edwards campaign realizes that families like mine are struggling and will not burden us with lessening our income through taxes.
MommaLoves asked an incredibly thoughtful question, "How will our lives change if your husband becomes president? We've heard many positions on issues, including health care, but how will our world be safer and more prosperous for our children if John Edwards is President?"
Elizabeth:
John talks often about his biography. About how it is that he came from nothing. John's policies are about the ladder that people used to climb up to the American dream. A lot of those rungs are broken.
Education was a part of it. Making certain we were healthy and hearty. Making sure we got a good wage. All those things were a part of what made it possible to step from economically disadvantaged to middle class, from middle class to upper middle class. And the rungs are all broken now. There is not as much mobility between the various parts of our society as their used to be. Disparities are becoming wider and more entrenched. The top 300,000 wage earners in this country earn as much as the bottom 150 million and the people in that 150 million feel less and less like they have a pathway to the top.
One of the things we are going to do is re-instill this idea that we can move, by our own efforts, move. The government can't make you climb the ladder, you have to climb it, but the government is responsible for making sure the ladder is there.
Elizabeth then went on to elaborate on this point by discussing universal health care and the effect it has on the lives of all Americans. She talked about fixing our primary education system to make it so that all children can succeed, and giving everyone that opportunity for upward mobility through secondary education specifically citing the College for Everyone program. She also talked at length about John's vision for re-establishing America's moral leadership in the world.
When the discussion moved on to education and topics ranging from improving our schools, to paying for college, to increasing the number of science and math programs to increasing the number of girls in those specialty programs - you could tell every one had a deep and personal interest in the topic. Kim, who called in from Chicago, writes over at Hormone Colored Days about the that part of the discussion:
As she was answering the questions there were many times I wanted to use her answer as a jumping off point to explore other issues. For example, when answering a question about encouraging women and minorities to pursue careers in science she talked about her daughter who was accelerated in math and was part of a all too brief special mentoring program- it took a great deal of self-control not to chime and ask how John Edwards plans to fix NCLB.
(The answer to Kim's question is that John Edwards believe we need to radically overhaul No Child Left Behind. You can read how he plans to do that here)
One of the most amazing things about this meeting, some thing that's been different from other blogger meetings the campaign has done, is the fact that by definition, all the mommy bloggers had to make space not just in their schedules, but in the schedules of others - they had to make sure their children were being watched, that they could escape for the afternoon, and they, amazingly, did it on short notice. Lawyer Momma writes:
During the introductions, I accidentally un-muted my cell phone. Of course, H&H began screaming and running around on cue. I didn't realize that anyone could hear them until Elizabeth said "Whoever has the kids in the background, don't shut them up! I might have to bring my own in here too." Everyone laughed while I was staring at my cell phone in horror and frantically pushing he mute button! Of course, I got over my embarrassment immediately. This was a conference call with mothers. Elizabeth is a mother too. She and my fellow mom bloggers certainly weren't going to judge me for showing a bit of humanity.
And later:
What I like most about Elizabeth and John Edwards is that they both have a touch of idealism in them. They don't talk like politicians. They haven't given up on making positive changes. In fact, they've both dedicated their lives to trying to make that happen and they have concrete plans to do it.
I voted for John Edwards in the last presidential primary. I'll be doing so again in early 2008 and, hopefully, in November 2008. I hope that when my children are older I'll be able to tell them about a phone call I had with our future First Lady and about how she gave me hope. Hope that this world and our United States can be better.
Of course, I'll have to tell Hollis and Holden about how our future First Lady commented on their hooligan noise and roughhousing. But I'm quite certain she did it with a smile.
MommaLoves writes:
Personally, I had to lock myself in my bedroom to make sure that none of my three boys ran through the room as Mrs. Edwards was speaking. Ah the challenges of a mommy blogger.
Xiaolinmama said
Like, many of the other moms in preparing for the meeting on Saturday, I rushed from two soccer games, made arrangements for child care, prepped lunch, handled Kiley's tantrum, and did laundry so I had something semi-clean to wear. I have tried to write this post several times this weekend, but got interrupted by regular life - friends, chores, work and family time. I started to feel like a loser for not getting to posting sooner, then it hit me - "regular life", that is what struck me about Elizabeth Edwards....
...While she tackled our questions about the campaign head on, she also shared insights into her family and life. She gushed about how gifted her daughter was in math and how disappointed she was that her daughter lost interest in high school when a mentoring program ended and when a teacher said girls don’t "do math". (I’ve been there!) She talked about how she didn’t read blogs as much as she would want to while on the campaign bus because she wasn’t going to pay $9.00 an hour for access. (I’m with her there too!) When she lost her train of thought, she joked that she had a ton of things to blame that one on – "Chemo brain, being a mom, oh the list can go on." She talked like a mother, like someone who has been through hell and back and sincerely wants to make every moment count. She had a stuffy nose, like a regular person.
I was touched when she also talked about how she would not be part of a presidential campaign if it was going to be "more of the same". I believe her. As someone who came to our meeting undecided about whom to vote for, I left with a new lens to evaluate the candidates.
BarkingatKathy, one of the Chicago Moms, writes along a similar vein, talking about the time it takes to inform yourself about the candidates and the issues:
I’ve been feeling like I want to know more about all the candidates this time around. And because of her I do. You know, it takes a lot of time to be informed. You have to read a lot of articles and listen to a lot of debates and read a lot of websites and platforms. And because she accepted an invitation to talk with our group, I did all those things, and I feel much more informed than I was last week. For example, I didn’t know that John Edwards has a plan to pay for one year of public college for students willing to work a part-time job. He would finance it by restructuring the student loan programs we’ve been hearing about in the news lately.
You can read here how she answered all our questions, and she did so with humor and grace. But it was her final comments that hit me. As a country, she said, "We are on a bad path now." I couldn’t agree more with that statement. She went on to say that to change directions we need people to engage. Writing a check isn’t enough anymore. "It’s really easy to get more of the same, but no so easy to change things."
But I think we do have to change things, and we can do that if we all just try a bit harder. She made me see that I can do that.
Over on Gratitude365, another mom writes about her impression of the meeting:
I left our meeting feeling like even I—who pretty much dropped all interest in politics after working as a page in the Idaho State Legislature in high school—really could join this "family" that is working so passionately for change, for better lives for everyone.
At The Family Room, Susan Etlinger writes:
Meeting Elizabeth made me realize that if I vote for her husband, I have, for the very first time, a pretty good idea what I'm getting. And that made me rethink my assumptions about who and what I was really voting for.
On Family Freitas, Momma to LG was struck by Elizabeth's description of the how John's campaign is different. Elizabeth said, "From the very beginning this has been a campaign about ideas and vision."
In response to this part, Momma to LG writes:
I will admit that before today, I thought about voting for Hillary because she is a woman. I thought about voting for Barack because he is a man of color and has so much charisma. I really realize that there are real issues at stake here and I really need to start thinking about them.
Also talking about that aspect of the discussion, Karianna who also met Elizabeth at BlogHer, writes:
As at BlogHer, I was impressed with her warmth, approachability, and ability to think on her feet (or sitting in front of a speakerphone and a bunch of eager moms, as the case may be.) Her answers were honest and reasonable. She didn’t appear to be promising unrealistic things on behalf of her husband; rather, she represented her own views and when applicable, made reference to John’s policies.
The irony is that although her personality and demeanor are inviting, she encourages us to vote for candidates not based on their likeability factor, but instead based on policy and ideas. Indeed, this is what I would hope would be the case. John posted his policies early in the campaign for others to process and consider.
Finding Bongga Mom also recaps this moment and writes about the importance of campaigning for change, as does Not Just a Working Mom, and Linsey who comments on getting more engaged in politics thanks to the Silicon Valley Moms.
Speaking of mommy bloggers getting engaged in politics, the newly-launched Momcrats is a must-read for every Mom for Edwards. From Momocrats:
This site is dedicated to putting a Democrat in the White House in January 2009, and effectuating real change in our nation. We are a group of moms who have come together to support the candidate we think will make a positive change in our nation and has the best chance to win the general election.
That candidate is John Edwards.
We respect the other candidates, and appreciate their service to our country. After agonizing over the choices for months, we feel that John Edwards is the best person for the job. In the coming weeks and months, we'll share with you the specific reasons why, and give you some food for thought. Eat up...you'lll need your strength to get you through this election this year.
We're supporting Edwards because, like most moms, we're tired. We're not tired from staying up all night with a colicky baby, or from pacing the floor waiting for our teens to come home.
We're tired of sending our sons and daughters off to fight a war for the benefit of oil billionaires' profits. Tired of lagging behind the rest of the world in education, and paying more and more for "public" education that teaches only to a test and leaves the individual needs of students behind. Tired of a broken health care system that leaves millions of families and individuals uninsured. Tired of politicians pretending that global warming doesn't exist, leaving the problem to our children to solve. Tired of being paid less than men for the same work, then being expected to come home to the "second shift" of parenting, housework, and homework. Tired of the widening gap between rich and poor that leaves millions of single mothers struggling to make ends meet.
We're tired, but optimistic. John Edwards gives us hope. Hope that we can help the country we love become a better place for our children and their children. Hope that we can make a difference and leave the world a better place, because we know our children are worth it.
We hope you'll join us, and vote for John Edwards. If you don't, you're grounded.
Thanks to the Momocrats, to the Silicon Valley, Chicago and DC Metro Moms who participated in this discussion. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Disclosure: I work every day to elect John Edwards the next president of the United States which means I also enjoy the privilege of working with the wonderful Elizabeth Edwards too.