Mitt Romney and his wife Ann wave to supporters at a primary night gathering.
(Bill Pugliano/Getty)
It's usually been the Romney campaign that has squelched its own momentum and advantage in the hours after a major turn in the dynamics of the race. The massive victory in Florida was followed the next morning by Romney's "not concerned about the very poor" riff on the social safety net. His decisive Illinois primary win was followed up by a staffer comparing Romney's primary policy positions to an "etch-a-sketch."
But the day after Rick Santorum dropped out of the race, it was a new narrative for a new general election race. Democratic consultant Hilary Rosen did her best to squander President Obama's swelled advantage among women voters by igniting the politically volatile mix of ambivalence, guilt, and defensiveness that comes with discussions about work after motherhood.
On Wednesday night, Rosen appeared on AC360, where she discussed Mitt Romney's wife, Ann. She told Anderson Cooper:
"His wife has actually never worked a day in her life...She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and how do we — why we worry about their future."
Rosen has since apologized, and Obama campaign advisors have made clear they considered the comments out of bounds, but these moments stick. Just ask Hillary Clinton. Twenty years ago last month, she famously dismissed stay-at-home motherhood. "I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession," she declared to television cameras.
"The still distinct memory of Clinton's unsavvy comment speaks to a deep-seated cultural experience of loss," history professor Kirsten Swinth wrote for CNN to mark the anniversary of Clinton's polarizing gaffe. "With more than two-thirds of mothers in the labor force today, few families are immune to negotiating child care and paid work. The plate of chocolate chip cookies embodies our desire for parenting and family space free of the demands of our paid jobs."
Ann Romney has already demonstrated a knack for tapping into those nostalgic longings. Ann Romney exudes warmth and authenticity in front of crowds of voters, a marked contrast to the sometimes stilted delivery of her husband. And the campaign's played that up on the stump, deploying her to personalize Mitt Romney as a devoted husband and committed father - and a man who would never question the importance of her work as a mother.
"He would remind me when I was exasperated that my job was more important than his job," Ann Romney often said on the stump with her husband, including at a December stop in Iowa. "And I love that. And the cool thing was he actually meant it. Now, he was big hot shot consultant in those days and well paid and everybody thought he was the smartest guy in the room. But when he came in the door he knew that I ruled."
During the primary campaign, Mitt Romney's most tone-deaf moments played right into the caricature set by his opponents of an aloof, out-of-touch political opportunist — from his talk about friends owning NASCAR teams, a "humorous" story about his dad laying off workers in Michigan, the now-infamous "I like to fire people" about insurance companies. Now, as the Romney campaign turns its focus to the general, Rosen played right into Ann Romney's primary pitch by questioning whether the work of stay-at-home mothers really counts.
Hillary Clinton, of course, quickly saw her error and saw she needed to reframe her comments — and her image. After the cookie remark, she accepted Family Circle's cookie face-off challenge with Barbara Bush.
Anna Sale covers politics for WNYC, including the 2013 mayoral race. During the 2012 presidential election, she traveled the country to tell the stories of voters in early primary battlegrounds and swing states. She has hosted The Brian Lehrer Show and The Takeaway and contributed to NPR, Marketplace, PBS Newshour, the BBC, Slate, WGBH World Channel, Current TV, and NY1.
Comments [5]
What happened to leaving families out of the political fight? "War on Women" indeed with the leftist misogyny showing its true colors again like in 2008 with Palin.
When the “More Verbal” Sex Cannot Express Their Selves
What was the flash of illuminating brilliance? What salient and meaningful issue got surfaced by a Democratic consultant today? Well none actually! But a completely inept and addlepated issue has been thrust upon America’s political landscape because no one including evidently the spokeswoman herself may or may not have known what the significant issue should have been understood to be. Another missed opportunity to surface a real issue or several issues, all because even the more social and communicative sex is no better at comprehending the context of the situation than their bumbling and verbally challenged male counterparts.
What was the issue that surfaced? The ever significant question of ‘stay at home mom’ versus ‘super career working’ woman. This debate issue always adds to the meaningful discussion of, well I am not actually sure what it really brings to the public discussion. It may be that women (much like men) like to view their own personal choices as the correct one and one to which they have every right to choose and will stand up and fight anyone who thinks otherwise, even when no one is or has prevented, impeded or challenged it. So let’s spend excessive hours of news cycle after news cycle, and public surveys and panel discussion on not only a completely bogus issue; but simultaneously avoiding an meaningful issue.
Forget the pretend and irrelevant issue about how necessary it is to make sure people understand that being a mother is hard work. If they don’t know that already then they are probably your political office holder or one of their savvy political advisors. The issue that Mrs. Rosen should have explained the listening audience and media representative were unable to ken is does the experience of Mrs. Romney raising her family under the daunting burden and oppressive weight of the meager financial resources that her husband was able to provide. I am sure that the vast majority of stay-at-home or working moms; married or single women with children; or women with Republican, Independent or Democratic orientations would believe that their concerns, issues and challenges were very comparable to Mrs. Romney’s. Further did the experience of raising their family under these awful circumstances not imprint an indelible appreciation of the struggles that most American mothers and fathers face on a daily basis?
Now there’s an issue! Do your political leaders really know or care about you?
Oh yeah, Ann Romney is a homemaker -- just like Queen Elizabeth II. And she's about as authentic as her husband. The two of them haven't a clue what it's like for most American families trying to make ends meets every month, and they wipe their feet on the poor. He's been a professional candidate for nearly TEN years, living off his investment income and capital gains. Ordering a staff of servants around to meet your every need is not what I'd call a working "stay-at-home" mom.
She probably hasn't lifted a finger in decades. I am sure they have maids, had nannies, and cooks, grounds keepers, manicurists, hairdressers, home planners and chaffeurs, etc etc. They are putting in an elevator for their cars for goodness sake! This has nothing to do with being a stay at home Mom. It has to do with being filthy rich and getting that wealth her husband's inherited company that is buying out smaller companies and putting people out of work. I am sure Romney hasn't lifted a finger in decades either.
Being a "stay at home mom" only counts if you don't have an army of servants. I'm sure Ann Romney's servants put in a lot of hard days work tending to the Romney family's needs but Ann Romney herself, probably not so much. All the Democrats have to do is dig up all the undocumented immigrants who took care of Romney's kids by day and their own kids by night.
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