Finally! Now we can start getting into that whole “politics” thing.
The Detroit Free Press raises the idea of a woman as the next president in their TV & Radio section today. Cause what more appropriate place to talk about women in politics.
There's something in the political air, and it's not testosterone.
The possibility of a female president is heating up the Internet, not to mention bookshelves and TV schedules...
For the fall season, ABC is promoting "Commander-in-Chief," which has a premise laced with political intrigue.
A description from ABC says [Geena] Davis will play Mackenzie Allen, the vice president and a mother of three, who's asked to resign by the dying president and let someone "more appropriate" take her place.
Instead, Allen follows her conscience and takes over the Oval Office. The series comes from Rod Lurie, writer and director of "The Contender," a 2000 film starring Joan Allen that also centered on a high-powered female politician.
Clips of Davis in "Commander-In-Chief" show her with a hairstyle that's similar to Condi's power flip.
Author Julie Hinds also covers organizations pushing for Hil and Condi as the first female president. The “Condistas” (yes, I swear they call themselves this) scare me.
But what’s truly terrifying is that we can’t seem talk about a woman as president unless it’s framed by fantasy. Because there’s a television show and some books coming out, now we can dare to dream?
Is pop culture mirroring real life cultural acceptance a woman president, or is this “trend” just a reminder that people are only comfortable with the idea if it’s fake and easily dismissible? (“Oh how cute! That chick from Earth Girls Are Easy is pretending to be president!”)
I mean, even those who are working to put a woman in the White House don’t seem to think it can happen:
Like male underdogs who compete for their party's nomination, women could use a presidential bid to raise their profile and spread their message to a wider audience, [Mosemarie] Boyd [of American Women Presidents] argues.
Or they use a presidential bid to...I don’t know...run for president. I guess we’ll have to wait for Angelina Jolie to make a movie about it first.
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Wouldn't a woman Vice President followed by run for President seem to be a more logical progression?
Perhaps George Allen and Condi Rice Vs. Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton?
"The vice president and a mother of three." Because while, yes, being second-in-command of the country is an important character trait, it's vital that you know right from the start that she's also maternal. Not one of those scary childless female vice presidents.
There are not very many countries in this world where a woman is a president right today. Anyhow, there is a country where the current president is not only a woman, but also
- became a single mother of one by a deliberate plan in her thirties
- got elected to the parliament with the newborn baby in tow
- around the same time chaired a nation-wide gay and lesbian rights organisation called Sexual Equality
- moved to the presidential residency together with her well-known common-law spouse, with whom she had not shared quarters before (they got married a year or two later)
- is now running for the second term in the forthcoming election (and being as popular as she currently is, could well be elected directly on the first round)
No fairy tail. A real thing. Really!
To make it a bit easier to find out the name of the country and the president in question, some more facts:
- she has a Master of Laws degree
- she is a Trade Union Lawyer by profession
- she was a Co-Chair at the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization (ILO) in 2002-2004