Madam President?Madam President?
by sonya hammond
In spite of recent rampant stone throwing that might lead the terminally naive to assume our government proliferates with sinless politicians, voters may soon face a more likely possibility ... come Y2K, candidates for the highest office in the land could be in very short supply.
Not that the political wings won't hide the usual cast of those who would be king; it's a question of who among them can survive the sort of scrutiny to which their pasts will now inevitably be subjected. Stones will not merely be thrown; none will be left unturned. Already, one can hear the thunder of numerous clay feet scurrying for cover.
The explicit list of holds no longer barred in the media was recently stretched to outer space, and finding men who have not boldly or otherwise gone there before may rank with a search for Vulcans with normal ears. The electorate, unremittingly [and for the most part, reluctantly] indoctrinated into the double entendre phase of political posturing [producing mental images years of psychotherapy may fail to erase], will be more than usually loathe to take any candidate's credentials at face value.
The ramifications of questioning could become ludicrous:
Does expertise with 'foreign affairs' translate to more than an ability to deal with leaders of other nations?
Must a candidate's views on 'domestic affairs' be preceded by a torturously detailed perception of the legal boundaries of the term?
Will the inauguration be followed by 100 days of waiting for the other shoe to drop? And when it does, will it have a stiletto heel?
Given that the rules of the political game, such as they were, will now focus less on actual ability to govern and more on complete exposure [figuratively speaking] of a candidate's most intimate past activities of any nature, including those perceived as 'non-participatory', perhaps the time is ripe to consider the road less traveled. Actually, not as yet traveled at all.
Not that the alternative of a female candidate [we can already hear the Promise Keepers intoning 'god forbid'] would necessarily insure election of a president beyond reproach ... recent confessions tend to rule out certainty in that respect ... but the odds might improve slightly.
Women's lib and recent examples notwithstanding, the percentage of women who exercise some control over their libidos in the professional arena is probably somewhat greater than that for men, if only because percentages of females in positions of power are still small enough to limit their opportunities to abuse it. It might even be considered a plus that the number of women who smoke cigars is still relatively small.
It is encouraging to learn, therefore, for those of us who have long lamented that given the country's present rate of voter acceptance, the U.S. may be the last major nation to accept the idea of a female leader, that a movement actually exists toward that end [and if you read that any way but literally, you've been listening to too much taped testimony].
The White House Project, a nonpartisan group, has put out in magazines and on the Internet [www.thewhitehouseproject.org] unofficial ballots from which voters can pick 5 candidates from a slate of 20 women with outstanding qualifications for office. None of these women has been asked if they would run [and none have, as far as we know, been investigated by any independent counsels], but the fact that 20 female possibilities even exist is in itself encouraging.
At the moment, finding 20 male candidates who could make it through an election campaign without either confessing something or being forced to deny it, would be tougher than finding 20 who honestly believe a woman could be a good president.
The White House Project was not started to put a woman in the oval office because she would be more morally responsible, and even if that were true, in the current national climate the public is probably not responsive to such a contention.
The project "is committed to raising awareness of women's leadership in American politics and mobilizing women of all ages to participate in civic life", and is "working to change our political climate so that qualified women from all walks of life can launch successful campaigns for the U.S. Presidency and other key positions."
Well, it's a start. The time is long overdue for the country to recognize that resistance to the idea of a female president is not only based on pathetically outdated prejudice, but denies the nation of the mostly untapped expertise of over half the population of the country.
It is also an opportune time, given current voter disillusionment, for more women to recognize themselves as viable candidates, for more women to prepare themselves to lead, and for more women to move into positions where their voices are not merely heard but heeded.
Carpe diem !
©sonya hammond 1998