FORMULA:

1. RACE; 2. IS SHE HOT?; 3. RELIGION;  4. POLITICAL PARTY; 5. ProLIFE or Pro-CHOICE; 6. STAY-AT-HOME MOM VS A WORKING MOM

            Rather than revise my previous post: Formula for Selecting a Presidential Candidate, I thought that I would tackle the idea of a female presidential candidate in America. 

            Obviously, we do not have a woman in contention for the position of President of the United States for 2012, but I believe we are getting there.  There are so many factors that affect our decisions as voters in general.  Why should the formula be any different for a woman who is qualified to lead our country?  Is it not fair to say that a woman will need foreign policy experience like Condolezza Rice and Hillary Clinton?  Is it not fair to say that women will need to appreciate sending our sons and daughters to war in the form of Linda Jenness of the  Socialist Workers Party in 1968. 

            It is not fair to say that women don’t have an appreciation of being unemployed like Maureen Smith of the Peace and Freedom Party in 1980.  If we want women to be accountable, I don’t think they will have a problem when it comes to the economy, a point I don’t think would have been lost on the likes of Diane Beall Templin of the American Party in 1996.  If we would go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_United_States_president..., we will find that there have been no shortage of women who have vied for the role of President of the United   States.  By my count, since 1872, at least 35 women have vied for the presidency of the United States of America.  Yet, the 2 major parties have not chosen one time to put up a woman.  The closest opportunity, came down to choosing between a black man and a white woman, which is how many of us were fed via media. While the 2008 Democratic process was historic, it divided many of us by our loyalty to the Clintons and our desire to see the first Black ever to hold the President of the United States.  Even then, the results were based on the sexual appeal of the woman, not the qualifications of the woman.  The media focused on her laugh, her pants suits, her hair, her make-up, her husband’s role in the future direction of the country, an issue that had an impact on voters decision to elect George H. Bush, nor the Roosevelts, nor the Adams, all white, all males.  The formula is different for women, and while unwritten, it is very clear, you will never be President of the United States of America.

            In 1984 and 2008, were the only times that the 2 major parties selected a woman to be remotely close to being president.  Walter Monday, (D) chose Geraldine Ferrara (D), they lost their bid in a landslide to former Governor Ronald Reagan and George t H.W. Bush.  In 2008, Senator John McCain ( R )selected former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, where they lost to Democrat Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden.

            It is obvious that women want to serve as much as any male, black or white, Hispanic, Asian, or anyone else of descent outside the borders of the United States.  But the rules don’t apply when it comes to women, particularly in the 2 major parties of the Democrats and the Republicans.  Which is really good about those rules, unwritten though they may be, is that the rules or formula is, as I pointed out in my previous post,

1. Race
2. Religion
3. Political      Party, and where applicable:
4. Qualifications 

            If the above formula is the formula by which women are being judged, then it is a given that women may not want to qualify, or try to qualify.  In looking at this formula for qualifications, there is a problem to begin with, and then, the formula, while unwritten, but is obviously flawed when it comes to a woman winning a Presidential candidacy bid.  That (unwritten) formula for women is:

1. RACE;

2. IS SHE HOT?;

3. RELIGION; 

4. POLITICAL PARTY, and where applicable:

5. Pro-LIFE or Pro-CHOICE

6. Stay at home mom or Working mom

            Notice, if you will, qualifications aren’t referenced here. Why?  I personally think its clear:  On her best day, a woman will never be qualified, as per the unwritten rules of not only both major parties, but by America herself..  As a country, we are willing to buy into the White Male syndrome.  It is that syndrome that says directs us, as a country to divide and conquer.  It is that syndrome that directs us to look not for the best qualified, but who is white.  It is that formula that directs us to towards the religious background, conveniently as was done in 2008 when the religious background of then Senator Obama was called into question on both fronts, whether he was a Patriot Christian (Reverend Jeremiah Wright), or whether he was a Muslim.  It is that formula that focuses on a person’s patriotism by birth, although every other indication that then President Obama was an American.  But the formula for a woman goes a little further.  It apparently takes qualifications off of the table when it comes to Commander in Chief, and in its place:  Is she hot?  Case in point: Former Governor Sara Palin.

            Was she hot?  Not whether she was qualified, irrespective of her former position as Governor of Alaska.  Was she hot?  Was she easy on the eyes?  But, there was a more important stand as well, and that was to not be against abortion.  That was a serious position, but not sufficient to qualify her and Senator McCain to lead this country.  Was it possible that she was too hot? She was certainly white, but not male.  She was Pro-Life. And the former governor was in a major political party: Republican.

            And what about Former First Lady Hillary Clinton?  Was she hot?  She was white, how did she loose to Senator Barack Obama?  She is pro-choice, and the other unwritten portion of this formula, she is not a man.  Qualifications?  She had served as Senator in the State of New York, how could she not be any more qualified than Senator Barack Obama?

            Last, but least, an issue not necessarily a concern to men in general, but stay at home moms.  Men stay home as well.  Our society has changed tremendously, and the days of stay-at-home moms is no longer apart of the formula created to further divide even women by working versus those who stay home with their children.  The days of dividiving America’s voting population by anything other than qualifications has got to come to an end, and America needs to stop forfeiting their future by these unwritten rules that get more emphasis than the qualifications of candidates, regardless of sex, race, heritage, religion, or whatever other distraction put on the table to keep us from selecting the best qualified candidate to lead this country.

            It is my hope that what I have written here is all BS.  I wish that more than ever.  But unfortunately, history is on my side, and on the side of women, regardless of race, political party, whether they stay home or work, or their stance on abortion.  It is my hope that the major parties will shelve their formulas that look at future candidates regarding their qualifications first.  But therein lies the legitimacy of my piece.  The formulas that I stated here and in a previous piece may not have any validity.  But like rumors, there is a source, and that source can be decertified when we vote outside the prescribe formulas that focus more on race, religion, political party, sex, disability, heritage, or any non-factor that usurps qualifications.  You may not ever vote for a black person, or a woman again, but be sure to never vote just the because the candidate is Black or white, Male or Female.  America deserves better than that, and so do you.  Change the formula.  Change America © 2012 by Wayne D. Lewis, Sr.  Be sure to vote November 6, 2012.