Another election cycle, another term without a viable female presidential candidate...

The New York Times has a nice graphic on their website today which summarizes the stance of each presidential candidate on Iraq, and selected quotes illustrating their viewpoint. Probably the only real solution offered as an alternative to the strategy that's currently being used is from Senator Joseph Biden, who has repeatedly voiced his suggestion that Iraq be divided up based on their Islamic sects, and allowing each group to have some amount of regional control with a weaker central government. I have no idea if this idea would work, or if it would create even more sectarian conflict, but at least it's a bit more than the lip service we're getting from just about everyone else in Congress. Simpling saying we have to get out of Iraq, cap troop levels, or continuing to bash the current Presidential administration doesn't seem to accomplish much in my mind.

I was listening to some NPR story last night where someone used the recent problems revealed about the Walter Reed Army Medical Center as an opportunity to talk about failures of leadership in the current administration. Now, I don't disagree, but I've pretty much become numb to such dialogue. Short of calling for an impeachment (which wouldn't do the country any good, since Cheney would now be President), I just can't understand what anyone is trying to gain from such statements anymore other than some extra political capital or to give them some personal "I told you so" satisfaction.

A prime example of this political strategy seems to come from Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unlike every other Democratic presidential candidate, she still has not openly stated that her Congressional vote in support of the President going to war in Iraq was a mistake. Instead, she's manuevered quite adeptly around the issue by instead turning the conversation to the hot-button issue of Bush and his failed role as Commander in Chief. The quote this NYT graphic uses for her:

If I had been President in October of 2002, I would have never asked for authority to divert our attention from Afghanistan to Iraq, and I certainly would never have started this war.

Granted, this quote is a bit out of context, but her vote in Congress back in 2002 seems to contradict her statement. Seems like an easy thing to say after the fact.

My wife has been off the wall excited about the prospects of Hillary Clinton becoming the next President. I would like to be enthusiastic, as well, as I think this country is ready for a female in Oval Office. But the thought of Hillary being my President frankly disgusts me to the extent that George W. probably did it for most Democrats. It has nothing to do with her being a woman.

My wife would probably say that this is the way women have to play the game. After all, are we talking about any other women running for president right now? And haven't men been playing the exact same way all this time? I guess she has a point--women sometimes are judged a bit harshly when they play like the men. And being the sole woman in this field singles you out, and puts any political games you play that much more in the spotlight. The difference, though, is that she's the wife of a former president who was a bit of a controversial figure himself. Perhaps another woman running for president without the historical baggage of a Clinton would run into some resistance, but certainly wouldn't be as polarizing a figure as Hillary.

As you've probably heard, Hollywood heavyweight David Geffen was quoted by Maureen Dowd in her editorial column for The New York Times saying just that:

Not since the Vietnam War has there been this level of disappointment in the behavior of America throughout the world, and I don't think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is -- and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? -- can bring the country together.

This, of course, made headlines yesterday because Geffen is publicly supporting Barack Obama in his presidential campaign. The Clinton camp denounced the remarks as personal attacks and mudslinging. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, this is what most of America is probably thinking.

Looking back at that NYT graphic, only three of the presidential candidates were opposed to going to Iraq from the beginning. The most prescient quote from the three? Obama:

I know that invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst rather than best impulses in the Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars, I am opposed to dumb wars.

We probably won't be seeing a woman taking over the Oval Office in 2009, but perhaps a man of color isn't that farfetched.