Circa 1991 maybe, I remember my father and one of my brothers having a conversation — of a type that could exist anywhere between anybody at any time — centered around this question:  Will America elect first a Black President or a Female President?  The answer came out to be “Black president.  Because they gained the right to vote first.”  That logic is a bit strange, come to think of it — because it then follows that there have been more women elected into political office.

Thinking about how this nation conciously and unconciously thinks about racial and gender issues, in a vacuum, sans any particular politicians and circumstances, my answer now would be “Black President”.  (Let alone a Female Black President.)  Simply put, a black candidate has one basic hurdle to clear, and this is to assure white America that he does not fit their stereotype (no afros or dreadlocks).  Joseph Biden gave this away concerning Barack Obama just recently — I, um, hear that Barack Obama is “articulate” and “clean”.  Perhaps Obama is not entirely out of the woods yet (I’d think that Harold Ford, Jr had cleared the racial deck in 2006, but then Corker found the right racial message) — and Barack Obama now has a strange “Swift Boat” type operation going against him which would quite literally place him in a Madrassa.  Couple that with the constant reference to his middle name — “Hussein”.

A female presidental candidate is in this no-win scenario of having to conform somehow to gender stereotypes while showing she is “tough” enough for the job.  In the case of Hillary Clinton’s negativities, I once posted some negative opinions on a message board and received a sort of agreeing response, which casually referred to Hillary Clinton as “bitchy”.  This word is basically non-transferrable to a male politician, who may or may not have the same goddamned characteristics, and is a general article of faith about Hillary Clinton in much of this nation’s mind.  (There are other words, more coded, that have been tossed at Clinton.  Keep in mind: I’m not a fan of her’s, but much of the press on her has been off-putting.)

On the other hand, it’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone refer to Clinton by her maiden name — a dig that many right wingers threw out during the Clinton presidency, an allusion to the fact that she originally did not go by Clinton when married to Bill — marking her, I suppose, as a goddamned Feminist.

The question of answering the question now reflects less about the question in the abstract and more on the skills of the two politicians in navigating these racial and gender currents in American politics.  Or Hillary may win over Obama simply because she has had the opportunity to build a more secure political apparatus — largely passed to her by her husband.  Oh, god, more gender considerations!

Then again, Obama’s greenness and political aspirations may reflect our nation’s desire to have a black president who fits our desired profile of such an event, setting him up for a tumble — perhaps merely to vice-president.  Or he may have caught the right political currents and the right time.  I don’t know.

Jon Stewart’s predictability is showing.  When I heard him proclaim “a veritable Rainbow Coalition is being offered by the Democrats.  America may get their chance to elect the first Woman President.  (shot of Hillary).  Their first African American President.  (shot of Obama).  Their first Hispanic American President.  (Richardson)”  — at the moment he said “African American President” I predicted the punchline “First Elf” — Kucinich.

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