E-mail a friendJane Swift
airdate September 3, 2008
Elected Massachusetts' lieutenant governor in '98, Jane Swift was the first woman to run for statewide office while pregnant. She went on to become the state's first female governor and the first governor to give birth while serving in office. Swift was a state legislator's aide before her election to the state senate. Founder and principal of WNP Consulting, she speaks on women's leadership and work-family integration. She also sits on the Republican Leadership Council board of directors.
Former Massachusetts governor reacts to Gov. Sarah Palin's convention speech. (2:00)
Full interview. (7:19)
Jane Swift
Tavis: I'm joined live here in St. Paul tonight by a woman who understands what it's like to be a working mother and a governor, for that matter. During her tenure in the Massachusetts State House, Jane Swift became the first governor in all of U.S. history to give birth, and twins at that. Governor Swift, nice to have you on the program.
Jane Swift: Thank you very much, Tavis. I'm glad to be here.
Tavis: Glad to have you. Let me go right at it. What did you make of the speech?
Swift: I thought she had a very big job in front of her tonight and I thought she didn't hit a homerun; I thought she hit a grand slam. I think what she demonstrated is, first and foremost, she will be a great campaigner to bring the message of reform that John McCain needs to make if he's gonna win in this difficult political climate.
She was under enormous pressure. People have been attacking her family, making scurrilous accusations against her and her kids, which is the hardest to take, all week long. I can't even imagine how much pressure she felt, but you wouldn't have known it from seeing her give that speech. You know, she's funny.
Tavis: Yeah (laughter).
Swift: She makes a point. I think, you know, a lot of the moms back home in Williamstown picking up their kids, I think we'd all want to have her on our side.
Tavis: She is funny and she had some one-liners tonight. There are a number of things that struck me I want to get your take on. One, she is funny, but she also hit hard tonight.
Swift: Yeah.
Tavis: Do you think that she calculated that just right? Was it calibrated right? Was it a little too much hard-hitting?
Swift: You know, it's always hard for women, right? You have to be tough and the job of the vice presidential candidate is to really point out the weaknesses on the other side. Is that harder for a woman? Yes, but I think she did it very well. I don't think that it was too hard-hitting considering how hard she's been hit all week.
Tavis: I had Carly Fiorina on this program last night, as you know, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, on the advisory campaign for John McCain. She raised this issue yesterday that got some media attraction about sexism and sexism rearing its ugly head in this campaign and she wanted to slap that down before it got a chance to really get off the ground.
I come back tonight with you because I wonder, to your point, whether or not it is always harder for women, number one, but secondly, how does Biden, specifically since they're gonna debate, of course, in a few weeks, but does the Obama/Biden ticket hit back at her without crossing that line where the media says or where the Republican party acts as if they're treating her in a sexist way?
Swift: I think, first and foremost, is it harder? Sometimes it's harder. It's just different and you're treated differently. Sometimes when that difference in how you're treated is unfair, then folks have to stand up and say it. I think Rudy Giuliani said it best. You know, who ever asked whether or not a man will have enough time to be a good parent and a good elected official? It never happens, and that is something that's unfair.
I think what you saw tonight is certainly Sarah Palin had to go into that situation with, you know, a lot of personal things on her mind considering what some of the media have tried to do to her family. She was able to focus on her job tonight. Her job was to deliver a heck of a speech and she did that. Hopefully, we'll lay to rest all of those issues.
You know, I think probably Joe Biden, if he stayed up and watched this speech tonight, is gonna have to hit the books and do a little studying because Sarah Palin knows issues. She's confident in her experience and she is a great advocate for Senator McCain, tells his story incredibly well, definitely gives a speech better than Senator McCain. I think he also probably is gonna have to bring it tomorrow night a little bit after that performance.
Tavis: I think you're right about that. Back to the latter part of my question. Is there a line, though, is there a point at which Obama/Biden will appear to be sexists because they're pushing back too hard against this woman no matter how hard she hit them tonight?
Swift: I don't think there is a line that says you can't hit back hard. You know what? Let's have a debate. But I think, you know, obviously, comments about her appearance, you know, Senator Biden tried to make a joke this week and I think it fell flat. That's not a message we want to send our daughters. I spend a lot of time trying to convince my three daughters that they should be judged based on their accomplishments and how they treat other people, not what they look like.
That is why women will recoil if anybody, but especially Senator Biden or Senator Obama, make that mistake. I think that the things to stay away from are pretty clear and I think, actually to his credit, Senator Obama was one of the first people who came up yesterday and said, "Leave her family alone. It's inappropriate."
Tavis: Obama did say that, "Leave her family alone," but since you raised it because Giuliani raised it, let me now raise it, which is this notion that it's sexist even to ask if she has time for her family.
For those of us who are sports fans, the Philadelphia coach, Andy Reed, a year or so ago, he had two sons that were both in trouble with the law, one of them with a major drug problem. In the sports world, a lot of people were asking, "Maybe Andy Reed needs to go home to deal with his family first and stop coaching football games on Sunday." So it was a question asked of a guy. I'm not saying it's balanced and consistent, but it happens.
My point now is, she does have a child who has Downs Syndrome; she is the mother of five children. The vice presidency is a serious job. Is it sexist to even raise the issue of what kind of vice president she can be, balancing that and those kind of demands on her family?
Swift: I think the most important thing is that her older children are grown, so she has obviously been able to be a successful City Councilperson, to be a successor Mayor. This is a woman who, when she ran for the governor of Alaska, took on entrenched and powerful political interests in her own party and the other party. She beat not only the incumbent Republican governor when she ran and won, but she also beat a former Democratic governor who is very popular and people thought he would eat her alive.
Tavis: You're making my point, though. That's the answer, Governor. That is the answer, and that's what the answer ought to be if that question gets asked. Is it sexist to ask that question?
Swift: If you ask that question to the guys too, then it's not. I don't see anybody - you know, Barack Obama's children are young and nobody has asked him that question. You know what else? I'm getting sensitive to this, but it's not only those of us who have young children who have family responsibilities. Sometimes grown children or our parents. There are women in particular and men who have a lot of responsibilities within their family.
Our job really as public servants and folks in public policy is to make sure we have the policies in place so that lots of folks who don't have the advantages of a Sarah Palin can manage their family and their work commitments because that's good for our economy.
Tavis: Governor, good to have you on the program. Thanks for your insight.
Swift: It was nice to be here.
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