Question of the Day | 05/22/2008 12:00 am

Would you feel safe with a woman as commander in chief? Why or why not?

Read more about: Ann Richards, Election, Military, U.S.

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Would I feel safe with a woman as commander in chief? Surely you jest. As compared to the schmuck we have now? My God. Of course. I would feel very secure with Hillary, for example, in that position.

By Candice Bergen on 05/22/2008 12:00 am

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Not merely safe but safer. The only thing that worries me about a woman is that she might feel she has to show how tough she is to mollify the men (and some women) who would keep saying her response was too weak and that she will be misread by our enemies.

By Joan Ganz Cooney on 05/22/2008 12:00 am

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I feel as if we are hurtling over the side of the cliff right now. Oil futures are $140 a barrel, the debt is out of control, food is more expensive every day, health insurance only insures the insurer, the war is a never-ending horror and we are the bad guys, the economy has been eroded by termites, and as much as one has wished for a strong man to tell us everything was going to be fine, I think it’s time to hear a woman say, ‘Buckle your seatbelts.’

By Joan Juliet Buck on 05/22/2008 12:00 am

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Safe with a woman commander? Of course! I wish we had had one for the past eight years. (No, not Condoleezza Rice!)

This question reminds me of the late Ann Richards’s “doodle” which was recently sold for auction to benefit her school for young women leaders. I’ve included a copy of it below. The “doodle” reads in part:

“Now is the time for all good women to come to the aid of their country … Quit whining … If you ask your mother, the answer will be ‘no’ …. Your move … You don’t have to stay in the lines! …You don’t have to do it just because he says so … Let’s out-law high heel shoes … Girl, I can’t wait to get this girdle off … Don’t put my social security into the stock market … The only one with sense enough to leave the Alamo was a woman!”

I would have welcomed the former governor of Texas as commander in chief and I would welcome Hillary Clinton as well. There must be others … hmmm. I’ll have to think about it.

By Liz Smith on 05/22/2008 12:00 am

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Condoleezza Rice! The why is obvious.

By Liza D 08 .... beta on 05/22/2008 12:02 am

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Hell yes! Gotta be way better than that C student who pollutes the White House now.

By Frank Peterson on 05/22/2008 12:05 am

Mccain graduate way down at the bottom of his class, too. Now he is not too bright from everything I have heard coming from him.

By Kay Sara on 05/22/2008 6:44 am

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Yes, I’d feel safe with a woman as POTUS. Just as safe as I would with her male counterpart. Why? At this point in history it is so telling that this would even be asked. Why NOT. That is my answer. At this point in history it is amazing to me that the “magic wand” is thought to do much more than to classify the sex of a person as male. Surely we’re better and brighter than that … aren’t we?

By E . on 05/22/2008 8:27 am

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I keep hoping, Elizabeth, that we are better and brighter than that and yet…Here’s a little something to ponder on: Birute’ Galdikas who studied orangutans thought that women would be best suited to studying primates in the wild, because they had greater patience––needed for the hard task of finding, tracking, and watching great apes live in their leaf-obscured and distance-shrouded lives–––and greater sensitivity to social nuance (remember Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey? Need I say more?

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 05/22/2008 11:09 am

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Phyllis - Thanks for giving me a “new” and very interesting person to take a better look at. Yes, I had to google her - what an interesting and important career. On a lighter note I’ve known men who act like bigger apes than most orangutans! You’ve put me in mind of those wildlife photographers/videographers who spend so many months camped out just waiting for that never-before-seen rare footage - I always wonder if the shoots take so long because the photographer is really patiently waiting for “the” shot or just enjoying the escapism with the best shots already in the can. In their defense, I’ve known many wonderful men who are the very definition of patience and sensitivity as well as many other positive attributes.

By E . on 05/22/2008 1:26 pm

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Of course, IF the commander- in- chief, male or female, is capable. Look, we’re going to have to get beyond this mindset of women not being able to lead. There have been very talented female leaders in our life time; i.e. Indhira Ghandi, Golda Meier, Prime Minister Bhutto, not to mention Queen Elizabeth I from the 16th century. You women who started this wonderful website are just as capable as your male counterparts in your various professions. Not to mention, that when one thinks of the person who is supposed to be leading us now, it makes the whole question rather ludicrous, doesn’t it…

By Diana T on 05/22/2008 12:09 am

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Of course. Any woman as smart and experienced as Hillary would be a gigatic leap for man(and woman) kind.

By KATHRYN OLSON on 05/22/2008 8:31 am

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Exactly! Other countries have had female leaders for centuries. In this case, debating over and over again if a woman can lead—the US is the backward country.

By kermie b on 05/22/2008 1:56 pm

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Maud! Again, obvious! Reno … ditto! Madeleine Albright is my top pick! About Ms. Rice … a most learned woman. Bush used her and why she stayed is beyond me.

By Liza D 08 .... beta on 05/22/2008 12:11 am

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Excellent choice, Liza. Condi I don’t trust—she too involved in BushCO, tainted. Yes she’s highly educated and talented but…there’s the Bush taint and she’s not going to get away from that any time soon.

By Frank Peterson on 05/22/2008 12:39 am