A personal fight broke out this week involving Ann Romney, first lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama regarding stay-at-home moms. All of those parties were on the same team in the fight, tackling the comments made by Hilary Rosen, a strategist for Democrats. Romney said that raising five sons was a full-time job and Mitt considered it very important.
In an interview on Fox News, Romney said raising five sons was a full-time job and her husband, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, considers it important.
“My career choice was to be a mother,” Ann Romney said. “Other women make other choices. We have to respect women in all the choices they make.”
First lady Michelle Obama said that the choices of all women should be respected.
“Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected,” Michelle Obama wrote on Twitter. Michelle Obama used to work as a corporate lawyer and is the mother of two daughters.
President Obama agreed with the statement and said in an interview in Iowa: “There is no tougher job than being a mom.”
All those involved in this spat were issuing responses to a comment made by Hilary Rosen, who is a Democratic strategist not affiliated with the Obama campaign for re-election. Rosen said that Ann Romney is not qualified to discuss women struggling in the economy because “hasn’t worked a day in her life.”
Rosen first began the argument by making the following statement about Mitt Romney during an interview with CNN:
“Guess what, his wife has actually never worked a day in her life.”
Rosen then made the following comments about Ann Romney: “She’s never dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing.”
Rosen decided to release an apology on Friday, saying that as a mother, she understands “raising children is the hardest job there is.”
Ann Romney took to Twitter not long after Rosen issued her comments on Ann: “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys,” she wrote on Twitter. “Believe me, it was hard work.”
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said: “We can all agree, Democrats and Republicans, that raising children is an extremely difficult job, and that is true for all mothers as well as fathers.”
Carney also made it clear that Rosen is not a frequent visitor to the White House. “I have not seen her here frequently.”