For a brief moment, the American public got a glimpse of something that is rarely seen: Liberalism’s “War on Family.”
This short glimpse occurred as Hilary Rosen berated Ann Romney on CNN over having “never worked a day in her life”. While her tirade continued, she simultaneously revealed exactly how liberalism views women, particularly mothers.
For decades, the main goals of feminism and women’s rights movements have been portrayed as striving for “equal rights” and “equal pay”. If these were the true goals of radical liberalism, all would be good and well in the world. Yet, these are just parts of a masquerade created to conceal the actual goal of a long-term “War on Family”.
For almost a month, Democrats, including Obama, have been accusing the GOP of waging a “War on Women”, citing opposition to the “Contraception Mandate” and attacks on Sandra Fluke’s “testimony” to Congress. In all these attacks, there has been little that was not intentionally manufactured and staged in advance by DNC operatives, including the awkward question to Romney on birth control in a January GOP debate. One of these operatives was Hilary Rosen, who visited the Obama White House thirty-six times in the last three years and partnered with Anita Dunn to stage the Sandra Fluke testimony last month.
When given the chance, Rosen opened fire on Ann Romney; not for her opposing beliefs, but for being a stay-at-home mother. According to the liberal view, raising a family cannot possibly be work, but rather an oppressive role forced upon women by the traditional concept of family. Rosen and like-minded liberals target their hate towards the American family formula, as they see the family as counter-productive to the cause of women’s “independence”. In their skewed world, children are shackles and husbands are oppressors, resulting in their disdain for career mothers and conservative women.
Ann Romney is that strong conservative woman.
Her entire life story threatens the hollow walls radical feminism has spent years to construct. Mrs. Romney, a breast cancer survivor, has raised five boys and committed her life to the cause of motherhood; going against the modern liberal mantra of career first, family optional. When combined with that fact that she has multiple sclerosis, Mrs. Romney becomes a symbol of the strength and courage a stay-at-home mother must have and what she can achieve. For Rosen, this lifestyle is does not fit into the mold of the “modern women”, who must achieve a fulfilled career and spend years fighting against the injustices of the male-dominated world. It never even occurs to the Rosen’s of the world that motherhood is a career, noble of recognition and more advanced than any public-relations position a presidential administration could offer.
This “War on Family” is not new, but has simply been exposed again by this brief lack of verbal restraint. In the early-90’s, Hilary Clinton exposed the agenda concisely, saying:
“I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession…”
Teresa Heinz-Kerry let her disdain for non-career mothers show through in 2004, claiming:
“I don’t know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don’t know that she’s ever had a real job… I mean, since she’s been grown up.”
Even yesterday, President Obama attempted to cleverly take the side of Rosen when he said:
“…we didn’t have the luxury for her [Michelle Obama] not to work.”
By making this statement, Obama made it clear that he believes the work of a “stay-at-home” mother is a “luxury”, as if raising children ends at 5pm every day.
While income is relative to one’s spending structure, the Obama’s clearly made a life-choice to balance raising children with their careers. In this free nation, this personal decision should be respected as theirs to make. Yet, this freedom to decide does not seem to apply to conservative mothers or Ann Romney. For all the diversity and tolerance the Left preaches, there does not seem to be much room for respect and acceptance of career mothers and their priorities in life.
Within only a couple of days, the Obama campaign’s artificially created “GOP War on Women” has boomeranged into a full-bodied spotlight into the soul of the liberal perspective on a women’s place in society.
As the general election fight shifts into high-gear, this blatant attack on family is only the beginning of what is planned for the remainder of the year. As conservatives, we must continue to keep the spotlight on this true agenda and on liberal’s gender stereotyping of women in today’s political arena.
We must defend Ann Romney and a women’s right to choose a career in motherhood and child-rearing.
The Ohio Conservative 