I usually don't go back to a previous blog topic, but I can't stop thinking about the enormous work-life balance challenge Governor--and now candidate--Sarah Palin faces. Partly to quench my own curiosity, partly to respond to comments that I've received both on and off the internet, I've done a little reading about the GOP Vice-Presidential candidate and tried to wrap my head around how she manages to breathe while being a mother of five, the Governor of Alaska and, now, a national candidate. Predictably, Governor Palin illicits many opinions from all sides.

According to veteran Washington Post reporter, Lois Romano, in today's paper, Todd Palin is a stay-at-home-dad, which answers many questions about child care, dinners, and who takes the kids to soccer practice. Sarah Palin has also be able to incorporate her family into her job; she has a crib in her office and takes the baby to news conferences. The Anchorage paper, the Anchorage Daily News, also reports the Governor is breast feeding (which might squash some internet speculation about the origins of Trig, her four-month old child) discreetly, of course.

If this is the case, shall all of us working, harried moms move to Alaska, where cribs and crying are an acceptable part of the workplace landscape? Is this how Sarah Palin manages to make it work? Or are we seeing a system that bends to the rules of the One in power?  Whatever the case, I hope Sarah Palin's rise to national prominence prompts a thoughtul discussion about innovative ways to make motherhood and a highly successful career compatible, which almost always includes full-time participation from the XY chromosome. 

I wish all working women had such options.