U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., knows a little about being a career woman.
In her third term as congressman (yes, man, thankyouverymuch) for eastern Shelby County and parts east, Blackburn’s used to being challenged about her qualifications. She recalls a particular exchange during one of her campaign stops.
“I was working through a local eatery in west Tennessee when I approached an older gentleman to show him my campaign card, introduce myself and ask for his vote. He took the card, turned it over in his hand, looked back at me and asked, ‘Little lady, what qualifies you to serve in the U.S. House?’
“My response to him was I had been the 3-year-old choir director, the room-mother chairman and the Girl Scout Cookie Mom. If you can do those jobs, you can do anything.”
That makes sense to this former Girl Scout Cookie Mom.
As Congressman Blackburn says, “Skills are a transferable commodity.”
What skills have you transferred into your career? And what do you have to say to those who call you “little lady?”
(Posted by Guest Diva Carolyn McAtee Cerbin)
March 14th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
I admire Rep. Marsha Blackburn so much. She has principles and core convictions and is not afraid to express them. A lot of ink is used to criticize “ideologues,” but pragmatism and the attitude that the “end justifies the means” often paves the road to hell. Rep. Blackburn reflects her constituency well, just as Steve Cohen reflects his constituency well.