Just a generation ago, it was a distant and improbable dream: to have a female or black candidate run for the U.S. presidency and be taken seriously.
Today, we watch that dream come to fruition as the top contenders for Democratic nominee narrow to a white woman and a black man.
While several women and many members of minority racial and religious groups have sought the presidency, few have seriously competed for their party's presidential nomination, let alone won it. So, it seems most Americans can't help but be excited by the very fact that this step is currently possible in our country, even if they dislike or downright hate either or both of the candidates. Democrat, Republican and anywhere in between, people are wondering if the 43rd president of the United States will break the white, Protestant, upper-class mold from which we have so rarely deviated.
No one is saying the election of either would mean an end to racism or sexism, but some say it just might open up the range of possibilities that minority children and little girls everywhere envision as attainable for them. Some believe it might improve the way countries across the world view America's claim of being a nation committed to equality.
Then again, others believe that having such a president could stir racial and sexist tensions. Would older citizens look to a black president for leadership -- the same citizens who may have grown up in a segregated world where blacks took the back seat to whites both on busses and in everyday life? Would foreign representatives from countries where women are still confined to the home respect a female president as much as a male during critical negotiations? As sad as it is, these are real considerations that still have to be discussed in what many regard as the freest country in the world. Whether we want to confront these prejudices or not, they will probably impact the successfulness of our country underneath the president of our choice.
According to a 2006 Gallup poll, 61 percent of people believed the country was ready for a female president and 58 percent of people believed the country was ready for a black president. While these numbers indicate majorities, they raise an extremely interesting question: What about the approximately 40 percent of Americans who don't believe we are ready?
It is pretty disturbing that many people don't think someone should be president based on sex or race, and these numbers are probably a lot larger than we would like to admit. However, it's also troublesome that so many people will vote for someone on the basis of race or sex.
In a 2007 Gallup poll, 14 percent of respondents indicated that the main reason they would vote for Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination is because "she is a woman." However, seven percent of participants said the main reason they would vote for Barack Obama was because a woman shouldn't be president.
It's two different aspects of the same problem. Voting for a candidate solely because of their sex or race is almost as ridiculous as refusing to vote for them based on these characteristics.
If this is the election the mold is thrown away, I hope it can be done in the name of true equality: choosing a candidate who is most qualified.
Right now it seems that the media is so concerned about sex and race of the next president that they take away from serious policy discussions by these candidates. In almost every interview I have read or watched of Obama or Clinton, the interviewer has breached the topic of race or sex. However, he or she has not always hit on important questions about the future of our country.
Our next president will chose to continue the nation's involvement in Iraq or to pull troops out -- affecting the rate at which our soldiers and Iraqi citizens die or live. The president will guard against terrorist attacks that we know can claim thousands of lives on our own soil. Our leader will make health and economic policy, affecting our quality of life. The president has the power to improve or exacerbate tensions in the Middle East. He or she will contribute to environmental policy -- affecting our entire planet for years to come.
When you look at these issues, it seems more important whether these decisions are made competently than whether they are made by a person wearing pants or a skirt. We need to vote based on who can best lead our nation, rather than based on whether the face of our nation will be black or white.
