Why can't a woman run for President?

[Stop_the_War]

After all, we ARE the Democratic Party. And, half of Americans ARE women. I have shown my support for Barbara Boxer as President, yet some here just don't want any woman as a candidate. If not President, why not Vice President?

It is not our candidate, but our strategy that matters. Hey, we managed to run a Democratic Latina Lesbian for Sheriff in conservative Dallas, Texas and guess what? SHE WON!

[BrklynLiberal]

1. The Puritanical, mysogynistic roots of this country have not been overcome

yet. Women did not even get the right to vote until 1919, and if things go the way the RW Fundies want, we will lose it soon.
How long has the ERA Amendment been gathering dust without being approved? They will approve a Consitiutional Amendment to let the Gropenator be President before they will approve one giving women equal rights.

[KG]

3. this country isn't ready, yet

as i mentioned in another thread, i garantee you there are even DUers that wouldnt vote for a female president.

[ultraist]

6. Exactly!!!

And we are REGRESSING under Bush.

on edit: A woman has and can run but she wont win due to the reasons Brooklynlib pointed out.

[catzies]

8. That's so true! They forget that foreign-born women would be eligible

Women are such an afterthought with the Neo-Puritans; they still think it's all about the men.

I think the ERA should be revived, and emphasize it especially as the antidote to their efforts to deny certain civil rights (marriage) on account of sexual orientation.

[flamingyouth]

2. Women have been running for president for a long time

It's just that their campaigns seem to go nowhere...:shrug:

[catzies]

4. Who says women can't? Carol Moseley Braun ran last year.

What we really need is a deep field of women who are qualified and capable to run for the top of the ticket in any given year.

The conversation about a woman for president seems to begin and end with Hillary Clinton, and it's not going to be a viable option until there are more and more women who can run. This only one woman candidate a decade stuff isn't going to cut it.

I, for one, further believe that the first woman President would probably be a Republican.

How about an all-woman ticket one of these days? ;)

[Stop_the_War]

10. The first woman president WILL be a Democrat.

[Swamp Rat]

5. The question should be: "Why won't we let a woman run for President?"

I'd vote for Sen. Boxer, for damn sure!

Boxer/Clark or Clark/Boxer would be a great ticket! :)

[philosophie_en_rose]

7. ??? "some here just don't want any woman as a candidate" ???

You mean these people? ---- >>>

Seriously, women have been running for President for a long time. Look at your voter guides.

[doodadem]

9. Because my dear

it is just not practical AT THIS TIME. We are going to have a hard enough job showing people that we are not the extremest liberal take your guns turn you gay make you eat tofu antichrists we've been painted to be. If you throw a woman candidate into that argument as well, what do you think they'll do? They painted war hero John Kerry as soft and weak, what do you think they'll do to 5 foot tall Barbara? We would not stand a chance.
Love Barbara, as a woman, I would love to see her run after the Whitehouse is safely back in our hands again, and would support her all the way then. Would also support other diversity candidates--black, Hispanic, gay. First things first though, we have to play the game--take back the country and the voting process, and have a fair playing field.

[Nobody]

15. If not now, when?

Your argument is the exact same argument that suffragists got back when women were fighting for the right to vote.

Wait your turn, the time isn't right. Wait until these more important issues are dealt with then maybe we'll think about you again. It's just not practical right now with the world the way it is.

Read some of the history about the suffrage movement and you'll notice that the paragraph above summarizes both.

Can a woman run for president? Why the hell not? If some step forward and put their names in the ring, the naysayers will get used to the idea. But my vote isn't for a woman as such, but for someone who most closely espouses my ideals.

[Stop_the_War]

16. I agree! n/t

[ultraist]

19. I think we should strategize

Rather than trying to barge through the door. Run a women as VP, then she is well positioned to run as Pres.

People do NOT change that drastically but are more likely to accept a woman, if they are spoon fed by first seeing her as VP.

It would also be great if an openly Gay person could run and win, but should we run one in 08?

[Blue Wally]

26. Ummmm

Does anybody remember Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984?? We sure spoon fed them that time (although Mondale could have lost that one all by himself)>.

[doodadem]

29. No, this is a VERY different argument

When? We could have done it in 2000, before these bastards got entrenched (although I suspect we'd have still lost the vote count because of who was counting). Or we could do it in 2012. But not 2008. Why? Again, because we HAVE to win in '08, and we need to give ourselves every single advantage that we can. I'm all for a woman prez! But first, we have to climb out of this hole we're in. We have to fix the voting laws and the voting machines and who counts the votes. And we have to run a strong squeaky clean guy--not a Repuglican Lite by any means--but a Democrat that middle America can stomach. Or you will see us lose even more senate/rep seats, and the party marginalized out of existance.
We also have to see what we can do about MSM running the show. I think they sabatoged Howard Dean's campaign by playing that "scream" scene over and over. They also did in Kucinich, Mosley-Braun, and Sharpton. They dismissed them totally as serious candidates. That's wrong. We can't have these talking heads deciding who gets into office.
This argument is not about whether a woman can do the job at all. Of course she can! But you put ANY woman Democratic presidential candidate up agains John McCain or Chuck Hagel, and they're going to LOSE. Doesn't matter how great WE think she is.

[LostInAnomie]

11. As long as they're home in time to cook my dinner, I'm for it.

:evilgrin:

[ProgressiveConn]

12. Well.

I've got no problem voting for a woman and personally merely being a woman is a "pro" for me until they are represented by 50% of congress (As is being a minority Hispanics/blacks/homosexuals/etc equal their % of society).

But I think that we should run a woman as VP before we do as Pres. But that is probably because I'm not a Hillary/DLC fan. Feingold/Braun? Clark/Braun? Feingold/Boxer?

Although a friend of mine is cheering for Clinton/Boxer or Clinton/Obama. And if Hilary gets the nomination I think those would be good choices. Especially against if the republicans pull the Rice replaces Cheney as VP and Runs for President in 2008 thing.

[Mr.Green93]

13. Hillary is

running. And will win.

[forgethell]

14. Why not?

I don't believe that sexism is a very strong force in America, certainly not strong enough that any significant portion of the voters will vote for a man they disagree with just because his opponent is a woman. Most Americans are smart enough to vote on the issues.

And this is why we keep losing. Always we find something to blame: the candidate's lousy personality, the vast RW conspiracy, the whore media, our inability to get our message out. No one is willing to take the long view and scale back on the issues that cost us until we are in power and have a chance to educate the people to our point of view.

But certainly, a woman should run. In fact, my prediction is that in 2008 it will be Hill vs. Condi, so at least one taboo, possibly two will be shattered.

[ultraist]

20. You don't believe sexism is a big force?

Then why are 95% of CEO positions held by WHITE MALES? Why are MOST power positions, including POLITICAL power positions held by WHITE MALES?

What about unequal pay? Glass ceilings? Widespread violence against women? These are not blasts from the past but current situations.

The ONLY way a woman could win in 08 is IF they ran Condi. There is no way the racist homophobe party is going to run a BLACK WOMAN.

[Hippo_Tron]

25. Even if they did, we'd win Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and SC

I think that Condi starchy side dish is more popular amongst whites than amongst her own race, but don't think that, that will hold true in the south.

[forgethell]

27. No, I

don't believe sexism is a powerful enough force to overcome the issues. If they run a woman, Condi or someone else, who supports Repuke issues, and we run a man that does not, they will vote for the woman. Just like we, the party of tolerance and feminism, would not.

Why? Because we wouldn't agree with said woman.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

30. Well-said!

:toast:

[Pushed To The Left]

17. Too many dumb voters!

There are a lot of factors that affect presidential elections that really shouldn't: Gender, race, height, where the candidate is from, how good-looking the candidate is, etc. The reason some Democrats are afraid of nominating a woman is because they are afraid it will be political suicide. However, I've noticed that there is talk of the Republicans nominating Condoleeza Rice. If the party with bigotry in it's base isn't afraid to nominate a black woman, then we shouldn't be afraid either! Why should we have to walk on eggshells to avoid offending the South, the Evangelicals, the hardcore conservatives, etc.? The Republicans sure as hell don't worry about alienating progressive voters!

[Stop_the_War]

18. Yeah most of the South states will vote for Repukes anyway...

what's the point of appealing to their bigotry?

[Pushed To The Left]

28. We need to get rid of the Electoral College

Then we won't have to worry so much about one geographical area.

[porphyrian]

21. A woman can, and should run.

However, America will not yet elect one President. I think we'll have a black male President before we have a woman President.

[Mabel Dodge]

22. Oh please let me see a woman as POTUS before I die.

My God it's 2005 and the dark ages ended around 800 AD....isn't it time yet????

[woodsprite]

23. If we were gonna run Boxer, I'd suggest VP.

I think you would lose too many people just by the fact that she's a woman. Then, when people see that a woman is no different than a man, run her as Pres. I know my boss is representative of the way alot of people think and he would not vote for anybody who wears a dress (male or female), unless the male who wore a dress was up against a female. Dems cannot afford to lose the next pres. election if we could have run a man and won. Kerry/Boxer - Clark/Boxer. I'd say those are both pretty good tickets! I don't know that much about Edwards, but I think Clark or Kerry would have enough draw from the "other" side.

[Hippo_Tron]

24. There are simply fewer women in the politics, the Senate is 14 to 86...

That's just one example. There is nothing that says a woman can't run, it's just that finding a good presidential candidate is much harder when the field is narrowed so much.

[simcha_6]

31. Boxer's too liberal

She's also been associated, I think, with radicals (didn't she talk about vote rigging in Ohio? Regardless of who here believes it, that's viewed as scary-liberal among everyone else) and Hilary's conservative. Braun had a weird scandal in her background, I think. As soon as we have an inspiring woman who's liberal but realistic, she'll have my vote.

[Deep13]

32. We can ...

... just not Hillary Clinton. I have doubts about Boxer too. They may be perceived as being out of touch with middle America. Besides, I don't see either NY or CA being battleground states in 2008. Think on it. Which states will either Boxer or Clinton win that Gore or Kerry did not? Frankly, I would be afraid of loosing Wisconsin and PA. I think there would first have to be a woman for VP to warm up the parties to the idea of nominating one for prez. I believe the public is already ready for a woman president if it is the right candidate.

[chickenscratching]

33. woman? man? postage stamp? let's do it.

i just want somebody with sense that can speak their way out of a cardboard box, and that has somesort of integrity, truthfulness, and if it's a postage stamp that can show me these ideals, well i'd vote for it.
but, in regards to what i look for in my candidate, it might be awhile before i actually find one...