The XX Factor: What women really think.

Damn You, Mommy, for Losing White Males to Obama!

A guest post from Timothy Noah of Slate's "Chatterbox" column:

It's the recently that provokes my skepticism. Are we to believe that Solis Doyle's 6-year-old reached his mommy-deprivation limit at precisely the same moment that Solis Doyle's candidate began to falter in the polls? That would be a remarkable coincidence.

Emily Bazelon responds:

I am with Dahlia on this: I find traveling to be the hard part of working. Tim, you also must be right that the timing of the story is too good. I can't decide whether to be offended because the mommy narrative is being used as a transparent cover or grateful that another working parent is saying out loud, as Karen Hughes did before her, that some demands are just too great. I loved it when Mark Warner gave spending time with his kids as a reason not to run for president, making this about fatherhood, too.