Out of Bounds

I agree with Barack Obama: we should leave Bristol Palin alone.

There is plenty to criticize about her mother -- Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin -- without attacking the private life of a pregnant 17 year-old.

My blood has boiled when some of my Republican congressional colleagues have impugned other people's patriotism, have marginalized their religious choices, have Swift-boated and smeared. As if the merits of their argument are so weak they have to weaken their opponents' personal credibility and integrity.

Let's not stoop there.

I'm confident that Democrats will win the argument that Washington Republicans don't deserve a four-year extension of their policies. We will win the argument that the once-moderate and independent John McCain lurched to the right to win the Republican nomination. We will win the argument that Senator Obama's plan for ending our oil addiction is bolder than Senator McCain's.

We will win the argument that Senator Biden is more prepared to step into the role of Commander-In-Chief than Sarah Pallin.

But I believe that that children of politicians are not political children; that their personal decisions are not public fodder (so long as public ethics aren't breached). America critically needs an uplifted debate about issues rather than recriminations over a pregnant 17 year-old.

Of course, that raises a parallel question: Is John McCain's wife also free from criticism. Are her riches, the seven homes, the business interests, fair game? A qualified "yes."

These are fair to pursue, in my mind, to the extent that they are part of her husband's experience and shape his policy judgments about helping people pay their skyrocketing home-heating oil bills this winter, or their college costs; or rebuilding the wealth of middle class communities where home equity is spiraling.

The private lives of their kids, however; and Biden's and Barack's and Palin's, deserve to be left out of this campaign.

I'm proud of Senator Obama for drawing that line so firmly and so quickly after the McCain campaign disclosed the news about Bristol Palin.

Now let's focus on what really is news: what kind of country we want our children to grow up in. No matter who they are.