Geena Davis sure is good at breaking barriers. She played professional baseball in “A League of Their Own” and is now playing the first female president in “Commander in Chief” on ABC.
In the latter, Davis plays Mackenzie Allen, an Independent vice president who assumes the office when the Republican president dies. Mayhem ensues as she refuses to resign, despite pleas from the president from his deathbed. I’ve seen the show a couple times and it’s not too bad, save for her annoying children. Donald Sutherland even puts in a good performance as the scurrilous Nathan Templeton, speaker of the house, the obligatory evil-white-guy-in-a-nice-suit.
Allen takes the torch as the most prominent U.S. president on television. Jeb Bartlett’s term is running out “West Wing” (which needs to be put away Old Yeller style). David Palmer, the first black president, is already out on “24.” So if a black man and a woman can become president on TV, why not in real life? Let’s explore the real-life factors that may delay these historical moments from taking place in the near future.
We like to pride ourselves on being a diverse, open-minded country, but our list of presidents is whiter than Peyton Manning’s face before he faces the Patriots. Our presidents are male, largely Protestant and always rich. Now, even Germany (Germany!) has a female chancellor. What is taking us so long?
As Templeton opines in the season opener, a female president would be perceived as too weak to take on terrorists. John Kerry, who fought in Vietnam if you hadn’t heard, was perceived as weak on terrorism, so how would Hillary Clinton do in that department? Secondly, there are but a few good candidates for 2008. Clinton being one. Condoleezza Rice being another. There is a large segment of this country who despise Hillary Clinton for a litany of reasons. I have no feelings either way myself, though her putting on that Yankee hat was a low point. Rice may take a run, but beating senators John McCain or Bill Frist or Dick “The Penguin” Cheney or any other more entrenched Republican for the party’s nomination seems like a long shot at this point.
It’s hard to evaluate how the voting public would react to a female candidate because a strong one with a real shot at the White House has not presented itself yet. Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferrara for his ticket and then proceeded to get crushed by the Gipper (Ronald Reagan) in 1984. Ferrara is, to this day, the only female to ever be on a presidential ticket for a major party. She probably did not kill his campaign, though she did not help it much. Mondale could have run with Bullwinkle and done no worse.
A female candidate would have to overcome a huge number of obstacles. A strong, decisive one would be perceived as domineering. A tough, no-nonsense one would be mocked as cold or butch (see Clinton). A kind, loving, “motherly” candidate would probably be admired as a good parental figure, but as leader of the free world?
None of this is fair, of course. A woman running for president would be criticized for being cold or manly if she were to be aggressive or she would be criticized for being too nice if she were likeable and warm.
Look at the working world. Workers for the most part can respect a gruff, disciplinarian male boss. However, a female boss with the same qualities would be mocked as a male in drag, a lesbian and so on. So a female candidate could be doomed either way.
A black male stands a better chance at breaking the streak of white, Anglo-Saxon presidents in the near future. If Colin Powell ever ran, he would have a great shot because enough people can look past his skin color to see a person they view as principled and tough. Democrats have already anointed Illinois senator Barrack Obama after his brilliant speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston last year. In 2012, he may very well be the front-runner, though I can see opponents calling him “Barack Osama” by then. The good news is that David Palmer has already paved the way by saving the world from World War III in the second season of “24”. I seriously considered voting for him by a write-in last November.
“Commander in Chief” is starting to raise the issue in the national media as it prepares to cover Clinton’s expected run. It is also paving the way for menstruation jokes, which Jay Leno and every other comedian would make a million times if a woman were ever elected to the Oval Office. Allen makes a crack that she might push the button when it that time of the month comes and I bet more quips like that are coming up in the show’s future. Yeah, men, especially presidents, don’t need periods to get pissed off. Look at Richard Nixon. That guy had everyone from Gregory Peck to Bugs Bunny on his watch list.
Hopefully, sometime in the near future, we can see what exactly would happen if something like “Commander in Chief” were to happen in real life. Like if Oprah were to run and win, all magazines and newspapers would be required to put her on the front page. On the other hand, she could give us all free cars.
Either way, life would be more interesting, would it not?
— Stephen Sears can be reached at [email protected].
