Founding Mothers were Whale Hunters

Cokie Roberts was a featured speaker at the Christamore House event described in my last entry. She's written two books about the women "behind the men" known as the "founding fathers." The first is Founding Mothers and the more recent is Ladies of Liberty. [Order them both from amazon.com]

It was exhilarating to hear Cokie talk about her research, her discoveries, and the rich and lyrical voices of the women that she invokes. Her passionate message is this: the women were so political! I would say they were whale hunters. They invented and then worked their social power base in order to capture the big deals for their families--

Cokie talked about her mother, Lindy Boggs, who wielded power as the wife of a senator, then a senator in her own right, and then the US ambassador to the Vatican. Lindy Boggs was a whale hunter in all of her roles--whether orchestrating from "behind" the scenes to taiing the stage herself. An interesting aside--when she was an elected senator, Lindy Boggs had to vote and thereby commit her opinions to the record. In her former role, she never had to tip her hand politically.

Do you like to work behind the scenes, out in front, or a combination of both? We would love to hear your experiences.