When, If Ever, Is Mothering a Career?

"My career choice was to be a mother."

When Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said this on Fox News in the aftermath of a campaign staffer for President Obama saying she had "never worked a day in her life," I vapor-locked.

Story: Romney wife rebukes claim

My career choice was to be a journalist. I also chose to be a mother.

Does this mean I have two careers? Or does this make me less of a parent? Do I "work" less for my children? Do I take care of my home with less effort?

Well, given the layer of dust on the credenza these days, perhaps the correct answer to that last question is affirmative.

But I will bet my baby's new booties that Ann Romney had a maid to dust her furniture, as well as other paid staff people who worked hard to keep her household -- and her children -- in mothered order.

It wasn't the smartest thing for Hilary Rosen to say when criticizing the presumed GOP nominee's economic policy rhetoric that he was relying on his wife as an economic expert for working women.

But Ann Romney has a billionaire husband who supported her entire lifestyle, including her "career choice" to "stay home" and raise five sons. I doubt she was "home" all the time anyway. She is not the SAHM champion by any stretch of the words, and certainly not by the word "career."

She never had to compete for a promotion or fight for her labor rights. She never had to manage others on a critical project or be managed by a nincompoop. She never had to be disciplined for her screw-ups. She never had to beat deadlines, meet demands or produce materials when somebody else's money was on the line. She never had to wrestle with the guilt of sacrificing any of her time or priorities away from her children, either.

So how exactly is she the best person to advise the leader of the United States of America on its women who have careers outside of their homes?

This isn't about whether stay-at-home moms work hard. Of course they do. This isn't about which is a better choice. That's impossible to say.

But I admit, I bristled pretty hard when Ann Romney compared her "choice" to my "career."

It's hard to find a way to express this without offending moms who devote their entire day to raising their children and tending their homes, which would be the last thing I would want to do. The offending, not the staying home. That SAHM grass is looking mighty green on the other side of the fence, even though I know it can be thankless, isolating, exhausting work.

If Mitt Romney has said he was relying on his wife to advise him on how to make sure stay-at-home moms had more support for their choice, perhaps in debt relief or the best possible family health insurance for their working spouse -- heck, how about a Nanny McPhee for everybody -- then that would have seemed relevant and even poignant.

But if he's getting ideas from her about how to support mothers-with-careers, then he'd best keep brainstorming.