Tuned In

Laura Bennett Feels Sarah Palin's Pain

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Before last month’s Project Runway fashion show in Bryant Park, I ran into Laura Bennett, the past Runway finalist who was cheerfully nonchalant about having a career and six kids. (My favorite quote of hers about adding a new baby to the family: “Just throw it on the pile!”) It was just after Sarah Palin was nominated for VP, and I asked her some sort of smartassed question about how she felt about the charges that Palin might not be able to handle the job and a big family at the same time. She gave me a breezy nonanswer, I suspect because she wisely didn’t want to be talking politics with Time magazine and throwing attention away from Bravo’s big show.

Today, though, Bennett has a piece in Tina Brown’s new web venture The Daily Beast, and she’s more open to the subject. In it, the Manhattan uber-working-mom offers Palin some advice on dealing with the stress of work and family (including a special-needs child):

Managing home, family, and career can be tough. No doubt you already have a juggling act that would inspire an entire Vegas show for Cirque du Soleil. But if things go your way, you may find yourself one heartbeat away from the presidency—and I wanted to offer some tips for balancing family and work.

When a busy woman is faced with having to do it all, there is no shame in asking for help. And I have a thought about a labor pool you could tap. There will be quite a few political pundits looking for work next month, and what a perfect fit! They know every detail of your life, so it would be quite easy for any one of them to step in and help run your family. Perhaps Campbell Brown could accompany Piper on her school field trip to the Lincoln Memorial. Tucker Carlson might be willing to help fold the laundry that piles up on the White House dining room table. And who would be more perfect than Wolf Blitzer to wait for the cable guy when you need a new box in the Oval Office?

If you need someone to program the new cable remote, though, I’d get John King. The way he handles that magic touchscreen wall, he’s got to be a whiz with consumer electronics.