Jeralyn Demerritt

I used to think the dumbest thing TalkLeft’s Jeralyn Merritt had ever done was admit to being friends with Jeff Goldstein, but now I’m not so sure:

How will [Barack Obama’s] time with his daughters be affected if he’s President? If Hillary had a young child and was running for President, there’d be scores of articles addressing this. Not that many decades ago, most men weren’t as involved in the day-to-day parenting of their kids. They were the principal breadwinners and not expected to be as involved as a mother.

Today, many men are as involved. Yet, no one mentions this with respect to Obama. If he’s President, he’ll be giving up a lot of family time. Is he still going to go to dance recitals, PTA meetings and soccer games? How often will he be able to help them with their homework? Will he have time to play charades and the other games they enjoy now?

As a husband Barack is not afraid to cook for his family. When he does, Michelle boasts that he makes a ‘mean’ chili, one of his favourite foods. Barack attests to picking up groceries even on the campaign trail in Iowa.

According to US Weekly, Barack and Michelle Obama have never missed a parent-teacher conference. Michelle posits that “Our future is making sure Barack can get to our daughters’ ballet recitals and balancing the demands of this current set of responsibilities with our need to build a strong family.” (Ebony, March 2006)

I’m curious. Does anyone have feelings about the time Obama’s daughters will lose with their father if he’s President or is this a non-issue?

It’s too bad manufacturing controversies can’t help the US economy, because Hillary’s supporters have far surpassed the wingnuts when it comes to throwing nonstick bullshit at the wall.

RELATED: Kyle E. Moore lets Jeralyn have it.

Posted by Kevin K. on 05/05/08 at 11:01 AM • Permalink

I wonder if she expressed similar concerns when Bill Clinton was elected? Chelsea was what, 12 at the time? Very important ‘tween years, you know. It must’ve been so traumatic to have her every move scrutized relentlessly—hell, her cat couldn’t even take a dump without being photographed! No kid deserves that.

Maybe all parents of minors should be excluded from the presidency for the sake of the chiiiiiildren. On the other hand, suppose Clinton wins and Chelsea has kids during her presidency? Wouldn’t both Clintons miss out on being super-involved grandparents? It takes a village, after all.

Maybe only the child-free should be eligible for the presidency. But then, the child-free have relatives and friends who would suffer from reduced attention too. What about them? Maybe only child-free, workaholic hermits with no friends or relatives should run. Ted Kaczynski would make a fine president!

Jesus God. TalkLeft used to be a halfway decent site before ODS set in. Maybe it’ll recover after all this shit is over with, but I’m sure a large portion of its audience is alienated for good.

Look what Bush 41s presidency did to Bush 43.  Obviously he really screwed up his kid.

Sweet Jeebus!  They’ll stoop to any depth, won’t they?  It’s just embarrassing, frankly…

Merritt’s hackery has long been evident to us law-talkin’ guys.  She pushes her causes strenuously but she can’t really argue for them persuasively.