It has taken a former Democratic nominee, George McGovern,to pose - and dare to answer - the question that has been hovering above countless dinner parties for months now. Is it more of a handicap when running to be US President to be black or to be a woman?
Of course the very notion of either a female or black candidate running for the country's highest office was still unthinkable back in 1972 when he headed his party's ticket only to be defeated in a landslide in the general election by Richard Nixon. Why he is qualified to wade into these tricky waters in anyone's guess. But he thinks he knows the answer. And it's quite suprising.
McGovern said yesterday during a visit to Washington that America may be ready to elect an African Ameican but not a woman to sit in the Oval Office. "I have a feeling that in this country where we're at today in our thinking, it's going to be harder to elect a woman than to elect a black man," he told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "I wish that weren't true ... I'd love to see Hillary as president." He went on, "Some guy will say, 'Well, I think that's too big a job for a woman, I don't think she can handle those terrorists.'"
McGovern, Senator for South Dakota for almost two decades, married his wife Eleanor (who died last year) after going up against her and her sister in a high school debate. That was in the Thirties - and the girls won.
Actually, it was NOT unthinkable that a black person or a woman would be running for the country's highest office in 1972. Shirley Chisholm ran in that very race, and she was both. It was rather far-fetched at the time that she might actually win the nomination - and of course, she did not - but let's not overlook her as the true pioneer she was in that day - running as an extreme long shot, but nonetheless serious, candidate for president. Of all people, I would think McGovern would have remembered her.
Posted by: Rachel Supinger | 02 April 2008 at 05:45 PM