Posted on 06/08/2007 8:07:57 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
Like hundreds of thousands of Arkansas women, she balances a career, a family, a home, an active social life, and the family checkbook.
But there’s one added responsibility ? she’s the wife of a presidential candidate.
Janet Huckabee has lived most of her adult life in what she refers to as a “glass bowl.” That glass bowl grew from the scrutinized life of a pastor’s wife to that of Arkansas’ first lady during Mike Huckabee’s more than 10 years as governor.
And that glass bowl recently grew again, to a nationwide proportion, when her husband threw his hat in into the Republican presidential candidate ring.
Although that glass bowl may not always be a pleasant place to be, keeping up with her numerous roles and tasks does not seem to be a problem at all for the former first lady.
Humble roots
“Only in America could [it happen to] two people as simple as we are and as low on the totem pole as we are,” Janet Huckabee said, with a smile and a slight nod of the head, of finding themselves campaigning for the nation’s highest office.
Although she was born in Lake Charles, La., her family moved to Hope, Ark., when she was very young. That’s where her husband was born and grew up. They attended different elementary schools. Hope being a small town, she “knew of” Mike Huckabee before she knew him.
They attended the same junior and senior high schools. In their senior year they began dating.
After graduation they both left for Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, marrying at the end of that first school year, each at age 18.
On May 25 the Huckabees celebrated 33 years of marriage.
“I considered that one of our highest accomplishments,” she said, “to have been married to the same person for 33 years.”
At the time the couple married, he was pastoring a small Southern Baptist church in Arkadelphia. She went into the partnership knowing his commitment to his ministry, and also his love of politics.
She knew the chances of one day being the wife of a politician were likely. Mike Huckabee had, after all, been Boy’s State governor back in high school.
Even then, she said, “He had a strong commitment to our country.”
The Huckabees spent several years in the pastorate work.
“Absolutely positively,” Janet Huckabee said of whether being a pastor’s wife was good preparation for being a politician’s wife.
She sees the good and the bad in both. Each position requires working with volunteers and fundraising, she said.
“You are always raising money for something,” she said, whether it’s a church building project or money for mission work. “And you are always in the public eye.”
But the most significant difference between church and political life, she said, is that “when your church family puts you up on that pedestal in that glass bowl, they protect you and love you and appreciate you.
“In politics you are on the same pedestal in the same glass bowl, but yet people are throwing rocks at you 24/7. And people are constantly trying to knock you off of that pedestal.”
She says she could not have found a “better school to attend” for preparation in the political life than to work along side her husband in pastoral work.
“I consider myself extremely lucky to have had that experience first,” she added.
A woman’s work
According to Mike Huckabee’s press secretary, Alice Stewart, Janet Huckabee appears to be the only presidential candidate’s wife who works a full-time job.
After more than 10 years in the governor’s mansion in Little Rock, the Huckabees moved to North Little Rock, and Janet Huckabee stepped into a new job as program manager for state emergency management relations with the American Red Cross. She is the first person to hold that position in this state. Coastal area states have had program managers for many years; however, more were added after Hurricane Katrina. Since Arkansas borders three of the states with the potential for hurricane damage ? Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi ? a program manager position was established in this state.
Passionate about the work she is doing with the Red Cross, she says Arkansas also has its own disaster potential ? tornadoes, Arkansas Nuclear One, the Pine Bluff arsenal, and the New Madrid Fault.
“We are not just an evacuation site for hurricane victims,” Huckabee explained. “We have some critical issues in the state with the potential for huge disasters if we don’t prepare for them.”
She loves her job and all that it entails in helping others. But she also needs to earn a paycheck, she said.
“When Mike was governor he was getting paid ... but right now, I do need to work.”
In that respect, she is just like many others in the working class.
“If I want to have the things that I have, then I have to work for them just like everybody else.”
Indeed, except that her husband is a presidential candidate, she is typical of most working women.
And she has had a lot going on in her life lately. In the last year she has had double knee replacement, gall bladder surgery, a new job, and a new house.
“We are just normal people,” she said.
When they moved into the governor’s mansion, it was an adjustment to have the domestic activities of their lives tended by someone else, she said. Before the mansion, they did everything themselves.
“Funny thing is, I used to iron clothes for a living,” she said. “I can iron with the best of them.”
She explained that, when their three children ? John Mark, David, and Sarah ? were babies, she made extra money ironing clothes and even mowing lawns.
And now once again, other than some help with housekeeping because of her recovery from knee surgery, they take care of the daily grind of everyday living.
“I’ve got kids. I’ve got dogs. I’ve got a husband. If the car breaks down, I take it to the mechanic,” she said.
And she wasn’t above cleaning up after the dog, who chose to make a mess on the home’s patio during a recent interview.
She admits to being the Huckabee who manages the checkbook; in fact, her husband has to get a check from her when he needs one. He doesn’t even know their checkbook balance, and he likes it that way, she said.
While she may bring home the bacon, so to speak, Mike Huckabee does the buying of the groceries when he is home. Still recovering from knee surgery, trips to the grocery store were painful. So the former governor took over that task.
But it’s no chore, “it’s a social event for him,” she said.
Because they don’t require a tremendous amount of food, Mike Huckabee the presidential candidate puts on his backpack, hops on his bicycle, and off he goes to the nearby Kroger.
He’s a “label reader,” she says, and takes his time and enjoys the trip.
“He loves that Kroger,” she said. “Every time he comes back from a trip to the store, without fail, he tells me about someone else he met and another story about Kroger and how nice the people are.”
Besides, it gives him a chance for more exercise, and “it’s also our way to conserve gas.”
Life’s lessons
The knee surgeries have kept Huckabee from the various outdoor activities she enjoys.
Although she has often been called a daredevil ? having bungee jumped, tagged bears, skydived, and hunted rattlesnakes ? she is quick dispel the notion that she goes on adventures just for the thrill.
What some call daredevil acts, she calls learning.
Yes, she did jump out of an airplane with the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army parachute team n“They are the best in the world,” she said n but she parachuted with them because “our soldiers do that every day, and unless you’ve done something like that, then you really don’t understand how they feel.”
The opportunity gave her a greater appreciation for what military personnel do for their country, she said.
Bear tagging in the state is vital to understanding the bear population and to determining the hunting season, she said. She invited the first lady of Oklahoma on a bear tag outing. In return, the Oklahoma governor’s wife invited Huckabee to a rattlesnake festival, where she learned how every part of the rattlesnake is used in different ways.
“I learned a lot by doing that,” she said. “Was it somewhat risky? I think it could have been, but we were in a controlled environment where there were a lot of knowledgeable people. I felt very safe.”
She said she is a person who learns by hands-on experience. She could read about it all day long, but unless she is out there experiencing something, she just can’t grasp the reality.
Besides, she said, “Everything has a risk. Life is a risk.”
A family affair
Janet Huckabee keeps the family grounded in North Little Rock, along with the first dog, Jet, and his two companions, Sonic and Samuel Tobias (Toby for short).
She also attends the presidential debates and campaigns alongside her husband when possible. One of her greatest joys is that the couple’s three children are “110 percent behind their dad.” All three support and work in the campaign, and encouraged their dad to run for president long before he seriously considered seeking the office.
“That’s pleasing to a mom,” she said. “They have seen the good and bad in politics.
“They’ve seen it at its worst when their dad is accused of things and is called a liar. They themselves have been harassed in some areas. Yet they chose to overlook the bad and still believe in the good.”
As any loving spouse, it’s not easy to listen to criticism of her husband. So how does she deal with it?
“Oh, I get mad,” she sternly replied. Then, softening, added, “Mike is such a nicer person than I am.”
She said her husband has the “gift of discernment” and is in control of his temper. She, on the other hand, “spouts off when I shouldn’t.”
Saying that politics has made her “a harsher person,” she admits softly, “I don’t really like that about myself.”
She rarely reads newspapers anymore, “because I don’t believe half of what I read.” As far as television news, “I have screamed at the TV at few times.”
While the media often irritates her, she counts public service a privilege. The desire to help her fellow man far exceeds any negative news reports.
Besides, she said, “Life is way beyond the Capitol hall. Mike says it doesn’t start until you are at least a 100 feet out of the Capitol.
“You don’t know what people are like until you get out of the Capitol. You can’t understand people unless you are a part of them.”
Can they take that same philosophy to the nation’s capitol?
“We can!” she responded. “We would love to!”
Arkansas former First Lady Janet Huckabee with, from left, Jet, the former First Dog, and Samuel "Toby" Tobias and Sonic (Photo by DJ Smith)
They are both good people.
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