Molly and Me
UPDATE BELOW:
Back in 1996 fellow Portlander Molly Bordonaro, fresh from her first “job,” working at ALEC, a Washington-based righty hothouse wherein nasty legislation is nurtured into glorious bloom so it can then be transplanted in vulnerable states, came back home to run for US Congress, for the seat currently occupied by David Wu. As a rank neophyte with kooky ideas that made Reagan look like a commie/libertarian, you wouldn’t think she’d have much of a chance in lefty Little Beirut, but Daddy’s wealth and connections, that evergreen Republican “credential,” catapulted her from longshot to contender, as so often happens in our degraded political culture.
Willamette Week ran a cover story on her, which, since they actually printed the things she said, turned out to be quite devastating. She was Sarah Palin before Sarah Palin was cool, proudly claiming, among other things, that a good part of her political “education” consisted of talking about Oprah with her sorority sisters. It was a priceless moment of righty delusion, so much so that the Hag was duly moved to write the following, which ran in Willamette Week the Wednesday before the primary. (Molly lost, but was later awarded state chairmanship of Bush’s [losing] Oregon campaigns in 2000 and 2004; maybe now Daddy should buy her a baseball team… this politics thing is not working out.) After the letter ran, I received a couple of threatening and strange telephone calls, to my utmost delight.
STAIRWAY TO HELL
I was deeply disturbed by your cover story on congressional candidate
Molly Bordonaro (Good Golly, Miss Molly,” WW, April 24, 1996). The
mere fact that such a selfish, silly, and dismally uninformed woman
has the guts to run for national office is a searing indictment of our
political system. And to place her fetching, dimpled cheeks on the
cover of a “progressive” weekly seems to flirt with irresponsibility;
those who fail to read the story might be lulled into thinking she’s
not just another simpleminded right-winger.
Blissfully devoid of a scintilla of social conscience, she seeks to
make the world safe for the rich and well-connected by tossing out
that nasty progressive tax, which she unabashedly blames for making
“everyone equal.” With income inequality at historically
unprecedented levels, it is perhaps telling that only the slow-witted
progeny of the very wealthy are publicly taking this absurd position.
The next grave threat from which the “idealistic” Bordonaro hopes to
save us is that pesky separation of church and state, which is
apparently at fault for an increasing number of people choosing not to
be pampered sorority girls. So, despite her rather callous disregard
for the poor and the fabled difficulty the rich seem to have at the
gates of heaven, she figures that promoting both prayer in the public
schools and public subsidies for Christian ones is enough to assure
her that “God is on her side.” This statement is eerily reminescent
of ones made by her ideological soulmate, Lon Mabon. Stunningly, she
then proudly claims that her numerous links to the OCA and its
supporters, are, get this- a virtue, a noble attempt to bring together
not only the party, but indeed the whole country. We should be so
lucky. She is not the first strident, judgemental, religious fanatic
to tell us what is good for us and is, woefully, unlikely to be the
last.
But you’ve got to hand it to the girl. After all, it isn’t easy to
claw one’s manicured way from the humble West Hills all the way to
Portland’s corporate boardrooms- one could easily be hit by a Mercedes
or Range Rover on the way. And she even had to attend those (gasp!)
public schools she now derides, albeit one would assume with a
well-thumbed Bible tucked secretly in her bookbag to ward off secular
humanism and such.
So now she heroically offers herself as a servant of the people-
granted, not very many of them, but you’ve got to start somewhere-
cynically gambling along with her influential backers that in our
TV-sodden society, the cute candidate goes to Washington. And in the
proud tradition of her hero, Ronald Reagan, even the Christian Right
and let-them-eat-cake conservatism can win if it’s packaged to look
like Barbie.
I have a slogan for her and her wealthy “moderate” supporters.
“Molly Bordonaro: Not much upstairs, but what a staircase!”
Cocktailhag
Northwest Glisan Street
UPDATE: It momentarily slipped my mind that Molly was made Ambassador to Malta in 2005, which Jim Montague pointed out in comments. That gal has this upward failure thing down pat; read Jim’s link for more.
This old piece (hehehe) brings up a thought.
Hag, how smart does one need be to be qualified for national office in your mind.
As just one example, pick the smartest and most honest painter that you have worked with in the last decade. Is he qualified to be mayor of your city? Governor of you state? President?
I am interested in your considered opinion.
All of them (not painters… that’s my job, but plumbers, electricians, masons, etc…) would make better Presidents than Molly; you see, they know what it’s like to work. And they do something useful. No 20-something raised in wealth and privilege, who after a lavishly funded but undistinguished stint in college, goes to work at a crony job in a righty think tank for a year or two, has enough connection to the real world to work at Macy’s let alone the Capitol. Some people are inherently incapable of representing the public good, because they have no idea what that is, and Molly is one of them.
I agree with you that the whole lot is better qualified that that Molly. (I know another one very well).
But you dodged the question, and it is an important one that goes to the heart of what one thinks about democracy. (or, at least, I think it does)
Pick your best electrician and decide if he would make a good governor or president. I mean: fit for the job, not could he run a good campaign or would the voters accept him, but would he be qualified in your opinion.
Of course. I wasn’t dodging the question; you’re the wily one, not me. I think my former plumber, now retired (but back at work at Home Depot to make ends meet) had the requisite wisdom, honesty, and flat indifference to suffering fools that I think are the main qualities Presidents seem to lack these days, but need. He would have been better than any president in my lifetime. He also had a great sense of humor and a pleasure to work with.
But if you want to lower the bar to the Bush level, I could toss in a concrete guy, two tile masons, a couple more plumbers, some carpenters, and one electrician.
At the hardwood floor company I use, everyone there is more qualified than Bush, for Pete’s sake.
I guess I don’t get where you’re going with this line of inquiry.
I can back a trailer truck right into the loading dock, straight as an arrow.
Is that helpful in any political discussion, with or without blue bloods?
You also can wield a shovel and rake in a sport jacket, Dirigo… I think you ought to run for President.
That’s right!
A man with a spade in a royal blue jacket, hacking away at rocks in a backyard hole in Brooklyn is an arresting image for the people to contemplate. I always smile as I shovel.
I’ll start as a borough president!
If you don’t watch out, Dirigo, I’ll post that picture Naomi sent.
I dare you …
You’re only daring me because you know I’m too computer-retarded to pull it off. Next time I get the IT guy over, you’ll see.
I know what you mean.
I took a nice cell phone picture of the banner over the main entrance to the John Lennon exhibit at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in the city and can’t figure out if or how I can download it into my computer. I do have it as a nice bit of “wallpaper” in the phone though.
We’re both techno-boobs in our own ways.
I think that all you mentioned are qualified to be governor or president. I don’t know if they would be good ones or not; but they are qualified. No need to “lower the bar”. That was were I was going with the question. It was not a “trick” nor was I being “wily”.
The point is that we are always looking for a savior to be president and to kiss our boo-boo and make it all better. There is no savior. We need a common man in the presidency and we need to fix the system to where a common man (or woman) could do a credible job.
That is my point.
Touche’ …CH!
Too bad she likely won’t read this again now.
Well, I did tag her name, and she seems like a self-googler to me. You never know; maybe I’ll ping her, too.
I bet you thought that was the end of her, didn’t you? Seems Molly has been pretty busy and now out age 40, is looking for work again.
“Portland native Molly Bordonaro, who ends her term as the ambassador to the Republic of Malta today, received that country’s highest honor yesterday.
Bordonaro, 40, was presented with the Medal of Merit yesterday at a ceremony at the President’s Palace in Valletta, Malta, making her the first American Ambassador and only the third ambassador ever to receive the prestigious honor.
Maltese president Edward Fenech-Adami cited Bordonaro’s work with refugees and her contributions to bilateral trade and security agreements reached between the U.S. and Malta.
Bordonaro was 27 when she ran for an Oregon congressional seat in 1996.
She lost in the Republican primary but won the nomination two years later and came close to winning the 1st District seat, a feat that helped to establish her as one of the Oregon Republican Party’s rising stars.
She went on to hold prominent positions in both of President George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns and, in 2005, the president appointed her ambassador to Malta, a tiny, but strategically important Mediterranean island.
Portland’s Molly Bordonaro honored as term as US Ambassador to Malta ends “- OregonLive.com (13 September 2009)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/portlands_molly_bordonaro_hono.html
Dang, Jim, I forgot about that Ambassadorship… what a fitting tribute to a great public “servant” like Molly. Daddy’s in commercial real estate, though, and might not have as easy of a time getting her hired these days. Careful what you wish for, righties.
Lying on the beach in Malta only looks good on the ol’ resume’ when times are good.
Thanks for the update…
Well considering Oregon hasn’t had a Republican Governor for over 20 years, its just possible this dizzy broad will keep you busy sometime in the future. If I had to make a guess, a year and a half in public broadcasting, and then a run.
Well, if she does, I say, “Bring it on.” Republicans can’t get elected dogcatcher here anymore, and it’s because of people like her. Traditionally, our Republicans were, in matters of war and peace, the environment, and women’s rights, considerably to the left of, say, Clinton. This new batch wouldn’t have gone over in 1970, much less 2014. It’s worth putting up with the rain for that alone. That;s why Molly went to Malta.
Not much upstairs, but what a staircase!
Somehow that line needs Groucho Marx glasses and a big cigar. Wonderful!
That’s the part that one drunken and surly anonymous caller bellowed back at me on my voice mail, and what WW put in the headline, so I guess it was effective.
Thanks.
This was Ambassado Bordonaro’s official bio at the State Dept.
http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bios/54087.htm
Before they sent her to Malta, the Bushies put her on the board of Fannie Mae.
Great bio, sysprog, and more from Intoxikitty below.
More from CHNN stringer Intoxikitty… About Molly’s husband:
MAN ABOUT THE HOUSE
Househusbands are rare, unappreciated breeds and often frowned upon. So what prompts them to put their career on hold and opt for nappy changing? DEANA LUCHIA discovers that like women, they love the kids but hate the household chores.
Househusbands, stay-at-home dads, or full-time fathers.Although the men who run homes and manage childcare may disagree on what to call themselves, they tend to agree on one thing: taking care of their kids is the most satisfying thing they’ve ever done.
As for the housework… well, that’s another matter entirely. If you check out the websites that support househusbands such as the UK’s http://www.homedad.org.uk or the Italian http://www.uominicasalinghi.it, it’s clear that men have the same attitude to housework as women who stay home.There are the odd few who love it, but it seems that many men see it as a largely thankless activity.
John Vella, 43, of Cospicua, took on the role of househusband for a year when his daughter was born 20 months ago.“My wife had restricted maternity leave so it seemed that the best thing for me was to take a year’s parental leave. I took care of the baby, cooked, cleaned, and ironed. I did almost everything and I really enjoyed it,” he says.“There was a lot more work than I expected and I was tired every day, but I’d definitely do it again. In fact, I would be a househusband permanently if we could afford it.”
The three men interviewed all saw childcare as their main activity and housework as a secondary, albeit necessary task.
“Childcare takes up most of your time,” says Vella,“and that’s the part I enjoyed the most. Doing the housework is OK, but you need time to do it and with a small baby there’s not enough time to do everything. So the housework was done when all the baby’s needs were taken care of and then when my wife came home from work, we would do the remaining housework together.”
While Vella describes being a househusband as an exhausting 24-hour a day job, being close to his daughter made it all worthwhile.“The moment you see your child, you instantly forget how tired you are. It was very exciting always being there and watching my daughter change day by day. Especially after the fourth month, you see them becoming a person. It was a unique experience.”
A common complaint from housewives is the feeling of isolation. Was it ever lonely staying home? Vella laughs: “Not lonely.With a child crying and something burning in the oven, it
was never lonely.”
Vella’s year-long experience increased his regard for housewives: “I have so much respect for women who stay home. Now I know what they go through… how much they have to do.” However, in some quarters there remains precious little respect for anyone who does housework, even less so if that person happens to be male.
“It was a surprise for most people,” says Vella, describing how friends andfamily responded to the news that he was taking a year off work to stay home. “They’d say,‘I wouldn’t do it’.When I told my work colleagues I was leaving my job to be with my child, it was like committing a crime. Even my mother was confused at first, though I have to say that eventually she was very supportive of my decision.”
Many men don’t even considerstaying home as an option, says Anna Borg of the Employment and Trainingn Corporation’s Gender Unit.
“In fact, neither sex particularly thinks of a man staying at home, as an option. We live in a Mediterranean society where man’s identity is closely linked to work, to being a good provider and the majority of men would never consider taking a career break to stay home. And the majority of women would never consider being the main provider.
“But, the ultimate experience would be to have an opportunity to assume both roles. As it is, anything relating to housework is still seen as degrading, in that women are not remunerated for these household tasks. Attitudes definitely need to shift.”
Borg goes on to describe a househusband interviewed by the Gender Unit, whose mother was praying for him during his year break from work:“He wanted to be home and he had an agreement with his wife.Yet his mother was praying for him as though it was a tragedy.”
While parental leave does exist – one year in the public sector, three months in the private sector – it’s unpaid, which means very few men, even if they want to, can afford to take
it up. In fact, only 1.6 per cent of fathers took parental leave last year. “With most Maltese women out of the workforce,” says Borg,“where is the family income going to come from?”
“It’s ridiculous that parental leave is unpaid,” says Vella, who works for a public sector company.“You work for a large company for 20 years and you want to take time off to be with your kids, but your years of service to the company are not recognised at all.The
situation needs to change.”
Matt Bordonaro, married to the US Ambassador to Malta, Molly, is father to three children, aged six, three, and 18 months.“Raising kids full-time is the biggest challenge to patience and tolerance,” says Bordonaro,“but you can’t ride a better ticket for personal development.”
With the embassy staff on hand, there’s not much call for Bordonaro to clean and cook the way he did in Oregon for twoand- a-half years prior to the family’s move to Malta.“But I change nappies, I pick up after them, you know the usual stuff. I go down to the kitchen and make the kids a sandwich,” he says.
For Bordonaro and his wife, having the father stay home was an easy and mutual decision.“I worked in the venture capital world and after 9/11 and the stock market decline, it was the right time for me to take time off,” he explains.
“We were both rushing out every morning, and then we had our first child and it was chaotic. And then we had a second child and we decided one of us should stay with the kids.That was how I was raised and it’s what my Catholic faith has taught me children deserve. So with Molly’s career on the ascendancy, it made sense that it was I who stayed at home.”
Aptly diplomatic, Bordonaro won’t comment on other people’s specific reactions to his opting for full-time fatherhood, suffice to say, there was some negativity coming his way. I ask him if men’s eyes ever glaze over the way some women’s did when I used to tell them I was a full-time mum.
“You get some of that. Mostly it’s them thinking that we might not have enough in common and, you know, it’s tempting to talk about what I did three to four years ago in the investment world, but most people eventually believe it’s a luxury spending serious quality time with kids at such an impressionable age. It’s a gift and the return on that investment is huge.”
What has been the biggest learning curve? “That unlike most women, I couldn’t multi-task,” says Bordonaro. “When I first gave up work, I thought I could have a project fixing up houses in the evening or weekend, but in fact I focus all the time I am at home on the children.”
Finding anyone quite as relaxed and positive as Bordonaro is difficult. It seems almost pointless asking him if he ever feels frustrated staying home.“Sure, there are times when it’s demanding,” he admits,“but I do other things.When Molly comes home, she can’t wait to be with the kids so I go for a run every day. I ran the half marathon last year and I’m gearing up for the Half Iron Man competition, which is the ultimate in triathlon.
“Besides, being a full-time father is not something you do for your ego. I’m doing it because I’m trying to provide the best for my kids. I’ve had 40 years of doing my thing and I will get to do my thing again once they go to school, but for now, they deserve this attention. I think that when my kids are older, I will have more of a relationship with them because of these years with them.”
Bordonaro encourages other men to follow suit. Firstly though, you have to make sure it’s what your wife wants; secondly, the economic factors have to be in place to allow for one
parent to stay home, and finally you have to make sure you are prepared to accept that role and put your career on hold, because men aren’t necessarily raised and educated to be nurturers, he says.
Hans Mever, 41 is a househusband living in Lija. He does most of the housework and takes care of his two children, aged nine and seven. Mever has been a stay-at-home dad since
January when the family moved to Malta from Germany where he worked as a farmer and in agricultural machinery sales. He and his wife have always shared the housework.
We talk in a spotless kitchen showing none of the devastating signs of a hectic, school-morning breakfast. It’s only 9 a.m. and the dishes are done, the table cleared and there’s a load of washing in the machine.
“I do all the housework,” says Mever. “I’m not a good cook, but I do it. I plan the week’s meals with recipe books and I do the laundry, the ironing, the floors. I hate cleaning the
oven, but ironing is not a problem.”
Mever finds taking care of hischildren fun and rewarding, but with both of them at school, he has rather too much time for housework, which he admits he doesn’t particularly enjoy.
“You clean.You cook every day. You don’t really see the results as you would with a job. Every day is thesame. It’s never ending and I can totally understand the housewives who hate being a housewife.And also staying at home alone all day in the house is not so nice. It’s not good for your brain. You know, when I worked I had to organise meetings and appointments, machinery and so on and now I think of whether or not we have enough bread, enough meat for the week.”
Mever cuts a lonely figure at the table; I don’t imagine he gets many housewives popping round for a chat.What he needs, he says, sounding like so many housewives before him, is a part-time job.
“It has to be part-time because my wife works full-time and the children need me here when they come home from school. I like time with the children and they enjoy their time
with me and it’s very important that one of us is home to be with them. In Germany, when we both worked, they were at kindergarten all day.This way is much better for them.”
Despite the monotony and mindlessness of housework, he does thinks it’s a good experience and everyone should be a househusband for a year or two.He notes that being at home hasn’t at all changed the dynamics of his relationship with his wife and hesays he really appreciates having time to read the newspaper, a book, or to just do nothing, which never happened when he worked full-time.
Still, I ask, could he live this way forever? He shakes his head and laughs:“Definitely not.”
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FYI… Tony & Dirigo, you may be able to email any cell phone pictures to yourself. It means texting in your email address, but once you’ve done it, it should be saved for future use.
Then, you should be able to open the photos in your email, and depending upon which email service you are using, you may be able to “forward” the email with photos attached. That’s how it works with most cell phones and most email services, but there may be exceptions.
Truly exquisite. Worthy of Dorothy Parker’s best, as in If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
What a pleasure it is to come here after a long day’s journey into execration. The truth here has grace, wit, and moves like Fitzgerald made Daisy Buchanan move the first time he allowed us to see her.
A deep bow for the Hag, with a flourish at the end. (We probably need to bring the house lights down now, so I can straighten my knees.)