What’s keeping a woman from being president?
In a few months I will turn 67 years old.
Some friends are surprised, saying, kindly I think, “you don’t look it,” or perhaps not so kindly, “you don’t act your age,” or astonishingly, “she (my female partner) is 38. Does she know how old you are?”
Yes, of course she does.
So why am I writing about an impending birthday and a strong-willed woman in my life? There is a connection — the upcoming presidential election. As it looks now, one of three candidates will be our next president. Each is older than I. And each is a male. They are incumbent President Donald J. Trump, 73; Democrat candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, 77; and Democrat Socialist and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, 78.
One of the three, come November, will make history by becoming our oldest elected president. And another male will sit in the Oval Office.
Age, in my opinion, doesn’t necessarily disqualify someone serving as commander-in-chief. Judgment. Character. Honesty. The ability to attract others eager to work for the public good. Those and other traits are far more important.
Gender is also not a disqualification to be an accomplished national leader. History offers proof.
Indira Gandhi was elected Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and later, a fourth term, before being assassinated. Margaret Thatcher, often referred to as the “Iron Lady” for her strong leadership, was the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the longest serving in the 20th century. Angela Merkel has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and is widely regarded as the de facto leader of the European Union. There have been and are many other female leaders of countries.
In the U.S., women have been elected and served admirably, competently, as U.S. senators and congresswomen, state governors and representatives, and filled numerous state and local offices. Four women have served as Supreme Court justices, three of them still on the bench. But no woman has cracked the ultimate glass ceiling — the presidency. Hillary Clinton came close in 2016, even besting Donald Trump by nearly three million popular votes, but losing the anachronistic Electoral College vote.
“What’s going on?” my female companion inquired as we recently watched聽 cable news and learned that another Democrat presidential female candidate ended her 2020 campaign. “This just doesn’t not make sense. All of them (the female candidates in the 2020 election cycle) have distinguished careers in politics and public service. Why can’t one of them win?”
No one who knows my partner would label her a fanatical feminist. And she knows that I’ve worked in various communications roles for numerous political candidates. All of them a Democrat and several of them female. But I could not answer her question. Just poured each of us a second glass of wine. And pondered her question.
Here’s what I’ve concluded: Franklin Roosevelt courageously proved that a president, even one suffering a debilitating physical disability, can rescue the country from the depths of a devastating economic depression. John Kennedy disproved the perception that a Roman Catholic could not be elected president. Ronald Reagan showed that the public will elect a divorced man president. Barack Obama debunked the myth that race is a barrier to reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And the age barrier will crumble when one of the three septuagenarian candidates remaining in the current political campaign is elected president in November.
Sexism. Misogyny. Is that the barrier to a female being elected president? I sure hope not.
Richard Ringer is a resident of Uniontown.