I'm going to try to refrain from getting too political in my posts, but I have to give a big shout out to the handling of the recently announced teenage pregnancy of Palin's daughter. Palin released a great statement about how her family and her daughter would be accepting responsibility for their actions and ensuring that this would be handled by the family.
But even more impressive to me was Obama's handling of the situation. As reported by Politico:
This is a story that would be easy to try to jump on and run with as a low blow, but I greatly respect the way that he not only gave lip service to the idea of leaving it alone, but he reiterated that he himself was the product of a teenage pregancy. Putting his money where his mouth is.
I maintain that if family members inject themselves into a campaign (as Michelle Obama has on multiple occasions) then to that extent they are fair game, but personal lives of family members have to be off limits, and I'm impressed with the scruples to act accordingly.
I'm still a long long way from supporting Obama, but it is still nice to see this side of him.
Very classy, Senator.
But even more impressive to me was Obama's handling of the situation. As reported by Politico:
At a press avail in Monroe, Mich., Barack Obama on Palin: "Back off these kinds of stories."
"I have said before, and I will repeat again: People's families are
off-limits," Obama said. "And people's children are especially
off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance
to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance
as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these
kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18, and how a
family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a
topic of our politics."
On charges that his campaign has stoked the story via liberal blogs:
"I am offended by that statement. There is no evidence at all that any
of this involved us," he said. "Our people were not involved in any way
in this, and they will not be. And if I thought there was somebody in
my campaign who was involved in something like that, they would be
fired."
This is a story that would be easy to try to jump on and run with as a low blow, but I greatly respect the way that he not only gave lip service to the idea of leaving it alone, but he reiterated that he himself was the product of a teenage pregancy. Putting his money where his mouth is.
I maintain that if family members inject themselves into a campaign (as Michelle Obama has on multiple occasions) then to that extent they are fair game, but personal lives of family members have to be off limits, and I'm impressed with the scruples to act accordingly.
I'm still a long long way from supporting Obama, but it is still nice to see this side of him.
Very classy, Senator.
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