Kamala Harris is not "childless"

[Doc Sportello]

She is a stepmother to Doug Emhoff's two children, Ella and Cole. They are not her biological children but she has been a parent to them for the past 10 years, since Cole was 20 and Ella was 14.

Sometimes parents are not beloved by their children and sometimes step parents are like in the bad stepmother fairy tales. Kamala is so beloved by her stepchildren that they gave her the nickname "Momala".

Kamala Harris is not childless.

https://people.com/all-about-kamala-harris-stepchildren-8681626

[Kid Berwyn]

1. "Momala"

Says a lot of love, that name.

[mucifer]

5. Yup, it's Yiddish. The kids are Jewish

[Celerity]

7. it is not actually Yiddish, it may be a fusion

Kamala, Mamale

Why do Yiddish speakers refer to children by terms of endearment seemingly meant for adults?

https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/arts-culture/2020/11/kamala-mamale/

America’s vice-president-elect has a family nickname that she says she’s fond of. It’s “Momala,” and it rhymes with Kamala and was given her, so we’ve been told, by her two stepchildren, the children of her Jewish husband Douglas Emhoff. Whether they coined it as a fusion of Ma and Kamala, or whether they knew that—generally spelled “Mamale” or “Mamaleh”—it’s a Yiddish term of endearment for a mother, remains, according to the media, an unresolved issue.

What the media have failed to point out is the odd fact that Yiddish mamale—literally, “little mother,” a word composed of mama and the diminutive suffix –le—is used by Yiddish and Yiddish-influenced speakers more as a form of address for children than for mothers, for whom there are more common endearments. (Mamashe and mamenyu are two of them.) Hearing a woman hidden from sight in the next aisle of the supermarket say, “Mamaleh, itst koyft men nisht keyn kendy bars,” “Mamaleh, we’re not buying candy bars now,” you would be right to assume she was talking to her small daughter and not to her elderly mother.

Or else to her son. Calling a little boy mamaleh, “little mother,” is perfectly normal in Yiddish, as it is in Israeli Hebrew. The reverse, however, is not the case. Although you can also call a boy tataleh or “little father,” you would not use it for a girl. It’s similar to bubbele, “little grandmother,” the “bubbeleh” known to many American Jews and even some non-Jews as a way of saying, sometimes affectionately and sometimes dismissively, “sweetheart” or “pal.” You wouldn’t address anyone as zeydele, “little grandfather,” unless he was your grandfather for real.

Is there some deep cultural significance in all of this? Calling children “mamaleh” and “tataleh,” writes the Yiddish pundit Michael Wex, is a way of “wishing that the child grow up to have children of [his or] her own.” Leo Rosten makes the same point about bubbele as an endearment for children in his The Joys of Yiddish. It “carries the expectation,” he writes there, “that the child in the crib will one day be a grandparent.”

snip

[wnylib]

44. Spanish speaking people do the same when addressing little girls,

especially those from Puerto Rico and Mexico. They say "mamacita," which is "little mama."

[madaboutharry]

51. Actually, they are not.

Their mother is not Jewish and they were not raised in the Jewish faith nor do they identify as Jews.

Those are simply neutral facts. I think it is important to keep the record straight.

[calimary]

26. Momala! I LOVE that!!!

[Kid Berwyn]

27. It's like night and day.

Being a Democrat.

[calimary]

33. No shit!

Being a Democrat is being in touch with TODAY and TOMORROW.

Being a Republican is desperately clinging to the past - a past they remember in selective points/aspects that THEY approve of.

[mobeau69]

2. Good if it helps with some voters but it shouldn't really matter imo.

[Ms. Toad]

21. My reaction to this observation was "Yes, and so what if she was childless?"

Same as when the Right insisted Obama was Muslim. No, and so what if he was?

It is important to push back on both assumptions: That being childless is bad, and that there is only one way to have a parent-child relationship.

I was a mother to one of my students long before I had a child of my own, as well as to an individual struggling with their gender identity in my extended faith community when both needed parents other than their own. I still (30 years later) receive mother's day cards from my daughter/former student. This is an extremely common bonding in the LGBTQ community, when we are often kicked out of our families of origin.

My spouse was a mother to our daughter from before she was born, but the legal relationship was not established until our daughter was in her 20s.

And, my daughter has some kind of parental relationship with our (originally unknown) sperm donor and his wife (and sibling relationships with their children and 3-4 other half-siblings for whom the donor was was the same.

It is important to resist attempts to denigrate any parenting choice (the choice to have no biological children, to have some, to be a parent of choice - not kin, etc.)

[PeaceWave]

31. The real issue is that Republican men view women as baby factories.

[Ms. Toad]

47. Yes, and -

we need to call them on it and also correct both the assumption that women's only value is as a baby factory AND that parenthood only arises when one gives birth or provides the sperm that gives rise to the birth.

My reaction is partly leftover from when Obama was called a Muslim. At least initially his response was limited to, "no, I'm not" without correcting the implied assumption that there was something wrong with being Muslim.

[Farmer-Rick]

69. They don't really care

Hillary had a child. They treated her like crap.

So as a women in the right wing cult, you have to have children. But if you do, they won't treat you any better for it.

[MadameButterfly]

45. still its amazing that Vance just couldn't see

Kamala's or Pete Buttigieg's children because they didn't fit Vance's idea of a traditional family.

In politics it has long been required even of men to have children and kiss a lot of babies. But women have been in the much more impossible situation of having to be supermoms while running super-careers to be considered both human. and qualified.

Male politicians often shunt child rearing off to their wives and don't have the challenge of the double role. Trump is an extreme example. Ivana said of their young children that Donald "didn't know what to do with them." He doesn't have the capacity to love as children need to be loved no matter how many babies he has sired.

[Bev54]

3. It should not matter if she was/is. Some women cannot have children, some choose not to

It is not a prerequisite for any job.

[Doc Sportello]

4. Trying to correct the lie

No it shouldn't matter. But the truth does.

[sanatanadharma]

6. Hard for the never-right to push 'adoption, not abortion' while dissing President-to-be Harris

All that save the child, adopt a child desire for how things should be, requires voluntary motherhood, not biological stretch marks.

[joanbarnes]

8. She will be Momala to all of us!

[progressoid]

9. Like George Washington.

He had no children but helped raise Martha's two children.

[Doc Sportello]

12. Thank you

The post was not meant in any way to disparage women who choose not to have children. I'm a male who never wanted kids. The point basically here is that she chose to be an excellent parent to two children who weren't hers in the biologial sense. That to me is just another positive character trait to add to an already long list that she possesses.

[TomSlick]

16. Damned good historical reference.

[Ping Tung]

23. Neither did Polk, Buchanan, Harding, and Jackson.

I reckon it's OK for male presidents to not have kids but a big indication that a woman would not be a good president without bearing children of her own.

Misogyny is OK with Repugs.

[Retrograde]

52. Nor did Madison

he helped raise his wife's son from her first marriage.

Harding did have a daughter by Nan Britton: she was supposedly conceived in the White House. Harding's wife was not pleased, which gave rise to rumors that she had him poisoned during his West Coast tour. Garfield also had an acknowledged child before he married, and before he was elected - he won despite his opponents adopting the slogan "Ma, ma, where's my pa?"

[agingdem]

10. so serial cheater/sexual predator/rapist/pervert Donald Trump has

5 children by 3 different women, slept with and then paid off a porn star, had a relationship with a former Playboy Bunny, joined Jeffrey Epstein in his pursuit of underage girls, and wants to date his daughter...and that's ok... but Kamala Harris, an accomplished attorney/former California Attorney General/U.S. Senator/Vice President of the United States and current Democratic nominee for President of the United States, is not qualified to occupy the Oval Office because she hasn't given birth...right?..Welcome to the 1950s'!!!

[calimary]

29. LOVE this post, agingdem!

What you said! Absolutamente!!!

[SunSeeker]

65. Trump hasn't given birth either!

[obamanut2012]

11. Momala -- and, she has a great relationship with their mom

Who also attended the 2020 Inauguration.

[Doc Sportello]

13. Yes, that says a lot about her too

And about the first wife that they can have a positive relationship.

[obamanut2012]

15. Yup, I think so, too

The kids say that there is healthy co-parenting. People on here and other places act like your kids aren't your kids after 18, and just disappear into the world alone.

[Tree Lady]

39. my kids are in their 40's

and on my mind at least a few times a day, sending a quick text to stay in touch at least every few days.

They still need a ear to listen and now that I am older love to give me advice, lol.

[obamanut2012]

40. Yes! Well said

[AllaN01Bear]

19. madre. mamo .

[hibbing]

14. It is so insulting

I hope women power us through this election...enough!

Peace

[calimary]

30. I kinda suspect that's what'll happen.

Just got a feeling about it. For whatever that's worth.

I am SOOOO eager for my granddaughters to see this, even as young as they are. It'll happen IN THEIR LIFETIME. And it won't be some strange and/or unusual thing. Any more than having a non-white guy as President for two terms.

It's time to turn the page. Let the new era begin!

[SARose]

17. Thank you, Doc

I am a stepmother going on 48 years now. Yes they are my kids, too. Do they call me Mama? Nope. They had a Mama. I told them years ago that I was not there to be their Mother but to be an advocate for them. I have many, many secrets I will take to my grave because they trusted me.

I bathed them, read to them, bought clothes for them, had tickle, pillow and water balloon fights, fed them, pray for and love them.

I told them a long time ago they may not be the children of my body - they are the children of my heart.

[Doc Sportello]

35. Thank you so much for this beautiful post

The point of me posting was that her being a great stepmom shows a lot about her character. And yes she is a parent, just like you are. Your tale shows what a great parent you have been as a stepmother and I have no doubt they are appreciative to have you in their lives.
This reminds me of Lincoln's relationship to his stepmother Sarah. He said that any kindness he had in him was due in large part to his stepmother.

[SARose]

37. I'm anxiously waiting

For Hillary to tell JD “it takes a village.” 🤣

❤️

[KentuckyWoman]

18. That strategy baffles me.

JD Vance is raising kids he didn't birth either. I mean I realize the GOP is full of everything that comes off the stable floor. But... wow.

[Attilatheblond]

20. Great point we all need to remember when any office holder, potential office holder, media talker disparages...

...any woman who hasn't given birth!

Just say "Well then, show me ONE male pol or talking head who has given birth. If they haven't given birth, they should be disqualified too by your birth mom requirement".

[obamanut2012]

24. And, lots of conservative women can't have kids, or are stepmoms, or are raising a younger sibling

To him, they are not actually moms, and have no stake in this country.

[BurnDoubt]

22. Good thing he didn't disparage "Cat Ladies".

We forget the discourse level in "Murkkka" is set to Third Grade by Magalomaniacs.--- They just can't help being obsessed with the Female Reproductive system. Oh yeah... Third Grade... I forgot! Apologies to Third Graders everywhere. Take heart... you can still matriculate. Please Do!!!!!

[Martin68]

25. It was an absurd statement to begin with, but now it just reminds us how heartless and clueless these people are.

How do we lose to such a rotten bunch of losers?

[onetexan]

34. Damn fool Vance is another educated idiot, a christofascist and a power hungry bootlicker

[58Sunliner]

28. Any woman with a soul has children that she dreams for, even if they aren't her own.

[AloeVera]

61. Beautifully put.

And so true.

[Sanity Claws]

32. She is also not miserable

Vance said something about childless women with cats living miserable lives. But you look at Kamala and she has a great laugh and is enjoying her life. The ones who looks miserable are 45 and Vance. They look angry and are totally unable to give a genuine laugh.

[MadameButterfly]

46. Lots of un-miserable women without

children and or men to justify their existence. This is hard for narcissistic men who have wives as child-nurses to understand.

[SunSeeker]

64. A much larger percentage of women I know with kids are miserable than the child free women.

And the reason is obvious. Moms have 2 full time jobs. The men in their lives, even when progressive, never truly share the work at home. Not even close.

[MadameButterfly]

72. Lots of women have children because it is expected

and thought there are couples who can't have children, women who choose not to have children because they want to pursue other things tend often have some compelling reasons. They've made an independent choice, not the expected choice.

These are all generalizations, obviously. Deciding peoples happiness based on their family structure is probably pretty innaccurate.

[VBNMW]

36. Pretty sure

No one sane cares.

[elleng]

38. Thank you for this, Doc Sportello,

and a tangent, tho not directly relevant to VPotus' situation:

Many families in similar situations chose to adopt, so the mother is not a 'step.' (This occurred in my family; my and my brother's 'birth-mother' died when she was young, leaving Dad with full parenting responsibilties for 2 young children.)

Dad was fortunate enough to meet a kind, intelligent and willing woman a few years later. They/we married, and thereafter she adopted us; hence not a 'step.'

[Doc Sportello]

42. You're welcome and thank you

I appreciate the stories of you and another person here relating their personal experience with this situation. I related the story of Lincoln's stepmother Sarah and the crucial impact she and her kindness had on him, and most likely our nation as he navigated it through the Civil War. Obviously your adopted mother had a similar impact on you.

[summer_in_TX]

41. Thank you, Doc!

Very helpful for those of us who want to counter misinformation with positive truths.

[Doc Sportello]

43. You're welcome!

And for understanding the point of the post.

[ashaw]

48. Stepparents Are Parents

Thank you for writing this post. My stepdad has been present for the most important events in our family's life. He was there for my wedding, when my children were born, and we are fortunate to live close by, so we can see him and my mom every week for breakfast. My stepdad has been there for when we were mourning the loss of someone close in my husband's family after that person had gone through a long, painful illness. I admire VP Harris for her role as a mother because stepparents are parents. They support, care, and comfort as any biological parent would do.

[bluewater]

49. Bravo! Well said.

Who the hell is Vance to tell us what a family is?

[Initech]

50. Yeah because those Moms For Liberty psychos have done such a great job, haven't they?

[BeyondGeography]

53. My wife is stepmother to my daughter

They have an incredible relationship. When Kamala says she was crazy about Doug but the kids reeled her in that really resonated with me. I’m sure that seeing him as a loving parent did nothing but enhance their relationship and her feelings for his kids.

So many people are in this situation and have had their lives enriched by a stepchild or stepparent, you wonder who the audience is for this nonsense. A lot of people are immediately offended by it. And when Doug’s kids take the stage next month to sing Momala’s praises the whole world will see what a miscalculation Vance made here.

Thanks for the thread, Doc.

[Doc Sportello]

63. You're welcome

It's been gratifying hearing from people like you in this situation. I was just thinking about how great it would be to see them as the First Family. Divorce and remarriage, a POC step mom, a Jewish husband and two children who have two wonderful moms who co-parent. In other words, a reflection of America as it really is. It will be inspiring to see Ella and Cole talk about Kamala. I think they will be a hit with America.

[oasis]

54. Momola's a special person in their lives. Wait

until she accepts the nomination and they embrace her on stage. The audience will go wild with enthusiasm.

[SunSeeker]

62. Exactly. Her kids came up with the name Momala because they didn't want to call her stepmom.

It's so touching. I love it. ❤️

Plus Kamala is friends with their mom, Douglas' ex-wife. It really shows Kamala's character, doing what's best for the kids. I'm not sure I could do that.

[karin_sj]

55. And if she was?

So freaking what??! Are women of a certain age required to have children? Ridiculous!

[JPPaverage]

56. I am a step parent

I have a step daughter who came as a package deal, so to speak, with her mom. I have raised her as my own since she was 4 years old. Shes now a teen and is being difficult, as teens often are. But she still calls me dad and she seeks a lot of advice from me.
I guess the point of all this is that step kids are taken care of and nurtured by the step parents as if they (the kids) were our own. So Kamala Harris is not "childless" like the magats say. Just tell me or TJO, my child, that the parents are "childless." Magats can kiss my ass. On second thought, i don't want their body parts making contact with my body.

[krkaufman]

57. Yeah, seemed an odd attack

Whatever benefit they thought that they’d get from it, it seems like they didn’t bother contemplating how many step-moms and step-dads are out there. I mean, I know I wouldn’t be pleased to have some politician driving a wedge between me and my kids, devaluing our relationship.

[mzmolly]

58. Not all women can bear children.

Not all women want children. This is such a ridiculous talking point by R's.

I agree that step-parents are as, or more beloved than biological parents depending upon the circumstances.

[AloeVera]

59. No, she isn't childless.

He would call me childless too, and that would be ridiculous and insulting. I raised two boys not biologically mine but I am their Mom because that is how they see me and they showed it by choosing to stay with me. Parenthood is so much more than biology. If they call her Momala, no better proof they see her the same way. She is a parent.

[ViewObsessed]

60. Her stepchildren are beautiful!

[CommonHumanity]

66. So what if she was, God Damn it!

Is the fact that she qualifies a friggin' badge of honor. What the hell? Why is this even a topic. I'm careful to be polite on this site, but this offends me!

[JI7]

67. Their candidate has been married 3 times and paid a paid a porn star for sex

while his wife was pregnant.

We aren't the ones that need to be defensive.

[Doc Sportello]

71. The post wasn't defensive at all

It was about modern families such as hers being different than what the MAGAts want, but moreso about how great she has been as a person coming into that situation and making it a success. She loves those kids and they love her too. She is to be admired for that. A few here did get reflexively defensive and basically misunderstood the purpose of the post. I've written in responses about the post and it's up to 245 recs so I think the majority got it.

[poozwah]

68. seriously?

what the hell does it matter? small minded maggats have nothing other than nonsense such as this.

[dawn5651]

70. no kamala isn't childless however jd vance is a piece of excrement.

would he have said this to a man who was running for president...no
when will the republican male realize that no woman would have said to a male he is childless.
having children isn't a measure of you as a human being...having children is because you want them