Romney Struggles
by digby
I think it was wrong for Hilary Rosen to say that Ann Romney had never worked a day in her life. She certainly has, as this article points out:
Every adult amateur knows how tough it can be to fit riding into a busy lifestyle. But the demands of Ann Romney’s schedule would make her fellow competitors’ collective heads spin.
She’s raised five boys, doted after 11 grandchildren, managed charity programs at both state and national levels and played an increasingly active role in her husband Mitt Romney three—first Senate, then gubernatorial and now presidential—political campaigns.
Along the way she’s beaten back multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease that, nine years ago, left her bed-ridden and in despair.
In the rarefied world of upper-level dressage, Romney has achieved goals many amateurs only dream of. Riding her beloved Baron, a 19-year-old, Austrian Warmblood gelding, and coached by her long-time trainer and friend Jan Ebeling, Romney earned her U.S. Dressage Federation silver and gold medals in 2006. That same year, she was the New England Dressage Association Adult Amateur Champion at Grand Prix level, on a score of 63.33 percent.
“I’m just like any other crazy horse person,” she said. “You find a way to make the time to ride. If I have to get up at 5 a.m. to fly to California and then ride until 10 p.m. at night, because that’ll be my only chance to ride for a month, then that’s what I’ll do.”
And anyway, as Paul Ryan points out, people with Ann Romney’s wealth aren’t rich, they’re job creators. This article doesn’t even mention the time and effort it takes to manage the servants. If that’s not work, I don’t know what is!
Besides, as Ann Romney said just this morning:
“I know what it’s like to struggle.”She admitted that she may not have struggled financially as much as others in the U.S. “I would love to have people understand that Mitt and I have compassion for people who are struggling,” Ann Romney said. “We care about those people that are struggling.”
In fairness, dealing with MS is a struggle and nobody can take that away from her. It is undoubtedly less of struggle when you have hundreds of millions of dollars andcan afford the very best medical care int he world. But it’s till a struggle.
However, her life in general hasn’t exactly been rags to riches:
Born Ann Lois Davies, she was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, by parents Edward R. Davies and Lois Davies. Her father, originally from Caerau near Bridgend, Wales, was a self-made businessman who became president of Jered Industries, a maker of heavy machinery for marine use; he also was mayor of Bloomfield Hills.
Ann Davies knew of Mitt Romney since elementary school. She went to the private Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, which was the sister school to the all-boys Cranbrook School that he attended. The two were re-introduced and began dating in March 1965; they informally agreed to marriage after his senior prom in June 1965.
While he was attending Stanford University for a year and then was away starting two-and-a-half years of Mormon missionary duty in France, she decided on her own to convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during 1966. In doing so she accepted the guidance of Mitt’s father George Romney, the Governor of Michigan. (Within a year her two brothers followed her in converting.)She graduated from high school in 1967 and began attending Brigham Young University (BYU). She also spent a semester at the University of Grenoble in France during her freshman year. The Mormon missionary rules only allowed her two brief visits with Mitt and very rare telephone calls with him. While at BYU she dated future business academic Kim S. Cameron. She sent Mitt a “Dear John letter”, while Mitt sent letters back imploring her to wait for him.
Immediately after Romney’s return from France in December 1968, the pair reconnected and agreed to get married as soon as possible. Ann Davies and Mitt Romney were married by a church elder in a civil ceremony on March 21, 1969, at her Bloomfield Hills home, with a reception afterward at a local country club.The following day the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony inside the Salt Lake Temple; her family could not attend since they were non-Mormons, but were present at a subsequent wedding breakfast held for them across the street.
She spent the rest of her life dedicated to raising her five children and supporting her husband’s business and political career. They always had money and status. And she worked at that, obviously. She’s also had her personal struggles. But they certainly weren’t financial struggles.
It’s not that she chose to stay at home and raise her kids. That’s a perfectly valid choice. It just isn’t a possibility for most people who don’t have her resources. Let’s just say that her life has not been that of a typical American woman. And that’s ok. The problem is that her husband’s policies are designed for privileged women like his wife not for the rest of us.
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