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Home › Politics

Question of the Day | 06/29/2009 11:00 pm

Will the Bush/Cheney presidential ticket be the last all-white-men ticket?

Liz Smith, Joan Ganz Cooney and Candice Bergen speak to the future of presidential possibilities. Join the conversation …
© AP/Getty Images
Joan Ganz Cooney

Joan Ganz Cooney | 06/30/2009 12:00 am

Joan Ganz Cooney: When Political Correctness Takes Over

I don’t think it will be. I hope the parties will not become so politically correct that they always are looking for African Americans, Hispanics and women to run on presidential tickets instead of looking for the best people for the jobs. Sarah Palin, a disaster in my view, was the result of the Republicans trying to top the Democrats in diversity. However, I’m afraid that there will be a big search for minorities and women and that could lead to so-so candidates or worse.

comments33 Comments
Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen | 06/29/2009 11:00 pm

Candice Bergen Doubts We'll Ever Have 'An Old White Guy Ticket Again'

God. I would hope. Dontcha’ think? Isn’t Obama transforming the country forever? Or could it all revert? But I doubt we’ll ever have such an old-white-guy ticket again.
comments60 Comments
Liz Smith

Liz Smith | 06/29/2009 11:00 pm

Liz Smith: Let's Not Force Race Into the Presidential Race

I hope the Bush/Cheney presidential ticket won’t be the last all-white-man ticket if the two white men are the best in the field. It would be wiser to let every case develop on its own instead of setting up some kind of racial perimeter. I think actually even this question is reverse racism of a sort.

Let’s say a future George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were to run at some time, do you mean to say we then should insist on a black or Asian or Hispanic person to make the ticket OK?

comments10 Comments
Read more about: Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, Election, George W. Bush, Politics, Race, Vote

174 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Tinka Parker
While I do agree that high office holders like Cheney enable old-school policies with disastrous result, and the ascendancy of a younger politician like Obama is very welcome, I think this comment of Dee’s introduces a note of ageism that concerns me.  It particularly concerns me because I am feeling professionally marginalized myself by ageism, at a time when my abilities are at their height.
By Tinka Parker on 06/30/2009 7:39 am
James the Game
Dee, I know some of the images people conjure up when they thing of some of the old, white men who’ve led our country: Bush/Cheney, just to name a pair of incompetents. But, please, let’s not age- or race-discriminate, but judge candidates on their own merits. Do you not believe that Joe Biden would make for a competent president?
By James the Game on 06/30/2009 9:10 am
C jay
and, James, as for Russia, their old guard, and "the KGB," Putin was and still is …
By C jay on 06/30/2009 10:04 pm
James the Game
Absolutely, C Jay. Medvedev is the puppet dangling from Putin’s strings.
By James the Game on 06/30/2009 10:20 pm
Marjorie C.

…the last all-white-men ticket?

Not yet…  and I think the hardest battle will be for the women.  Women do not back other women the way men do their own. 

As for people of colors/heritages other than what is perceived as white/European, I cannot, for example, envision an Asian in the near future — mostly because they are not in the chute.  Latinos and those of African descent are very likely to be on the ticket again, but not every election cycle.  A lot will depend on what kind of America will emerge after Obama’s term.  A white man can make a mess of it, and Americans will vote another white man in, albeit from a different party.  Let a woman or an Asian or a Latino or even a African American mess up, and all will not be forgiven as quickly…  I don’t think.  Just my opinion.     

By Marjorie C. on 06/30/2009 6:10 am
Andy C
no, of course not.
By Andy C on 06/30/2009 6:43 am
F P
Silly question to begin with—but I agree with Marjorie, the hardest battle will be for women.  But it will happen and I hope soon. 
By F P on 06/30/2009 6:56 am
C Hardy
Is that what our world is becoming?  No more white men?  Why can’t we just look at the best canidates, regardless of race?  Why does it always have to come back to race? 
By C Hardy on 06/30/2009 7:27 am
B Clark
No.  I hope canidates are the best we can find regardless of race/gender/orientation etc.  A better question would be "If you could pick traits/people to build an ideal candidate/ticket (like fantasy football), who would you pick?".  Every election I get the feeling we’re not picking the best people for the job but the least worse.  I get very tired of the knee-jerk reactions to the left/right/lobbies and consider all the extremes too weird to be really a good thing for our country.
By B Clark on 06/30/2009 7:39 am
Nancy Pea
my best friend always told me, "it’s not who you vote for, but who you vote against" and it shouldn’t be that way. i should be who is the most qualified no matter if they are rich or poor, educated or not. but of course it’s not that way.
By Nancy Pea on 06/30/2009 10:49 pm
S G
Shouldn’t it be about who is the most qualified. Isn’t it the 21st century? I hope its the last disastrous ticket that almost ruined the country. I hope we will not see any more Bush’s or Cheney’s. I have had a lifetime of them. Jeb get a real job and leave the world alone.
By S G on 06/30/2009 7:41 am
deber B

Your initial question about shouldn’t it be about who is the most qualified is the meat of your post in my opinion.  Because our current president arrived at the White House with zero leadership experience,  not so much as ever having been a mayor or a governor,    America is paying the price for that now. 

 There are millions of people who would welcome  George Bush’s deficit back in place of the overwhelming debt facing American taxpayers todat,  and his decisive leadership and experience as a governor of the great state of Texas.    As this administration’s ratings are plummeting we need to examine closely why this president was elected and why his ratings are falling every day.   There should be a lesson for America in all of this.  

 Too far left and too far right is too far for America.

By deber B on 06/30/2009 8:22 am
phyllis Doyle Pepe
MILLIONS? deber? Hmmmm––wonder where they be?
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 06/30/2009 9:16 am
Marjorie C.

phyllis:  …wonder where they be?

All the people who voted for McCain, plus those becoming disenchanted with Obama whose job approval rate is beginning to slide.  Many, many still approve of the man, however.

By Marjorie C. on 06/30/2009 11:23 am
phyllis Doyle Pepe
So all the people who voted for McCain plus those disenchanted Obama lovers are crying in their beers looking back nostalgically  and wishing they had Bush again? Really? Reminds me of an old nursery rhyme: If wishes were horses, Beggers might ride; If turnips were watches, I would wear one by my side.
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 06/30/2009 12:43 pm
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