Sarah Palin

Maybe it's because I'm paying closer attention to this election than I have to any other, but I have to say that the Sarah Palin is not receiving equal treatment to any other candidate.

After the convention she returns to Alaska to prepare her son to be deployed to Iraq. That is understandable and commendable. She may very well make the greatest sacrifice that any mother can make for her country. Were I in her shoes, I'd do the same thing.

But, her return home really demonstrates one thing. Actions speak louder than words and by returning home to be with her family at this critical time she's choosing her family over her duty. As a candidate, not only is it her duty to avail herself of the press and demonstrate that she is worthy of her position on the world political stage, as a woman she needs to disprove all of the naysayers who have said that she's not an appropriate choice. Yet, she's choosing her family over her duty, seeming to demonstrate by her actions that a woman's place is truly in the home.

It's not fair that she has so much to prove. She has the added burden of sprinting the extra mile in a pair of pumps, but that's the political reality. Clinton did it. Numerous governors, senators, and representatives -- not to mention countless executives, middle managers and front-line workers across the country. But it is the political reality of this country that a woman has to be twice the man a man has to be to get half the respect. The cultural stereotypes are so deeply ingrained that it will be generations, if not centuries, before women are viewed as truly equal in this society.

But, to be taken as truly equal a woman has to at least meet the same standard of expectations that a man would have to meet. Joe Biden also has a son being deployed. Yet, he's on the campaign trail giving the American public the oppportunity to question his record. If Palin is ready to be president on day one, that doesn't necessarily mean on the first day it's convenient.

And, if there are more organized, Republican systemic reasons for her return to Alaska, such as putting outside the tougher media spotlights, and perhaps "train" her, what more evidence is there that she's not qualified for her new position? Not as a woman, but as a candidate.

Just like the answers to the question of how many houses McCain owns, there is no way to justify the decision to return to Alaska that strengthens Palin's candidacy? Yes, it's absolutely the human, family-values decision to make. I applaud it, support it, and thank her and her family for this. But, the optics of the situation cannot be ignored and at the end of the day the American people deserve a president and vice-president who, for once in the past two decades, puts them before all else.

But, it's not a bad headshot.