Canned Laughter

Today the Queen of Spain (don’t you love hobnobbing with royalty?) brought this little news bite to my attention: McCain staffers plagiarize another cookie recipe.  Here’s the gist: Parents Magazine trotted out their obnoxious old chestnut and asked Michelle Obama and Cindy  McCain for their favorite cookie recipe.   In what has become known as cookie-gate, a McCain staffer just copied a recipe off the back of a bag of Hershey’s morsels.   Big deal.

You wanna know what makes me so darn mad about this?  Back in ‘92, Barbara Bush (who is nothing if not a savvy campaigner) had her secretary submit one of her personal cook’s chocolate chip recipes, but my girl Hillary said she thought the question was sexist and demeaning.  There was an enormous uproar in the land.  Amidst (I put that word in just for you, Schmutzie), amidst accusations of insulting homemakers and motherhood and femininity and the American flag and much wailing and gnashing of teeth, the Clintons’ strategist came up with a compromise solution.  They offered Hillary’s endorsement of a healthy (tasteless) alternative carob chip cookie from a renowned nutritionist.  Despite the nasty cookie, the Clintons’ won the election.

So here we are, nearly two decades later and they are still asking candidate’s wives about cookies.  OK, imagine that they were to ask the candidates “What are your best tips for a green and healthy lawn?”  “What kind of mower do you recommend?”  “Is there a particular grass seed you like to get out there and spread on Sunday afternoons?”

The questions are ridiculous.  The candidates are overworked professionals.  If they have the time, inclination and suburban real estate to get out there in a ball cap and ride the ole John Deere around, more power to them, but I think it’s highly unlikely.  Moreover, it’s irrelevant to their qualifications as Chief Executive. 

Suppose Obama were to say he has lived out of a suitcase going from city to city campaigning, so he does not have a lawn.  Would there then be a hue and cry of “Obama has no roots in the community!” or attacks on  his masculinity with “No lawnmower?  What kind of real man doesn’t own a lawnmower?”  If McCain were to say his estate in Arizona is taken care of by landscape professionals, would there be a hysterical public outrage calling him “Elitist”?  Or even just supposing his landscaper were Latino or Native American, “Racist!”?  Well of course not.  I’m being absurd.

So why, I ask you, is it socially acceptable to ask two high powered, female professionals what they like to bake up in the kitchen for the kiddies?  In my opinion as a suburban homemaker, a mommy and a frequent recipe swapper, cookies have no place in politics.  Get a clue Parents magazine, and stop insulting both your readership and the candidates’ spouses.