There’s lots of chatter today on the web and in print about the remarkable exchange between Barbara Boxer and Condi Rice. In case you missed it, the Senator (and grandmother) from California told the (single) Secretary of State that she couldn’t understand the sacrifice that Americans are making in Iraq because:
You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, within immediate family.
Was that a suggestion that Rice lacks the qualifications necessary to make an informed judgment about the war, because she doesn’t have children? At least one person who was in the room when Boxer made that comment (okay, my husband) doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. He points out that the Senator’s comment was not necessarily directed at the Secretary’s marital/parental status. Her observation could just as easily have referred to having a brother or sister in combat.
But my fellow swampizen Ana (the swampguys went MIA on this one) says it’s outrageous anyway, just as it was when Michael Dukakis was asked whether he would change his opinion on the death penalty if his wife Kitty were raped and murdered. Says Ana: “We don’t want people with their finger on the button making decisions based on their personal feelings.” Good point. And I certainly can’t remember any similar assertion being aimed at a male Secretary of State. So what do you think? Swampland wants to know.
P.S. Note to readers from Karen: From the number of comments suggesting the Boxer quote was taken out of context, it became clear to me that many of you didn’t see my subsequent post, which I put up after Senator Boxer’s office pointed out the same thing. Not quite a week into this blogging business, I’m still getting the hang of it. But I am happy to see all the thoughtful comments, even when they are critical. The ideal blog, it seems to me, should feel like a conversation–one of which with my husband, by the way, is what inspired this post in the first place. Alas, Mr. Swamp would prefer that I refrain from quoting him in the future.