Two women have been on the national stage this presidential election.
Hillary Clinton, clearly among the most qualified candidates ever for the presidency - male or female - had the misfortune of competing in the primary against a brilliant candidate with a superior organization. Had it not been for Barack, she would have easily won the nomination and probably defeated John McCain. While she was a formidable opponent and one whose tactics I condemned repeatedly, once she was defeated she showed real class in throwing her support to Obama and in campaigning enthusiastically for the Democratic ticket.
The other candidate pales in comparison. Sarah Palin is clearly the least qualified candidate to ever run for the vice presidency. A radical right wing no-nothing, she has become a joke and an embarassment, not just to the McCain campaign, but to all the women of America who hoped for someone bright and experienced to represent them. No matter how much the Republicans claim she has experience, being governor of Alaska is like handling a state in the 1800's. It just doesn't qualify you to understand and be prepared to handle the enormously complex economic and foreign crises of the twenty-first century. And as the campaign realizes it is losing, possibly in a landslide, Palin is not remaining loyal to McCain. She is going her own way, speaking her own mind, rejecting the advice of her handlers and the presidential candidate, and causing dissension in the ranks. She cares only for her own repuation and her quest for power, even as she throws John McCain overboard.
Unless Palin consolidates power within the Party (and she is more likely to cause it to fracture) I doubt we will see a female Republican candidate at the top of the ticket for a long time. On the other hand, we may see Hillary or some other qualified Democrat in 2016. Hillary has conducted herself well and proven a woman can be a terrific candidate. Palin has conducted herself poorly and proven that a woman can also be merely an ornament, a well-dressed, well-coifed Barbie doll, with little intelligence but a lot of bitchiness.
Sarah Palin is not the kind of woman I want to be the first female president. Palin is the anti-feminist, someone who rejects feminism even as she has only gotten to where she is because of the feminist movement.
I want the first woman president to be a feminist, someone who understands how to be a strong woman without being a bitchy woman, someone who has intelligence and wisdom, grace and poise - not someone who simply has good looks.
And I want the first woman president to be a Democrat. If Hillary wants to run in 2016, that would be fine with me.
