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VERONICA'S VIEW: Madam President, We Await You
*This week’s CNN’s American Morning quick vote asked viewers the question, “Who will be the first female president?” The choices were Hillary Clinton, or someone else.
At my last check of the poll before I finalized this piece, the results of this non-scientific poll (and they make this disclaimer perfectly clear) were 34% Hillary; 66% someone else.
As the sun has just about set on Hillary’s bid for the White House, despite the fact that she won’t go gently into the night, it is clear it won’t be her this time.
But I have no regrets that this election won’t yield the first woman president of the United States. It will remain a dream deferred. As a woman who has been a staunch advocate for women’s rights this may sound like heresy, but its not.
When that hallowed day happens, and I believe in my lifetime it will, the United States will blaze no new trail for women when it finally elects a woman to its highest post. We will celebrate and talk about how far we have come, but we won’t be the first country to elect a woman to its highest post. That distinction belongs to Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (say that fast ten times if you dare) of Iceland who in 1980 became the world’s first elected female president. And she held that office until 1996.
Since her election, there have been approximately 42 women who have served as heads of state in varying roles and capacities, and 15 of them were elected as president of their county. Today there are about seven women who currently hold the top spot as president. Some of the most recently elected women presidents are names you might recall: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa and Liberia's first female president, elected in 2005; Michelle Bachelet Jeria, the first elected and current female president of Chile, elected in 2006; Pratibha Devisingh Patil, India 's first and current female president, elected in 2007; And Cristina Elisabet Fernández Wilhem de Kirchner, who is the current and actually the second female president to lead Argentina , elected in 2007.
The words, “Madam President” have been uttered from the lips of many in other parts of the world. In my mind’s ear, I can hear them and feel their reverberation. Women have broken that final glass ceiling, just not here in the United States. But just because we aren’t the first, their victory is no less sweet, especially when women of color like Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, of Africa and Pratibha Devisingh Patil of India's are leading their countries with strength, dignity, and sovereignty under conditions that are far more challenging and arduous than those that exist in the United States.
“Madam President” sounds stately, august, and splendid. But they are words we won’t be addressing Senator Clinton by. Some say that her trajectory was thwarted because she is a woman. I believe she thwarted her own trajectory with a little help from cantankerous Bill who didn’t always “represent.” I believe the United States is ready for their first female president. We will have our day. I don’t know if Senator Hillary Clinton is the woman that will take us into that final frontier.
Who will it be? Your guess is as good as mine . . . but if I were a betting woman, I’d watch California Assembly member and Speaker Karen Bass and keep my eye on her, that’s all I’m saying for now.
Veronica Hendrix is a syndicated journalist and columnist whose work has covered the span of the human continuum - from clinical trials of male contraceptives, to the gang violence. She is the producer of the highly acclaimed half hour talk show called "LA Woman," which airs on L.A. City View Channel 35, and is a Los Angeles Emmy nominated producer. Veronica's career as a journalist has included being a reporter for USA Today and a producer for a radio talk show in Los Angeles, which focused on issues impacting the African American Family. Veronica is a proud native of Southern California where she lives with her two sons.
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