Is the U.S. Ready for a Woman President?

Victoria Claflin Woodhull - Victora Claflin Woodhull was the first woman to run for president back in 1872.
United States
February 9, 2008 9:33am CST
I've been thinking about this question for awhile and I believe the answer is "yes". The U.S. has come a long way since Victoria Claflin Woodhull ran for president in 1872. Victoria was the first woman to campaign for the presidency. Our society and attitudes have changed a lot since 1872. Therefore, I feel the time is right. Is Hillary the answer? Who knows! Would you vote for a woman running for president if she was qualified for the job? Please share your thoughts. Thanks.
4 people like this
17 responses
@zeloguy (4911)
• United States
9 Feb 08
Hillary Clinton - Picture of Hillary Clinton
I don't care if the president is man/woman black/white... just so they are competent. England has a female PM for a long time (Margaret Thatcher).. and not counting Queens (that are by blood leaders you have)... Ireland -- President -- Mary McAleese New Zealand -- Prime Minister -- Hon. Helen Clark Finland -- President -- Tarja Halonen Phillipines -- President -- Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Moçambique -- Prime Minister -- Luísa Días Diogo and many more here... http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/Current-Women-Leaders.htm The 'problem' with today's 'female' nominee for President of the US is not that she is a woman... I'll leave it at that. Thanks for the post. Zelo
@zeloguy (4911)
• United States
9 Feb 08
The problem that people have is with policy not whether she is a woman or not. I have not talked to ONE person who said I am not voting for her because she is a woman.
@zeloguy (4911)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Democrats are socialists. Republicans are capitalists. Put in the very simplest terms that can be put that is how I had to define them to my wife in a very very simple way (she is originally from another country). Now a couple things. #1. You are going to have SOMEBODY that is going to be running as an Independent... Ron Paul would be my guess... heck we might have two or three. What if Romney ran as an Independent, wouldn't that shake up the general election votes! #2. We are not SURE that McCain is going to get the nod for the Republicans although it's all but wrapped up there. #3. We don't know we are going to have a democratic nominee. The democrats are not going to have a clear winner which means it is going to come down to the 800 or so 'super delegates' who can vote for whomever they want to. And from what I read most of those are comprised of men... if not all of them. #4. You can vote for whoever you feel is fit for the job of president of the United States and I think that we as Americans going through this whole process of Republican/Democrat forget that we can vote for ANYONE who is a citizen of the US, born in the US, who is 35 years or older. If Jesse Ventura can win as Governer of Minnesotta, anything can happen and might very well will... McCain is a good example. In June/July he was out of money and about to drop out of the race before his numbers started going up and money started trickling in. Fred Thompson the worst orator of the group of Republicans (and he is a TV actor), Guianni looking soft and he was the mayor of NYC. Edwards dropping out even though he was the one that could have really made it a race on the Democratic side. There are games being played behind all our backs that none of us know about and that is the sad thing about this whole process. Vote for who YOU think should be president and if everyone did that, there would be some interesting races.
• United States
9 Feb 08
Would you like to elaborate on the 'problem'? Thanks.
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
11 Feb 08
I personally think Hillary would make an excellent president. My husband says that if she wins then it will be just like having Bill for president again, since my husband IGNORANTLY believes that Hillary will run to her hubby for answers. I think this is ignorant and sexist on the part of my husband and the same for any one else who thinks so. I think Mitt Romney backed out because he realized, like David Letterman jokes, the world just isn't ready for an average good looking white guy to be President. ROFLOL. Sometimes the greatest humor is in truth!
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
11 Feb 08
Probably if this discussion stays here long enough, you will find many more that agree.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Interesting...It appears that you and one other person in this discussion believes that Hillary would be an excellent president. Just my observation up to this point.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Feb 08
Okay...we'll see.
• United States
12 Feb 08
The US is definitely ready for a woman President. I believe Hillary would do a good job as President, but I don't think she will be elected, unless Obama is her running mate. I think that would be an interesting combination. I don't think she will be elected mainly due to a lot of controversy in the caucuses, for example, the unpaid hotel repair bills, cleaning bills, etc in the the state of Iowa. Also, the controversy over Bill's Presidency with the Monica Lewinsky case is also hurting her. I don't think she would be a mouthpiece for Bill though. I believe it was more a case of Bill being a mouthpiece for Hillary when he was in office. She has some interesting stands, better support for veterans, greener fuel options, and my favorite, ending the war in Iraq. It will be an interesting election!
• United States
14 Feb 08
I agree. If Hillary and Obama were on the same ticket, then she could get elected. Otherwise...well we'll see what happens. I think it will go down to the wire.
@Smith2028 (797)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Yes, I believe the US is ready for a woman President. There has never been a viable candidate until Senator Clinton. I am not sure of the ramifications on the worldwide scale. I don't believe that a female will solve all of the problems in the world, and I believe that anyone who believes that is naive.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Bill would be back chasing skirts in the oval office when Hillary was out of town......
• United States
11 Feb 08
Great comment...LOL
• United States
11 Feb 08
It would be very interesting if Hillary wins. I wonder what role would Bill play.
@skinnychick (6905)
• United States
10 Feb 08
I would absolutely vote for a woman if she was qualified for the job. Hill is not in my opinion so she would never get my vote- woman or otherwise. I can't be a person who votes on gender or race as this is the wrong way to go about things. Hill is a little too touchy and I don't think she exudes enough power and strength. She is weak and not well spoken. I'm sure there must be a better female candidate out there but we aren't ready for the wrong woman though the right one may or may not be good. You never know with politicians and they don't have great track records. My only hope for this election is a Democrat- sorry that's my party and I'll cry if I want to- and then I have to hope that they actually do something. American politics is a hard one for me to swallow anymore because of our long lack of leadership and broken or should I say forgotten promises.
• United States
11 Feb 08
I firmly believe there are other qualified women for the job. But, they don't want to run for the president. I wonder why!
• United States
11 Feb 08
Not strong enough- I wish there would have been a qualified one this year but maybe next time around...
• United States
10 Feb 08
Yes, I would vote for a woman, if she were right for the job. Hillary is not the woman.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Perhaps the other women are satasified with the role they are currently in. President is a job I could do, I am diplomatic, smart, run a business, can speak clearly and eloquently - but do I want it..........Heck No! It has always been a man's world and that is slow to change. I can say for Hillary, she's got bigger gonads than most men in the public arena! For that I give her credit for not backing down, but again, she is not the woman for this country. She'll hasten the down fall our country has already begun.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Yup...it's going to be an interesting election. Even more interesting if Hillary wins. LOL
• United States
11 Feb 08
There are other qualified women but they don't want to run for president. I wonder why?
9 Feb 08
The US has been ready for a woman president for a long time, it's just that no serious female candidates have happened to emerge before now. Many other nations have had female heads of state already, and I don't think the US is lagging behind the likes of Germany, the UK, Israel or Pakistan when it comes to women's rights.
• United States
9 Feb 08
yup...I completely agree with you.
@trinale (1479)
• United States
10 Feb 08
I think the U.S. can handle a woman president...just not Hillary! I'm just not really sure about her. Will she be running show or will she be wearing a ear piece taking direction for Bill! Cheers, Ed
• United States
11 Feb 08
I love the Bill Clinton comment you made. LOL
@rsa101 (37952)
• Philippines
9 Feb 08
I think yes there is a big chance that a superpower country like yours if run by a woman might change its stance on many world issues that havoc us. We are a small country like yours and we have had the chance to have two woman presidents. Although the first one was okay and our current president who is a woman president is flooded by controversies against her leadership I guess were going on quite okay when it comes to her leadership. It is worth a try that your country would be able to be seated there. But I think she has to win it against Obama which I think would be worth trying for the first American Black president.
• United States
9 Feb 08
yup...the race between Obama and Hillary will be very interesting. Regardless of who wins, it will be a historic event for us in the U.S.
• United States
11 Feb 08
yes, but not this women as hilary has already shot off her best wad...she has shown her true colors with a vesta of scandal that goes back to whitewater and monica..plus all the foolishness of her actions with her opponents..she is like a washed out women
• United States
12 Feb 08
Strong comments but I feel that there are a lot of people that will agree with you. We'll see how things will shake out.
@lancingboy (1385)
• United States
12 Feb 08
A woman really ran for president in the 1800's?! Okay, we took American History AND Government Economics and this is the first time I've EVER read about this! I would have remembered something like that if they had taught it in school. I vote people should learn more about Victoria Claflin Woodhull in High School. As for the question you asked, yes I would vote for a woman president if she was qualified. There are like 13 female presidents in the world right now, even in the middle east!
• Canada
10 Feb 08
It's only a matter of time before a woman is elected president of the US. It is not an unheard of concept for a woman to be the leader of a country. Several other countries have already gone this way including Canada and England. The US prides itself on being an example to other countries on how to operate but the fact that they have not elected a woman president yet seems a bit backward. Maybe this years the year.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Why has it taken so long to get to this point? I believe that there are other qualified women, they just to want to run for president.
• United States
10 Feb 08
I have thought about and debated this question with many people. I have come to the conclusion that the U.S. should take the fact that we have an african american and a woman running at the same time. Do I think we are ready for a woman, not really. There are way too many issues that I think this much of a change might not be a good thing right now.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Interesting comment. If the U.S. was a little more stable then would the time be right?
• United States
10 Feb 08
I'm not particularly fond of the idea of a woman president. I am very pro male leadership and if makes me feel much more secure and stable to have a man in charge. I wouldn't be totally against a woman in the event that she was highly qualified, had strong morals and family values and the man running did not. But, Hillary is not the answer. She scares me so much. I can sense evil about her when she speaks it makes my skin crawl. She does not have good morals or family values. She's pro abortion! That in itself is enough to turn me running in the other direction. I personally have not seen very many women in politics that I could support. It's not so much an issue of gender, although as I said I prefer men in leadership, but very few women who go into politics stand for what I stand for.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Thanks for your very interesting response. By the way, what do you think of Obama since you're pro male leadership?
• United States
10 Feb 08
Of course I would because if they were qualified for the job then the gender would not make any difference.
@4ftfingers (1310)
10 Feb 08
Yes I think you are definitely ready, Hillary wouldn't have got this far if you weren't. But not just any woman, and I think Hillary is just any woman. The US and Britain are quite similar in many ways. We had Maggie Thatcher as our first Prime minister and she was just as fierce as any man could be. I think you would need someone like her as President, someone that doesn't get pushed around and doesn't wilt at the first hurdle. That is not Hillary.
• United States
11 Feb 08
Hilary is slicker then chit on a stik..and twice as vile..she will say anything to get elected..so will Bo..we need four more years of a good ultra conservative to show the terrorist what the meaning of God and Contry is all about..They are not to be forgotten 911