September 3, 2008

Labor Day 2008 came with a bang as Hurricane Gustav plowed into the Gulf Coast and as the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain revealed that the daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is five months pregnant, and yet unmarried.  The word spread quickly, even as Americans celebrated their end-of-summer holiday with an unusual attentiveness to the news.

A statement released by the McCain campaign got right to the point, quoting Gov. Palin and her husband, Todd:

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents."

The release added little to that statement, other than that the father is an 18-year-old named Levi and that the young couple plans to get married.

McCain advisor Steve Schmidt said, "Life happens."  McCain speechwriter Mark Salter commented, "An American family."  Millions of Americans wondered, "What's going on here?"

The Palin family asked to be left to deal with this privately, an understandable impulse for any family.  But this isn't just any family at the present.  The moment Sen. John McCain announced Gov. Palin as his running mate, the entire Palin family became a public issue.  This was amplified by the fact that the entire Palin family (except for the oldest son, Track, soon headed for deployment in Iraq) stood there before the public.

One central feature of the public introduction to the Palins was the presence of Trig, the 4-month-old baby boy who is the couple's fifth child.  Trig was diagnosed with Down syndrome prior to his birth, and the Palins translated their pro-life beliefs into a beautiful portrait of human dignity.  As the couple said, they never even considered aborting the baby, but considered him a gift from God.

Now there is another gift -- this time in the form of a pregnant daughter and a child conceived outside of marriage.  The Palins spoke of their pride in the fact that their daughter would keep her baby and marry the father.  Once again, the Palin family chooses life over death, birth over abortion, when aborting the baby would be justified by many and considered the easy way out of an embarrassing situation.  Yes, that baby is a gift, as is every single living human being, born and unborn.

But the entire nation felt the awkwardness of the situation, and even part of the embarrassment.  Yes, as Steve Schmidt said, "Life happens," but not always like this.  And Mark Salter is certainly correct in describing the situation as "an American family."  Still, this is not the script many families would choose -- especially evangelical families who had been most encouraged by Gov. Palin's choice as Sen. McCain's running mate.

Will this damage the McCain-Palin ticket in November?  Time will tell, but there is good reason to doubt that it will.  Teenage pregnancy is hardly unknown these days, and the very public decision to keep the baby will encourage pro-lifers all the more.  The press is likely to leave this issue alone, at least as much as possible.