Bedmates: Marital and Political

In theological circles, a debate has been going on for some time about how to read the early chapters of Genesis on the marriage relationship. Tradition infers from them that a woman is intended to be her man's helper. Feminism does not take the ribbing in stride; women are mens' partners, and men are womens' partners, whether God said so or not. Hierarchy and subordination should not enter the picture at all. Early in the debate, good academic that I am, I lined up on both sides. The feminists are right, I believe, and Genesis, properly understood, agrees with them. Role differentiation? You betcha. Imposed upon partners without either their input or their consent? Heck no.

Applying this consideration to a present day issue necessitates getting down, dirty and, as if it did not come to the same thing, political for a minute. If the four women at the top of the campaign ladder and the one man I will get to shortly are any indication, this issue is no more settled in our society than it is in our churches. Governor Palin's gee whizzes are the campaign equivalent of elbowing her struggling-to-keep-up, so-called partner almost off the platform altogether, which may be one of the reasons she seems to have been carefully positioned behind and off center to him. By contrast, Mrs. McCain on the platform looks for all the world like the Stepford Wife that all too many men in this country still secretly wish their own wives were. At least she came out of her trance long enough to join the protests against sending our sons and daughters into battle without the proper equipment. In my reading of Genesis, though, it is the Governor who looks more like Eve. Hopefully, Mrs. McCain is more adept at pillow talk than common decency allows her to reveal.

To all outward appearances, Mrs. Biden seems the quintessential helpmate who is thoroughly her own person in the role and who is enjoying herself just as thoroughly as the genuine person she is. Somehow, I find it hard to imagine that Mrs. Obama will be content to remain quietly in the background and let her husband figure out all on his own how to get the tracks rebuilt off of which our country has been hurled. I can't help thinking that her pillow talk would run along the same lines as Mrs. Clinton's might have, softly but reinforced by a stick under her pillow big enough to propel her conversation partner to the floor with a flick of the wrist. The main idea that I hope will carry over into the next paragraph is that in a marital partnership with a President, both sexual and presidential matters should get expressed in the bedroom, not in the conference room, not in the Senate, and not on the campaign trail.

And with this idea aloft, it is time to turn to Alaska's self-proclaimed "chief dude," Todd Palin. For all of the Palins' conservative Christian background, Mr. Palin seems extraordinarily caught up in the feminist ideal of marital partnership rather than marital helpmate, even to the point of telling people what's what in the ways that the Alaska electorate thought only their governor should be doing. At least, this is what is coming out of the recently released investigative report on the real Governor Palin's not so seemly arm twisting. (To be fair, though, we could wonder why either of them would have had to buttonhole so many officials to get a hearing for their complaints about a very suspicious-acting former relative by marriage.)

It is difficult to imagine any female executive in business, industry, or the professions today who would even think of permitting their own Big Dudes unfettered access to their places of business, their offices, and their staff. And for all of my theological affinity with fellow Christians who believe that God intends spouses to be equal partners in keeping their marriages strong, in Todd Palin's case I'm all for hierarchy, subordination, and following respectfully behind the currently more powerful one in the relationship. It is wonderful to contemplate the bliss this delightful couple may continue to enjoy in begetting together. It is not so wonderful to contemplate the power they might acquire in governing the country together.

What is especially refreshing about the four women we are getting to know as a result of the current Presidential campaign is the comfort they and their spouses seem to have with the roles they have chosen to play in their own marriages. They make the possibility of settling once and for all what Genesis says about husbands and wives just a little more remote. Which may be what God has had in mind all along.