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Ann Romney (the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney) on Thursday fired back at a prominent Democrat who said she didn’t understand the economic concerns of women because she had “never worked a day in her life.”
In a sharp rejoinder to Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, Ann Romney took to Twitter to defend her decision to be a stay-at-home mom to the couple’s five sons.
“I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work” – Romney tweeted.
Later, on Fox News, Romney said her “career choice was to be a mother” and it was important to respect the choices all women make.
“I will tell you that Mitt said to me more times than you would imagine, ‘Ann, your job is more important than mine’ ” – she said.
“He was making money and doing the things, raising funds and investing, and helping other companies, and he would come home and say: ‘Ann, your job is more important than mine.’ ”
The tempest began Wednesday when Rosen, speaking on CNN, denounced the presumptive GOP nominee for relying on his wife for advice on the economic challenges facing American women.
“Guess what? His wife has never actually worked a day in her life” – Rosen said.
“She has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and why do we worry about their future.”

Ann Romney.

President Bill Clinton once famously said: “The most difficult job in the world is not being president. It’s being a parent.” As mothers, we both know this well, but we wonder if President Clinton’s fellow Democrats share his respect for parents, particularly those who choose to stay home with their children?
Yesterday on CNN, Hilary Rosen, a Washington insider who has advised many prominent Democrats, made the ill-advised decision to attack a fellow parent, a stay-at-home mother, by accusing her of having “never worked a day in her life.”
The stay-at-home mother targeted maliciously by Rosen has successfully raised five boys, who all have their own families now and constructively contribute to society. This particular mother has battled cancer and multiple sclerosis.
This particular stay-at-home mom travels the country and speaks up on issues of importance to her and for her children and grandchildren’s future. This particular stay-at-home mother is also a Republican, her name is Ann Romney and her message is resonating. Therein lies the reason for Rosen’s vicious attack.
After calls for her to apologize from both the left and the right, Rosen initially refused. But she caved to the building pressure today. In her apology she said: “Let’s declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance.”
We couldn’t agree more – so let’s look at the substance, and the facts, which is what Ann Romney and many other women have been doing all along.
As her husband moves toward locking up the Republican nomination, recent headlines have screamed that Ann Romney is the “Romney that Democrats fear most.” And for good reason. Pundits point out that she is passionate, attractive, charismatic and elegant – all true – but we would argue that what Democrats truly fear is her message and the impact it is having with women of all walks of life.
Recently, Romney made headlines when she said: “Women care about jobs. Women care about the economy, they care about their children, they care about their debt. They’re angry, they’re furious about the entitlement debt we’re leaving our children.” She is right.

Typical events for her during the summer and fall of 2011 were occasional and quiet ones, such as an October appearance at Martha’s Exchange restaurant in Nashua, NH, where she spoke to about 50 diners, most of them women. There she described getting to know her future husband, Mitt, during her teenage years, and eventually going to college together at Brigham Young University (where they only overlapped for one course after she quickly deemed him to be a brainiac and exclaimed “Oh shoot! Why am I taking a class with this guy!”)
Remarking that “life isn’t always a bowl of cherries” – Romney described her bouts with cancer and Multiple Sclerosis. The latter disease had stricken her so quickly and severely that she told the crowd even lifting an envelope was incredibly painful – she could not open the mail. Fearing she might be wheelchair bound and unable to tend to their household, Ann said that Mitt told her “‘I don’t care – I can eat toast and cereal for the rest of my life’” and expounded:” “‘I’m not going to leave your side, I’m not going to abandon you.’”
The Granite State patrons swooned as she buttoned up her remarks by saying how grueling trail life could be on their family – but how worthwhile. “It’s so hard on the families – you don’t appreciate that – how difficult it might be on the families” – she said. “It’s very difficult to watch your husband go through this process. I’m very protective of him, and yet I’m very confident in his abilities. So it’s worth it. The process is wonderful.”
It wouldn’t be long before Mrs. Romney’s message was more widely heard. She hopped on bus tours on the trail in Iowa and New Hampshire in December, grinning during Christmas shopping trips-turned-campaign-stops and baking Welsh cookies for staffers and journalists along for the ride. At one press conference in Florence, South Carolina, she giggled and snuck into a swarm of reporters and tossed the first question to her husband – “What happened to your skinny jeans?” (He awkwardly swiveled away from answering.) She basked in the swelling crowds, even more so when her five sons joined the stump at various stops. She went from politely reminiscing about her brood of “naughty” children to describing in detail a chaotic household that Mitt would return home to and find her, in shambles, trying to piece back together.
Over time on the trail, however, it became clear that Romney was much more comfortable taking on a more prominent role in the campaign. Realizing that her ability to connect with voters often hit a spot her husband could not, policy began to trickle into her remarks. “Not only does Mrs. Romney connect with people wherever she goes” – writes spokesperson Amanda Henneberg, but, “She is able to show people what a caring and devoted father and husband he is, as well as attest to his strong leadership and his ability to turn this economy around.”