Democrats have engaged in a full-court press in pushing back on strategist Hilary Rosen’s comment on CNN Wednesday night that as a wealthy stay-at-home-mom Ann Romney “never worked a day in her life.”
Rosen apologized to Romney Thursday, but only after kicking up a firestorm over stay-at-home motherhood and drawing a rebuke from the president himself.
“There is no tougher job than being a mom,” President Obama told a Cedar Rapids television station, mentioning his own wife and mother. He added, “I don’t have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates. My general view is those of us who are in the public life, we’re fair game. Our families are civilians.”
He was only the latest member of his own team to pile on.
“I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly. Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologize,” campaign manager Jim Messina said in a tweet.
Top strategist David Axelrod chimed in: “Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney. They were inappropriate and offensive.”
Michelle Obama added, saying “every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected.”
“As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is. As a pundit, I know my words on CNN last night were poorly chosen,” Rosen said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “I apologize to Ann Romney and anyone else who was offended. Let’s declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance.”
On Fox News Channel this morning, the wife of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said that staying at home and working are equally valid choices.
View Photo Gallery: Ann Romney has become a central part of her husband Mitt Romney’s drive to the GOP presidential nomination. Her status as a stay-at-home mom while raising five boys emerged as a campaign issue on Thursday after it was questioned by a Democratic pundit. Here are photos of Ann Romney on the campaign trail.
“We have to respect women in all the choices they make,” she said. Raising children, it’s for me the most important thing we can do … Mitt said to me more times then you can imagine, Ann, your job is more important than mine.”
And Romney’s husband chimed in too, saying “Her work raising our boys was tougher than any job I had.”
In case her words seemed a bit retrograde, Romney added: “Let me give a shoutout to all the dads who are at home raising kids.”
Mitt Romney has repeatedly said that he goes to his wife for insight into women’s concerns.
On CNN Thursday night, Rosen questioned what advice Ann Romney could give. “His wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” she told Anderson Cooper. “She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing.”
On Thursday she clarified her own remarks in another appearance, saying she her point was about economics, not cultural choices.
“Most women in America, let’s face it, don’t have that choice,” she said. “They have to be working moms and home moms and that’s the piece that I am not hearing from the Romney camp.”
Romney told Fox News that she has struggled, reminding viewers that she has survived both breast cancer and multiple scelerosis.
“I know what its like to struggle,” she said. “Maybe I haven’t struggled as much financially as other people have. I can tell you and promise you that I have had some struggles in my life.”
She also defended her husband’s record on women, noting that his chief of staff and lieutenant governor in Massachusetts were women. “He has so many women in his circle,” Romney said. “He listens to a lot of women.”
But at every opportunity, Romney too turned the discussion away from her personal life and to the economy.
“I’ve been on the campaign trail for one year and guess what women are talking about,” she said. “They’re talking about jobs, and they’re talking about the legacy of debt that we’re leaving their children.”
Asked why her husband was lagging so far behind President Obama with female voters, Romney said it was just too early in the race to draw any conclusions.
“People haven’t had a chance to listen to us and hear us,” she said.
Having Ann Romney front-and-center, if only for a day, can only help the candidate as he tries to close the gender gap. As Romney said herself: “I’m grateful for this opportunity to let women know that this is a very important election, this is a watershed election and it’s important to get someone in there who understands the economy.”
Well now that that is cleared up, hopefully we can move on. It’s funny, if we actually cared this much about women and misogyny all the time, instead of just during elections, this country would be an even better place!
Nope, Obama is wrong on this. Children, parents, siblings- yes, they should be left alone. But not spouses. The candidate CHOSE this person as his/her partner. His or her judgement is always a matter of concern when it comes to elections.
Perhaps, but raising 5 children as a stay at home Mom does NOT justify a comment about not working a day in her life. Raising kids is not an easy job and I applaud her choice and I am glad for her and her children that she was financially able to stay at home. Not all of us are.
If the candidate keeps spouse and family out of the campaign, then they should probably not be included in the discussion.
Romney’s wife and kids on the other hand have been centrally involved in the campaign and have spoken out on issues and personalities all along.
Of course we don’t want to overlook other relevant issues like Callista’s hair or Olympia Snowe’s husband’s business dealings for instance.
This issue has become totally twisted around by the repuclicans and the media. Hilary Rosen’s point was valid: middle and working class women do not have the luxury of staying home to raise their kids; they need to both work outside and inside the home. The rich, on the other hand, can afford for a parent to stay home with the kids.
Mmmmm, Kool-Aid!
>>>>
Mrs Romney will fit right in the White House next year…..
Rosen’s comments were out of line, but I don’t think it’s quite fair to describe either wife in this instance as a civilian. both are actively involved in supporting their husband’s political life, and both are quite public about it. There may well be circumstances that warrant comment. This just wasn’t one of them.
I doubt that she’ll be attending President Obama’s inauguration day 2013!