The Next Woman to Run for President?
- In the New York Times, Kate Zernike writes about who's next in line in "She Just Might Be President Someday."
- And the Chicago Tribune's "Only a few women seem to be on possible presidential track" asks if Hillary has paved the way for anyone other than herself.
As the NY Times article notes:
[Hillary Clinton] has put the idea of running for president into the realm of possibility for other women. While it is a Washington truism that every senator looks in the mirror and sees a potential president (even if senators rarely win), that has not applied to women....From Mr. Obama, many people take the lesson that someone can come out of nowhere — four years ago, he was a little-known state legislator....But almost anybody — and particularly women — will discount the idea of a woman as dark horse.Whether we're running for public office or trying to get ahead in the workplace, the one thing women seem to lack (as compared to men) is best described by one word - 'hubris.' Maybe because if we exhibit too much, we get slapped with that 'B' word.“No woman with Obama’s résumé could run,” said Dee Dee Myers, the first woman to be White House press secretary, under Bill Clinton, and the author of “Why Women Should Rule the World.” “No woman could have gotten out of the gate.”
Women are still held to a double standard, and they tend to buy into it themselves.
They do not have what Debbie Walsh, the director of the Rutgers [C]enter [for American Women and Politics], says she used to call the John Edwards phenomenon and now calls the Barack Obama phenomenon: having never held elective office, they run for Senate, then before finishing a first term decide they should be president.
Mr. Obama, of course, had served as a state legislator. But “when we look at women in state legislatures, they’re much more likely than their male colleagues to need to be asked to run,” Ms. Walsh said. While men are assumed to be qualified, women have to prove they are, or at least they believe they do.
Hillary Clinton has demonstrated hubris as a presidential candidate and it's both helped and hurt her.
My hope for the next woman to run for president is that she comes into the race without the baggage Hillary carries, and that she be a truly independent candidate, without the shadow of a more prominent (and more damaged) political mate.
And that she has 'hubris' as her middle name.
Comments
Here’s an important piece of advice: If it looks like it’s going to be McCain/Palin anyway (and that should be a “no brainer” for Team McCain), McCain should announce NOW or VERY SOON, rather than later towards the convention. There’s currently a growing chorus for Obama/Hillary (as VP) ticket (in fact the Dems are likely aware of the Palin phenomenon). If the GOP waits while movement for Hillary as VP grows — even worse until after it is solidified that Hillary will/could be VP pick — selecting Palin will be portrayed by Dems/liberal media more as a reaction by GOP selecting its own female (overshawdoing Palin’s own remarkable assets), rather than McCain taking the lead on this. Selecting Palin now or early (contrary to the punditocracy) will mean McCain will be seen as driving the course of this campaign overwhelmingly, and the DEMS will be seen as merely reacting. And, there’s absoultely no down-side to this because even if Hillary is a no-go as VP for Obama, the GOP gains by acting early. McCain the maverick. Palin the maverick. Do it now!
There’s no reason, and actually substantial negative, in McCain waiting to see what the Dems do first insofar as his picking Palin as VP, because, no matter who Obama picks, Palin is by far (and I mean far) the best pick for McCain and the GOP, especially in this time of GOP woes. The GOP can be seen as the party of real ‘change’ (albeit I hate that mantra, change, change, bla bla), while not really having to change from GOP core conservative values, which Palin more than represents.
In light of the current oil/energy situation, as well as the disaffected female Hillary voters situation, and growing focus on McCain’s age and health, Palin is more than perfect — now.
(Perhaps Team McCain is already on to this.)
Sexism (misandry included) and racism certainly play a role and probably always will; however, I would argue Hillary and Bill have been the main authors of her failed nomination (it’s over). Past and present Clinton wreckage has been their main nemesis. Perhaps feminists should be a little more careful and selective in-and-around who they choose to represent their causes?
Hillary, the Queen of Spin and a Legend in Her Own Mind!
http://klintons.com
I’m hoping Obama picks a female VP, partly because I want to see a female president in 2016. But I do find it eerie and a little disturbing that the only woman of color on the list is Condoleezza Rice, a Republican. The artificial distinction–elect a man of color or elect a white woman–is starting to look a lot like a potentially long-term problem.
The choice for VP will undoubtedly fall along the lines of filling in the gaps where Obama needs shoring up in the electoral college… There’s really no need to select a woman for the ticket – Lady McClinton and her manchurian candidate blunder last week all but sealed the final act on the Clinton dynasty – and in reality, feminists, liberals, anti-war advocates, etc. will take whatever the Democratic party hands them in the general election against McCain and the GOP. The idea is, afterall to recapture the Whitehouse.
Take a look at the emphasis McCain and Obama put into New Mexico last week… Gov Richardson or someone who is truly strong on foreign policy or the military will likely wind up as the VP.