Todd and Sarah Palin with daughters Piper and Willow at a St. Louis Blues game in October 2008 (Whitney Curtis /Getty)

I have no idea why she quit. Maybe the investigations were about to shake loose something really ugly. Maybe she does believe it will be easier to pursue higher office unencumbered by the job of governor. Maybe she really is just tired of the scrutiny and stress, and is worried about her family.

I certainly find it plausible that she quit for personal and family reasons. But if she did, she made a really bad choice. It’s exactly the wrong lesson to teach her children. They may, may, get to see more of her now. But what have they learned? That when things get tough, you quit? That when you don’t like the way something is going, you can just pull out?

As a mother who struggles with kids who want to drop out of soccer camp after one day, or abandon mother-son piano camp because it’s boring (it was, and I was dying to quit too), it’s clear that kids learn enormously from our example. They watch our actions, more than listening to our words.

And this was not just an ordinary job. Or a tough volunteer PTA gig that suddenly seems overwhelming. She’d made a commitment to the citizens of Alaska. It would seem that there had to have been a middle-ground solution. If her family really was her concern, couldn’t she have started to curtail her national travel, talk to them about the challenge of the rest of the term, and how they could best get through it as a family? It would have been an invaluable lesson about the importance of public service.

I spent quite a bit of time and ink a few days ago suggesting that the media and political establishment were out of bounds in their treatment of Palin. (Pre-resignation) Rick Ungar made a compelling case that she needed to earn respect to get respect. I still believe she deserved and deserves better treatment than she’s been getting. After all, where would we be if we all decided the bad behavior of others freed us to behave the same way.

But I have to admit I’ve now lost considerable respect for Palin. Walking away hardly ever makes sense, and again, if she really is concerned about her family, she’s done exactly the wrong thing. And if her reasons for stepping down are different, then she’s damaged her credibility.

Claire

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From trouble at home (with Alaska voters, that is), to the David Letterman insult and imbroglio, to the new and fascinating VF expose that reveals an underbelly to her Vice-Presidential  bid even seamier and more desperate housewifey than we ever could have imagined—it has not been an easy few months for Sarah Palin.

There does seem to be something about Sarah…….something that leaves her ripe for and vulnerable to any and all fun-making. That seems to give license to all forms of below-the-belt humor and leaks and innuendo. Right? She’s fair game because she’s so…so…well…Sarah. At least that’s what we all tell ourselves.

I think we’ve got to come to our collective senses. Should a governor be our public punching bag? (Obvious exception–if said Governor has abandoned state, for a foreign country, in the name of love, ridicule not only justified, but mandatory.) Do we assume, simply because Palin seems tough enough to nail us from 40 feet with either one of those tight-lipped Alaskan zingers, or the back end of her high-heel, and keep on moving, that she is a woman without feelings?

Todd Purdam managed to unleash a Republican holy war with his compelling account, and it now feels   sort of like we’re having a really pointed and insulting conversation in our living room with our nutty relatives about our crazy aunt. One of those awkward conversations where nobody realizes the subject is actually in the room. SHE’S SITTING RIGHT THERE PEOPLE!

I was still in the “big deal, it’s just Sarah” camp, until I read the bit about her detractors suggesting she may have been operating with postpartum depression last fall. What I particularly like is that her supporters seem think it helps her out to trumpet this accusation far and wide.  Hmm.  Which side likes her again?

In any event. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Postpartum depression is a serious illness, and hardly one you can put on the back burner while you give a killer convention speech, and then knock the socks off of enthusiastic crowds for weeks on end with your own, um, enthusiasm and exuberance.  So….maybe….just maybe….wild guess here….the depression stuff was male code for ….irrational and difficult female?

She may have had her moments, behind the scenes, but I’m willing to bet our male prima donna politicians could match Sarah move for move. Is there any chance we could forget the clothes (I really could care less what suits she or anybody else bought), the rumored hysteria, the family craziness, and just focus on what Sarah Palin has done in her state, what she’s trying to do, and what sort of candidate she might really be? I mean–that’s why–we’re told–the republicans are in such a lather about Palin and the leaks and innuendo right now. Many still see her as a serious contender down the road. Let’s focus on whether that makes sense. And on treating her with a bit of respect? I think we’ll all feel better about ourselves in the morning.

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Check out Sue Shellenbarger’s column on Womenomics. I’ve admired her take and research on this subject for a long time. Terrific to get a mention there!

And look at her column today. Great research–information that all of us control freak moms know in our guts–that we need to leave the dads alone to parent as they want.  What a father’s day present. It’s not easy to do–as you watch your little one fly through the air in a clearly unstable grip–or wonder whether that wipe has really done its job–or notice that none of the food on the plate went into those little tummies. But there’s no question that relaxing, and embracing the idea that another style of parenting, will be healthy for your child, and your marriage.

We actually write a bit about that in Womenomics–and also the idea that you also can’t judge your spouse for not wanting to spend as much time at home as you do. That was a tough one for me—but once I realized that even if my husband were a full-time dad, I’d still want the same time with my kids–it became easier to let go of that red herring. And same with obsessing. I can’t expect him to obsess like I do about all things kid-related. That’s my turf–and if I want to spend time there–fine. But I can’t burden him with that.

A lot of people have asked us on our book tour about whether part of the solution involves some sort of equality on the home front. What do you think? Is that possible? Does it even make sense?

Supporters of Mir Hossen Mousavi protst in Tehran on June 17 (Getty)

Claire and I have been in San Francisco for our Womenomics book tour and I feel very far away from the events in Tehran but I can’t stop thinking about those pictures out of Iran. It’s not just the crowds, and the thrill of people demanding their democratic rights, it’s who’s in those crowds – it’s the thousands of women taking part that amaze and excite me.

I know, many are dressed head to foot in black covering and, to a Western eye, that makes them look repressed and inaccessible. It’s easy to write off a society that forces it’s women to dress like that as backward and hopelessly sexist – and there is some truth to that argument – but that makes the fact that these women are out on the streets, womaning the baricades, as it were, even more extraordinary.

I grew up in the Middle East, in the mostly sunni countries of the Persian Gulf. In Saudi Arabia, my mother was banned from driving. She sometimes disguised herself in a man’s checkered headdress and drove anyway. But it could get us into hairy scrapes. I vividly remember sitting in the back of my parent’s car as a 12 year old, driving from Jeddah up  the steep mountain escarpment to Taif, and another car trying to force us over the edge of the cliff because the driver had realized the “man” at our wheel was not all he seemed to be. Despite that narrow escape my mother still insisted on driving, out on the flat, unpopulated desert tracks, just to feel the independence of being at the wheel again.

Mum worked as a journalist in Jeddah for the Arab news and would sometimes turn up for interviews in government ministries only to be told that she was the first woman ever to have set foot in the office – even the cleaners were all men.

If life was tough for my educated, career minded mother, it was much tougher for her female Arab friends. They were often confined to a life of seclusion at home, surrounded by children and other women but with almost no contact with the outside, male world. In Saudi Arabia, women still can’t even travel in a car that isn’t driven by a male family member.

So, to see all those women, taking part in this mass demonstration of power and freedom of expression, even if they are dressed in black covering, is remarkable. In fact all the more remarkable because of the constraints those coverings can imply. I have my doubts about Mousavi’s real reformist credentials, but the sight of his wife standing by his side on the car in the middle of the demonstration yesterday suggested that at least in the field of gender equality, his heart is in the right place. And she has been a strong supporter of his campaign. So, don’t get sidetracked by what these women are wearing (and many after all are in simple headscarves, pushed back in that sassy Iranian fashion to allow as much hair uncovered as the religious authorities will tolerate), just seeing them out there, marching alongside men in this protest, is a huge step and suggests a culture very different from that of other nations in the region.

We always hear that Iran has one of the most pro Western populations in the Middle East. When I see the picture on the frontpage of T/S today – that is all the evidence I need.

Womenomics translated into Farsi – coming next!

Katty

We just found out that Womenomics debuted at # 10 on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of June 21st!

- What is Womenomics?

- Where to see us on our Book Tour

- Womenomics in the News