Letter in RCJ re Palin

Another letter to the editor, extracted from the RCJ 9/7/2008 edition...

Palin’s judgment in daughter issue off base

I question the judgment of any candidate for national office, whether male or female, who would subject their 17-year-old daughter to the kind of vicious media attention that Gov. Palin has done by agreeing to run for the second highest office in the land when her unmarried daughter is pregnant.

Beyond that, how wise is it to arrange a marriage between two high school students just so they can be, what? Morally right with the Lord? Socially correct? Live with their mistake? Hope that everything will turn out right? So many couples are unable to adopt a baby because teenagers choose to keep their babies, often making an emotional decision that may not be the right one for the new life coming into the world. It would be so nice, now that the cat is out of the bag, to hear that this vulnerable young girl and her family would choose to give up their precious baby for adoption by a deserving family.

Surely this would be better than yet another teenage marriage, which has extremely low chances of surviving, especially if the grandmother is dividing her life between the vice presidency and supporting her daughter.

VAUDETH OBERLANDER
Rapid City