Natalie Portman’s got a lot going for her right now.

On her list of accomplishments for the past year are a Golden Globe, an Oscar, a fianc? and a baby on the way – all of which are a result of her starring role in the critically acclaimed movie Black Swan.

While accepting her award at the Oscars, she even thanked her fianc? for giving her the greatest gift of all: motherhood.

So what could be wrong with this adorable picture? Oh, only the fact that she’s a knocked up harlot who is glamorizing single motherhood and setting a bad example for young women everywhere.

Sound crazy? Well that’s what Fox News pundit and potential presidential nominee Mike Huckabee has said about Portman, who committed the mortal sin of getting pregnant before marriage.

“It’s unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out of wedlock children,” Huckabee said during an interview with a conservative radio show on Feb. 28.

All I have to say is, are you effing kidding me?

When I think of horrible role models for girls, Natalie Portman definitely does not jump to the front of my mind. As compared to other child stars, like Lindsey Lohan or Britney Spears, Portman has an almost nun-like reputation simply for being a normal person who isn’t a club girl and didn’t shave her head…well at least for non-movie role reasons.

Of course the obvious irony of Huckabee’s statements is the fact that Bristol Palin, daughter of Republican darling Sarah Palin, became pregnant back in 2008 – at age 17. However, conservatives swept that situation under the rug and instead touted Palin for keeping her child instead of turning to abortion or adoption. Now, Palin is using her life story as a “what not to do” campaign, which I’m sure earns her a fairly nice living.

And to be fair, I don’t mean to insinuate that Palin is not a good mother for her child. She managed to dump the idiotic attention-whore father of her child, and she is now living in Arizona and raising her son by herself. That strikes me as a definite step in the right direction.

Actually, I’d really like to know if Huckabee thinks Palin is also setting an unrealistic standard of being a successful single mother, but of course he can’t afford to tick off any Republicans if he wants a shot at the White House in 2012.

In any case, after seeing the backlash his comments caused, Huckabee took to his blog on Friday to explain his commentary by saying the majority of single mothers are unemployed, uneducated and unfit to care for a child, so Portman is idealizing single motherhood by being successful, talented and pregnant.

While I will agree with Huckabee that there are single mothers that are struggling and living in poverty, it’s not like Portman is telling everybody to get knocked up and be just like her. She’s simply living her life and appearing in public with her baby bump on display.

So I don’t quite understand his point. Does Huckabee want Portman to hide herself from decent society until her “situation” is resolved, like back in Victorian England? Or maybe she could wear a visible symbol of her shame a la Hester Prynne in Scarlet Letter.

If Huckabee’s actually looking to point fingers at those who are making single motherhood look appealing, he should look at television shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. These shows supposedly show the “reality” of teen pregnancy – except those moms are making pretty decent money from being on the show.

While Huckabee is right to say there are many struggling single mothers in this country, it’s absolutely ridiculous for him to knock a 29-year-old actress who is not only in a committed relationship with the father of her child but isn’t a constant headline for tabloid news.

Huckabee should really take note of the mistake from a past presidential campaign – back in 1992, vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle denounced the television character Murphy Brown for being a single mother and subsequently destroying family values, and that debate certainly didn’t do his campaign any favors.

But then again, Huckabee’s already said some outlandish and untrue things that have people looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Like claiming Barack Obama was actually raised in Kenya and backed the anti-colonialist Mau Mau Uprising, which makes Obama un-American and anti-British. But then he amended that false statement even more to say he actually meant Indonesia, not Kenya. Huh. 

Moral of the story: Huckabee should stop shooting his presidential campaign in the foot before it really starts.

Alicia Yager ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and French.