His wife “had had a tough day” without him, he said, and when his turn came to introduce himself to the audience, Santorum said he would be taking the red-eye home to Bella and mentioned that she was recovering from a procedure. That comment drew so many queries about what was wrong, he said, that he and his wife decided to put out a video explaining their daughter’s situation.
“I look at the simplicity and love she emits,” he says in the video, “and it’s clear to me we’re the disabled ones.”
He also spoke in detail about Bella’s situation at the Nov. 19 “Thanksgiving Family Forum” of GOP candidates, held in a Des Moines church. Santorum cried as he said he realized that initially he hadn’t dared to let himself love his daughter, whose illness was diagnosed shortly after birth, so it wouldn’t be as hard to let her go. Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, his rivals, both reached out to comfort him, and he said some voters have done likewise.
“A radio producer I know called me. She had seen the Bella ad — well, I don’t want to call it an ad — and she said she had a friend who was a staunch liberal Democrat, but has a child with severe health implications,” and was not only moved but swayed by the video.
The goal: ‘To open people’s eyes’
The point of his run, and indeed his whole political career, he said, is “to open people’s eyes to things they maybe haven’t thought through. I don’t think most Americans think through life.”
Why would that be? For the second time, Santorum went back to a favorite quote, from the social critic Christopher Lasch, author of “The Culture of Narcissism.”
“Like Lasch said, ‘We all get up every day and tell ourselves lies so we can live.’ We all do it; I’m not pointing the finger. . . . With all the things going on in the world, if I sat here and really thought about what I should be doing?” To some extent, he said, “you have to lie to yourself” or else be paralyzed.
For example? “Think of what’s going on in Central Africa. Do I have an obligation to go down there and stop that carnage? We all sort of say, ‘I’m just one person, this is bigger than me,’ just so you can go on. You can’t focus on every problem. Is it telling yourself a lie? Sometimes it is,” he concluded, “because sometimes you do have a responsibility, particularly if it’s close to you.”
(Video of Bella “ad”)
Santorum has a bigger more important job already.
As I’m thinking about each candidate as why or why not I’m for or against them, I was thinking about Santorum. Great on the social issues. Seems like a really great guy. Passionate of the issue of Life.
But should a father of 7 (some of them still small) children, one of them severely handicapped, and home schoolers to boot be running for POTUS?
POTUS is a fully involved 24/7 all consuming job. He can’t possibly raise that family, home school his children and be a helpmate to his wife and be POTUS. It is not humanly possible.
I think he would possibly make a great president but at this point in his life, he already has a bigger more important mission. Crusading for Bella and others like her and being available to his wife and children. That can’t happen if an entire country is demanding his entire being.
I had the same thoughts about Sarah Palin and the age of her children.
@Tercel: Oh yes — Obama is AWESOME — what about JFK and his two young kids? – how did they ever manage? — and RFK — how many did he have — around 7 wasn’t it? and to top that off he got zapped by a practitioner of the ROP — grow up
Tercel
he would have access to the finest help on the medical side of up to date discovery to provide her needs and his other children would benefit also from the position, no doubt in my mind,
just that the high emotional side of him could interfere when hard decisions are required, and they will constantly come from one side or the other, as a PRESIDENT OF A SUPER COUNTRY, ONE MUST BE IN constant READINESS IN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SHAPE, OF COURSE he would even then be in better shape than what
is there now, BUT THE ONE MOST ABLE TO FACE THE DEVIL HIMSELF SHOULD GET THE POSITION HE WOULD DESERVED AT THE END OF THIS CRUCIAL SCREENING, NOT NECESSARY THE ONE CHOSEN NOW, BECAUSE OF MONEY HE CAN FLY OBAMA HAS EVEN MORE ALL FOR HIM TO FLY,