As a long-time advocate of the need for more women to ascend to leadership positions, for the benefit of our nation and the world, I've watched the Sarah Palin phenomenon closely. The mindless media and public fascination this week with the "Did he or didn't he?" (imply that candidate Palin was a pig) debate over Senator Obama's unfortunate use of the phrase, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," saddens me. We are less than two months away from a presidential election at one of the most complex times in United States history. And, once again, our national attention span has been distracted from critical issues by childish squabbling over topics better left to People magazine.
This week, we finally started to hear directly from Governor Palin, in the interviews she did with ABC's Charles Gibson. As much as I would love to see the presidential "marble ceiling" put behind us once and for all, I'm not a one-issue or one-gender voter. Brainpower, judgment, experience, world perspective are all essential in my book. I agree with an African woman leader who told NPR's Democracy Now host, Amy Goodman, "Everyone in the world should be able to vote for president of the United States because that person has such influence and power over our lives, too."
The New York Times raised those very issues in a scathing editorial in this morning's paper about the qualifications we should look for in one of the world's most influential leaders. It's worth considering. Here's the link.
