Family values

Barely two days after Palin was presented to the public, the news that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant opened a new line of attack against the Republican campaign. Obama, on his part, was quick to say that family matters should be off-limits during the campaign. Obama also pointed out that his own mother was only 18 when she gave birth to him.

Obama’s dignity is unlikely to rub off on the media, as it begins to invest big in the Palin story. In a country where there is no line between the personal and the political, Palin will have to survive some hostile scrutiny. The liberal partisans would not let go of the opportunity to debunk the Republican projection of Palin as an epitome of American ‘family values’.

Unlike in Europe and Asia, ‘family values’ remain an enduring locus of America’s culture wars. While the liberal life style of America’s coastal cities is not very different from that of other modern societies, opposition to abortion, pre-marital sex, and gay rights, are deeply held values in the US heartland. This pits the conservatives in an unending war with the liberals.

The McCain campaign says it was aware of the out of wedlock pregnancy of Palin’s teenage daughter when it decided on her as the running mate. It is confident that the story will reinforce her image as an upholder of family values. Palin herself had refused to abort a child with Down’s syndrome. The Republicans also hope that Palin’s support for her daughter’s decision to have the child, rather than abort it, and marry its father would be seen as an honest attempt at coping with a dilemma that most American families could face. What we don’t know at this stage is whether there is more to Palin that might be dug out in the coming days to the discomfort of the Republican campaign.

... contd.