Rethinking Madam President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House?

This book was published before the 2008 election. It speaks about the challenges and victories that shape whether the US will have a female president. I liked its evaluations and diverse chapter topics. In women's studies classes, they emphasize that gender and sex are different concepts. The authors in this book try to spell out that both being women and the status of the presidency seen as a masculine job hurts women's chances. The book says sexism would have to decrease in this country, but also that citizens would have to be more comfortable of women in "masculine" jobs for there to be a female president. Many news articles have said it's not a question of if, but when the US gets a female president, and this book does not veer from that point. To me, the latter chapters were easier to read than the former ones. After a while, this book became of Who's Who of Women in the Legislature and Executive branches. A poli. sci. major could get a quick brush-up on women in politics here. The work speaks of Geena Davis' show and how art could open the door to life. None of the researchers are psychics, but some of them do hint, "There's some guy named Obama who seems to be in the wings." This book pays a lot of attention to Hillary Clinton as it should. Still, the authors could not have predicted that she'd become Secretary of State and get some background in this "masculine" job. I have two critiques of the emphasized women here. The book sometimes hints, "If not Hillary, then Condi Rice." It does admit that Condi never said she would run for the job. However, I am incredibly skeptical that Black conservatives who get appointed to positions can get elected to them. I'm not convinced that Far Right voters would embrace her; I'm an African American and I'd really say I can't imagine my community leaving its favored party and voting for Condi. Lord knows I wouldn't have. Chald, Claire Huxtable could get elected President before Condi Rice could. This work used Louisiana's Governor Blanco as an example of sexism against female leaders. It suggests Rudolph Giuliani was praised around 911 when she was condemned around Katrina. Sorry, but I heard both women and men, in Louisiana and outside of it, say Blanco did a poor job in that crisis. Painting her as a victim was not plausible to me. This book becomes more dated each day, but I thought it was a strong text.

What a great anthology. This book brings together some of the great minds of legislative, presidential, media, and gender studies within Political Science. My favourite piece by far was Georgia Duerst-Lahti's. She is witty and intelligent and this comes across in her detailed analysis about the newscoverage of the candidates and the prefernece for masculinity or more masculine terms. Kim Fridkin's essay on the media is also illuminating. I've looked at my copy of the book and it's dog eared in each chapter. There is something for everyone. The chapter about executive leadership is also useful with the historical breakdown of women leaders. Overall a great read. The book could be read by a lay audience or an academic audience. I'll definitely use some sections in my summer course (American Politics) and other courses.