Politics is hard, adolescence is harder

You might imagine I have something to say about Sarah Palin. Like most of you, I spent much the past week learning what I could about the Republicans' choice for assistant leader of the free world. And after all my exhaustive reading, Googling and news-show viewing I have come to one conclusion.

It sucks to be Sarah Palin.

I do not mean to suggest that somehow Palin's life is at its root unenviable. By all accounts, she comes from good stock, has a loving family, and has certainly seen more than her share of professional success. Say what you will about the woman's credentials for the post, but rising from mayor of a city roughly the size of Delphos to potential vice president of the United States in just two years is the sort of progress even mothers-in-law can boast on. All in all, it seems she's had a pretty good run.

But what she's going through now and in the coming weeks, that is not something reasonable people sign on for.

You no doubt know the hamper of dirty laundry brushed up thus far. Within hours of the announcement of her candidacy, it was announced she was being investigated for allegedly firing a state worker who refused to do her bidding and can her former brother-in-law from his highway patrol job.

A day or two later, the family announced her unwed 17-year-old daughter was pregnant. In the meantime, we've heard about her husband's two-decades-old drunken driving arrest and a half-dozen other small and not-so small issues that may or may not have anything to do with her ability to run the country.

Before it's over, the entire country and a good bit of the rest of the world will know every embarrassing detail of her life, from her junior high school grade-point average to the number of times she's voted on "Dancing with the Stars."

As I said, it sucks to be Sarah Palin. It probably sucks even more to be her kids.

You can argue that Palin is, in a way, getting exactly what she wants. While there are people out there who run for public office driven by a genuine desire to better the lot of their fellow man, my experience has been that the great majority of campaigns are fueled by ego. The higher the office, the greater the ego.

So I would argue that the microscope under which we place our leaders is just reward for their own hubris. Anybody who doesn't understand that is, to put it as gently as I can, too stupid to hold office.

But the kids, they didn't choose any of it. They're going through their lives, happy and awkward and making all the big and little mistakes kids make, and suddenly the world is watching.

Put yourself there for a second; you're a 14-year-old girl, braces, pimples and the ridiculous hairstyle your friends assured you would make you look just like Halle Berry and next thing you know Rush Limbaugh is splashing your photo and comparing you to the family pooch.

Contemplate being a 19-year-old busted for sneaking your first beer and having the report show up in USA Today. Adolescence is tough enough in the relative privacy of your own family, it must be pure misery in the world of 24-hour news.

There are valid arguments that a certain amount of disclosure is fair game. Politicians of both parties have a tendency to use their children as props, as though the very act of having kids is testimony to some greater humanity.

Others promote policies they claim will improve our children's lot or change the way we raise and educate them. So I suppose it's fair to say that if they want to tell me how to raise my kids, I have a right to know how well they've done with their own. It's a lousy arrangement, especially for the kids, but it's the path their parents have chosen.

Palin knows all that, or at least she'll figure it out soon enough. So do Obama, Biden and anyone else vainglorious enough to play in the field of national politics. Fame and power come at a cost. The fact that they're willing to pay it is enough to make you wonder if any of them are worthy of the job.