Woman president? 2008’s great
In 1994, our editorial board interviewed lawyers about upcoming judicial elections. One of them said that the women in the races didn’t have a chance. They weren’t ready, he said. And society wasn’t ready, either.
The lawyer said, “Maybe in another 20 years.” I thought: “We can’t wait 20 years.” Throughout the land that Election Day, women swept into office, judicial and otherwise.
A good bet for electing our first female president is 2012. Even better is 2016. On Saturday, Chile’s first female president, Michelle Bachelet, was inaugurated. The single mother of three is agnostic in a Catholic country, and she’s a Socialist.
If Bachelet pulled off her victory in Chile, the United States can elect a female president in 2008. I’m betting on it.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended Bachelet’s inauguration. Rice’s name is included in an “8 for ‘08” list of female presidential possibilities posted at the White House Project, a bipartisan organization with a mission to elect women to higher office. Sen. Hillary Clinton is there, too. The six lesser known contenders include three other U.S. senators, two governors and a mayor.
Another safe bet is that the first female president will be married. And her spouse will be an “evolved” man who can handle the unique pressures. To explore that premise, I interviewed Mike Gregoire, husband of Washington’s Gov. Chris Gregoire, when I was in Olympia recently. More on that in a minute.
But maybe a single woman can win. Four of the eight White House Project contenders are single. Until recently, Marie Wilson, president of the project, believed the first female commander in chief needed a husband to be elected. But single status might be a plus, she said, because the first female president wouldn’t have the distractions of a husband and kids.
“It may be a woman who doesn’t have family and can make a family of this country,” Wilson said.
More likely, though, she’ll be married. So back to the evolved-male premise. Wilson and Mike Gregoire agree on the needed characteristics for this pioneering first male.
•The first gentleman will need to be his own person.
“He will need an enormous confidence in himself,” Wilson said.
Gregoire is a former Army lieutenant and retired welfare fraud investigator. He always did a lot of the family nurturing and still does. He boasted to me about his spaghetti sauce, eaten the evening before our interview. The Gregoires had just returned from a national governors’ conference and craved a home-cooked meal.
He proudly calls himself First Mike. He focuses on his own issues, including veterans’ rights, literacy and state history. He’s happy to leave state policy to his wife. “Don’t be someone you’re not,” Gregoire would advise.
•The first gentleman will not mind dwelling a step away from the spotlight.
Wilson said the first spouse will encounter people who say, either in words or deeds, “Excuse me, can you get out of the way? I need to see the president.”
Gregoire actually prefers when people, rather than butter him up hoping he’ll deliver a message, say: “I’m not going to waste your time. Can you get this to Chris?”
•The first gentleman won’t hesitate to provide a reality check.
The Gregoires have been married for 30 years. The governor trusts her husband to be a compassionate truth-teller. Gregoire said, “I don’t have to pick up the New York Times to know how she feels.”
Monday, Chile’s Bachelet announced free health care for Chileans over age 60. Daily, our health-care crisis escalates in the United States. 2008 is only two years away. Can’t wait.