Friday, September 14, 2007

I got a question for those who want a presidential debate to be held in New Orleans: should I do a mommyblog rant criticizing a candidate's and/or a candidate's spouse's parenting skills?

The working mother sat down at her computer one recent morning and fired off a snarky rant on a Silicon Valley moms blog about what a "terrible mother" Elizabeth Edwards is to drag her children along on the presidential campaign trail.

Rebecca Eisenberg expected the usual - a lively debate with a handful of readers about motherhood pressures and politics. What she got surprised her - a direct posting back from Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards.

"You don't get to say I am a terrible mother because you think you wouldn't make my choices in my situation."

A rapid-fire debate among "mommy bloggers" - plus a second post from Edwards - ensued. Eisenberg was bashed as a "sanctimommy," and the hullabaloo was launched into the far reaches of the blogosphere and in front of millions of "Good Morning America" viewers.

Or, speaking of GMA, should I bring this to their attention? Their efforts on behalf of getting running water out of FEMA for a Pass Christian elementary school being run out of trailers were pretty darned great. Let's get it going for McDonough students - ALL of them, not just the football players.

Then again...back to the presidential debate location thing...do we really want New Orleans to become the 21st century version of the South Bronx? The first of the presidential visits was in 1977. Thirty years later, woohoo, it's an urban revitalization success story. And it really didn't have much to do with the folks in and out of the revolving door of the Oval Office. Truly.

Just some thoughts on how best to get things moving and shaking for the better in New Orleans...

Oh, and beware of the "Hurricane That Shall Not Be Named."

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