marytree

1.18.2007

Politics is not usually the topic of events around here. I do keep up with the goings on, reading the paper daily, watching the news shows, etc, but a few recent events in the political world have moved me to share a bit here.

The first is the mid-term elections and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi becoming Speaker of the House. As I watched the mid-term election results come in I was pleased to see a "regime change" in both the House and the Senate. As the talk came to the Speaker of the House I was thrilled to hear that Nancy Pelosi was the apparent choice. It was not until I watched her stand at the podium with the gavel that I realized how much this event really meant to me. As I become a woman and mother of two girls it strikes me how little representation we woman have in the political spectrum. I don't know if a woman will govern differently than a man but having the opportunity to see is really inspiring to me. So to Nancy Pelosi I say congratulations and thank you, for opening the door or "breaking the marble ceiling" for all the girls out there who aspire to lead our nation.

The second issue is the upcoming Presidential elections. I have always said that if there was a woman candidate for President she would get my vote, regardless of their political party. I figure the longest they could screw things up for is 8 years and I survived President Bush for that long. Hillary Clinton is not my favorite candidate, but she is a Democrat, a woman and could really have a shot at getting elected so you would think I would be signing up to help her campaign, wearing t-shirts, etc.. Well I have this problem, I love Barak Obama. The first time I heard of Obama was while listening to my local public radio coverage of the Democratic Primary for Illinois Senate. I sat in my car listening to this politician who seemed different than any politician I had heard. It was the radio so I had no idea how he looked, I just knew that I was taken by what he said. I came in the house and googled him. I voted for him with gusto, usually I cringe a bit while voting for my democratic candidate. I have now watched him rise to potential candidate for President and I am still taken with him.
The two things that have always bristled me about President Bush have been his lack of honesty and seeming lack of intelligence. The two things that Senator Obama has seem to be honesty and intelligence. So here I sit a woman who wants nothing more than a woman to be President with the first viable woman candidate in my lifetime and I feel like -eh, take her or leave her and then there is Obama, I'd volunteer, I'd walk door to door I would even try to convert my oh so Republican dad to vote for him. Ah, what's a voter to do?
What do you all think of this and if you are a woman how do you feel about electing a woman president?

Want to learn more? Check out...

Woman as President
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Here

Barak Obama
Here
Here

Hillary Clinton
Here
Here

and check out this site because I'm a mom, I play soccer and I vote...