пятница, 21 сентября 2012 г.

The ultimate oxymoron - The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY)

I'm writing a Mother's Day column early this year -- but notexactly the one I intended.

The column I was planning began: Why is this Mother's Daydifferent from all other Mother's Days? Answer: Because thisMother's Day, there are many more mothers in the White House -- andmothers of young children -- than ever before.

That remains true. The deputy chief of staff, Mona Sutphen, has a4 1/2-year-old and an almost 2-year-old. Marne Levine, chief ofstaff for National Economic Council director Larry Summers, has a 31/2-year-old and a 7-month-old. The health care czar, Nancy-Ann MinDeParle, has two boys, 8 and 9.

The staff secretary, Lisa Brown, has a 6-year-old. Jackie Norris,chief of staff for Michelle Obama, has 5-year-old twins and a 3-year-old. Vice President Biden's domestic policy adviser, TerrellMcSweeny, has a 14-month-old; Biden's counsel, Cynthia Hogan, backin the work force after a dozen years away, has a 12-year-old and a9-year-old.

This is a huge change from previous White Houses, Republican andDemocrat. Two theories that may explain it:

First, when it comes to the mothers with young children, agenerational shift: 30-something husbands may be more willing tomake accommodations or perhaps even take a lap or two around theDaddy Track than their 40- or 50-something counterparts, and 30-something moms have more experience growing up with working mothersthan women of earlier generations; they may be freer of the 'I don'tknow how she does it' compulsion to bake from scratch.

Second, the workplace -- even the White House workplace, to theextent it can -- is becoming more flexible. Dads -- even White Housedads -- are more involved than they used to be, and more familiar,thanks to their own working wives, with the juggling that entails.

When the president and first lady discovered that there weren'tenough White House laptops to go around, they ordered up more, sostaffers wouldn't be chained to their desks. Chief of Staff RahmEmanuel has been known to end senior staff meetings early to reviewhomework with his kids (children 12, 10 and 8) before they go off toschool. Press secretary Robert Gibbs has spoken from the podium ofmaking peanut-butter sandwiches for his son, nearly 6.

What put a glitch in my plans for an entirely rosy column -- andprompted it now -- was the announcement last week that White Housecommunications director Ellen Moran was leaving to become chief ofstaff for Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Not exactly a part-timegig, but less intense than the around-the-clock craziness of theWest Wing.

Moran, whose mother had moved to Washington to help with her twochildren, almost 2 and 4, said she was leaving for a job that was 'aperfect fit for me, professionally and personally.' Translation:Having not worked on the Obama campaign, she was having a tough timefitting in with the close-knit boys club of the West Wing, whichmade it that much harder to go days at a time without seeing herchildren.

Moran's departure underscores the immutable fact that a family-friendly White House, no matter how well-intentioned, is theultimate oxymoron. As Emanuel has said, 'the only family we're goingto be good for is the first family.'

The truth remains that these strains tend to weigh harder onwomen than men -- and that the proliferation of mothers in thisWhite House is still an experiment of uncertain outcome. 'We'reearly enough that it's unclear how long we're going to last doingthis,' Brown, the staff secretary, told me. The Obamas 'want it towork. We want it to work. But it's hard.'