Is the Country More Ready for a Female President or Male Minority President?

With the announcement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barak Obama (D-Ill.) officially running for the office of President of the United States, and Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico exploring the idea of seeking said office, we have what I think is the most real possibility of either a female president or a male minority president taking place. This begs the question, is our country more ready for a female president or male minority commander-in-chief? Or does it matter anymore? Are we finally at a point where people are no longer worried about gender and race when it comes to our country's highest political office?

It certainly is encouraging to me to see such a diverse set of potential heads of state, so I took an informal survey from people I knew to see how many thought our country was more ready for a female president or more ready for a male minority president. The results were split fairly evenly. About one-third thought the U.S. would be more ready for a female, another third thought a male minority would be less threatening, and the other third claimed it could be a toss-up or it didn't matter. Obviously, this is not a scientific poll, nor is it a large number of respondents. However, despite my ad-hoc research, I got the impression from those that answered that the next presidential race will be very close indeed. We may have another Bush-Gore-chad-recount fiasco in the making.

On the other hand, the sad part of this survey is that of the almost fifty people I desperately sought replies from only about ten answered me back. Are people really this blase about who will be leading our country, or is it just way more important to focus on the results of the recent American Idol auditions? Who am I to get in the way of whether best friends Tweedle-Blonde and Tweedle-Brunette will turn on each other?

Furthermore, it seems when people do actually give thought to choosing the leader of the most powerful country in the free world, the race for president is mostly a popularity contest rather than a vote towards who seems to be the most qualified and most in line with a particular person's values. Hillary Clinton is certainly the most well-known of the three here. With the recent spazz-attack-hysteria surrounding the first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), female frenzy is certainly on Hillary's side.

In my opinion, just because Hillary is supposedly female, doesn't mean other females should go blindly vote for her. Sadly, there are those that will vote for her just because she's got jugs. A 20-year-old female college student proved my point when she answered my survey with "I don't know...I kind of like the idea of a female running the country for a change." But let's face it, she's looking awfully saggy as of late. What would we call Bill - First Dude? It is needless to say that name recognition comes into play here. A 27-year-old gay male told me that "...to be honest, I feel much more safe with lady prez (sic)... I know her track record... have seen her in action... It has nothing to do with minority to me... just never heard of him [Obama] before a couple months ago."

Next, we have the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Halle Berry drooling over themselves to get dear old Barack Obama into the White House because of the color of his skin. I guess you can't blame them what with those bare-chested beach pictures of him floating around. I mean he is kind of cute girls, but don't you want to at least get to know him a little better? (No, not like that.) One 26-year-old female survey-taker said "I think people would be more accepting a male minority prez (sic) first as many minority male senators etc. have done an exceptional job... Barack Obama in Illinois for example. They have had more of an opportunity than females to show their worthiness."

Other news besides beach shots of the scantily-clad Senator involve his supposed attending a Madrassa school in Indonesia. This claim Senator Obama denies on his website (obama.senate.gov) "...the Indonesian school Obama attended in Jakarta is a public school that is not and never has been a Madrassa". What the heck is a Madrassa anyway? Well, some claim Madrassas are radical militant Muslim schools. Had anybody heard the word Madrassa before Insight Magazine's story? I bet your sweet bippy that would be a loud and resounding no!. The mud-slinging has already begun folks, with a big M for Madrassa.

Then, enter stage left, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Will this former Secretary of Energy and Hispanic baseball aficionado join the fray for the presidency? Governor Richardson certainly seems to be an underdog here, but his interest and work in foreign affairs along with his potential to grab Hispanic votes in a swing state may give him enough "oomph" yet. Plus his clever recipe of catch phrases such as "fiscally responsible" and "cut taxes" as well as the strategic sprinkling of the name "Clinton" in his website bio (www.richardsonforpresident.com) may be tasty to some. Most of my survey-takers had not even heard of Governor Richardson, or if they did, only knew he was of Mexican heritage. Only time will tell with this current low man on the political totem pole.

To widen my number of participants in this little survey, I politely beseech the AC audience to answer my questions. Do you think the country is more ready for a female president or a male minority president? Is it a toss-up? Are we ready for either one? Will we continue the tradition of old white guys hogging the title President of the United States? Or, do you think people will be star-struck by the glittery newness of saying the words "first female president", "first black president", or "first Hispanic president" instead of focusing on where the candidates lie on the issues? I would love to hear your thoughts.

The race is on (no pun intended)!