Michelle's Own Words

Concerns regarding the choices made by Sarah Palin relating to motherhood and work are commonly voiced. There is talk about her being a negative role model. Little is mentioned regarding Michelle Obama -- the leading lady of the Democratic party. A wife and mother, she has actively pursued a career for many years. She has devoted time, energy, and talent to succeed in her profession. I'm sure she is a gifted woman.

Meanwhile she "juggles", as she says, the duties and the demands of home and work, family and projects with seeming success. She wears designer clothes that wow the media. In a nutshell she is being watched and adored (arguably much more so than Palin, for what it's worth, in terms of role modeling...) And here, in this excerpt from her blog, she makes it clear that her husband wants the government to take more of my money and yours so that women are more enabled to have choices in the work place. Hmmmm. I would like to keep my money and make different choices, thank you. Something to consider...

Here's Michelle:

"The work-life balance is a harsh reality for so many women, who are forced every day to make impossible choices. Do they take their kids to the doctor… and risk getting fired? Do they work weekends so they can afford to send their kids to better childcare… even though it means even less time with their families? Do they take another shift at work, so they can pay for piano lessons for their kids… even though it means they have to stop volunteering for the PTA?

It just shouldn’t be this difficult to raise healthy families.

As I’ve traveled across this country, I’ve met so many women who are struggling every day, just to provide the basics. Women like Gayna, who went to school, worked hard for years, did everything right—but still found herself laid off in a recent round of cutbacks at her job. Deanna, the mother of six, who worked hard to put herself through school for her family—and is now wondering if it was worth it, with all the student loans she owes. And Leigh, who swears that just a few years ago, she and her husband were middle class… but now, as they raise their three kids, they’re barely getting by.

These women are our neighbors and our friends. And they could use a little extra help from their country.

Well, Barack gets it. That’s why, as president, Barack will expand the Family and Medical Leave Act, so that millions of additional Americans will be able to take time off to care for a baby, or an elderly parent—or just to have a few hours to attend a school play or a parent-teacher conference or take a child to the doctor. And Barack will require employers to provide all their workers with at least seven paid sick days a year."