do you think America will ever have a black or a female president?

[Guest]

Apparently someone said to me that in order to be president of the US you cannot be black and that females aren't allowed in, either. Is this true? If not, do you think America will have a black/female president one day?

[ribs]

Tis not true - and hopefully will happen one day. Pity you have to American to be their president. I wouldn't mind the job!




Miracles occur,
If you care to call those spasmodic
Tricks of radiance miracles.

[novium]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 03:10, 2nd Mar 2005:
Apparently someone said to me that in order to be president of the US you cannot be black and that females aren't allowed in, either. Is this true? If not, do you think America will have a black/female president one day?




no, it is not true.


What is true is that you have to have lots and lots of connections. traditionally, this has been the good ol' boys club.

which extends back generations.

so it's taking a while.

i expect probably that it will be a woman first.

Although that may just be because everyone's talking Hillary for prez in 2008.

[sweet]

hilary clinton might be

also condolezza rice is a position of much power which maybe says it could be possible

think we'll ever have a black prime minister? i'd vote fir samuel l jackson, even tho he is american

[tintin]

I hope very much that America sees its first woman President in the 2008 elections. Even better would be a black woman, and Condolezza Rice is the obvious choice. Even if she didn't get it, I guess it's pretty much an open secret that Hillary will stand - while her husband was a "colourful" character I am sure she would be slightly different and perhaps more responsible. And what a funny situation - him having to be the First Man!

[novium]

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. let's just hope for GOOD leaders, because being white/male/black/female is not guarantee of greatness.

[Haunted]

True, I'd prefer the better candidate to win rather than have the candidate from some 'opressed minority' winning simply because he/she is token

[MadDog20/20]

Condoleezza Rice is a terrible choice for president. Her opinions about the world are completely bizarre. At least George Bush has the excuse of being dumb, but she is a former dean of Stanford and a distinguished academic. How can she be so short sighted about everything?

I'll tell you how.
She is a women who will do anything to further her own career. Including screwing over the rest of the world. A class-A career bitch if ever I saw one.

The world is still recovering from Thatcher. We don't need another one.

And Hillary has no moral standards. She should have given that philandering prick the boot a long time ago. As it stands she has no diginity whatsoever and has lost all respect.

Unfortunately, unless Oprah runs for office these two pathetic losers are the best chance we have of seeing a woman in office.

[Nelson]

Hilary Clinton vs. Colin Powel would make for an interesting race - no-one would vote for either and Nader would become president!

[hr]The first rule of jungle warfare is, of course: eliminate the jungle.

[Marco Biagi]

[s]Nelson wrote on 13:26, 2nd Mar 2005:
Hilary Clinton vs. Colin Powel would make for an interesting race - no-one would vote for either and Nader would become president!

[hr]The first rule of jungle warfare is, of course: eliminate the jungle.


If only. Anyway, Nader will be 74 next time.

[Your Mom]

The Democratic party is in no way going to nominate Hilary Clinton for president anywho. They tried to nominate a moderate liberal who was anti-abortion and that didn't work so there's no way they're gonna go with a woman. They're gonna spend these four years rebuilding themselves and hopefully turning some Republicans fed up with the whore beast's rule to their side.

[hr]Never be haughty to the humble. Never be humble to the haughty.
-Jefferson Davis

[novium]

[s]Nelson wrote on 13:26, 2nd Mar 2005:
Hilary Clinton vs. Colin Powel would make for an interesting race - no-one would vote for either and Nader would become president!

[hr]The first rule of jungle warfare is, of course: eliminate the jungle.


Colin Powell is a good guy.

But he won't ever run for president, he said so himself. He already gets a ton of death threats for being a black man in power, and threats against his family. He has to wear a bullet proof vest in public. Or at least, that is what he told TIME magazine a couple years ago.

[novium]

[s]Your Mom wrote on 13:49, 2nd Mar 2005:
The Democratic party is in no way going to nominate Hilary Clinton for president anywho. They tried to nominate a moderate liberal who was anti-abortion and that didn't work so there's no way they're gonna go with a woman. They're gonna spend these four years rebuilding themselves and hopefully turning some Republicans fed up with the whore beast's rule to their side.

[hr]Never be haughty to the humble. Never be humble to the haughty.
-Jefferson Davis


Being more radical is not going to help the democrats out. They're already viewed as being somewhat divorced from ordinary people.

And they keep throwing up extremely weak candidates with no easily identifiable message.

I'm an extremely moderate democrat, and I think currently the democratic party would have trouble finding its behind with both hands and a map.

[Andrew Cusack]

[s]MadDog20/20 wrote on 13:22, 2nd Mar 2005:
Condoleezza Rice is a terrible choice for president. Her opinions about the world are completely bizarre. At least George Bush has the excuse of being dumb, but she is a former dean of Stanford and a distinguished academic. How can she be so short sighted about everything?

Alright, just for the record I'm certainly not a Condoleeza fan, but can you give an example of how she is "short sighted"? Or do you simply use this as a term for someone who particularly disagrees with you? Just wondering.

[Andrew Cusack]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 03:10, 2nd Mar 2005:
Apparently someone said to me that in order to be president of the US you cannot be black and that females aren't allowed in, either. Is this true? If not, do you think America will have a black/female president one day?

According to the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Part 5:

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

So the basic requirements are:
- U.S. Citizen
- Born in the United States
- 35 years old or older
- 14 years resident in the U.S.

Thus anyone who fulfils those four requirements is eligible for the office.

[Greebo]

Surely, according to that, the requirement isn't that you are necessarily born in the US, just that you are a citizen (which you can gain through, for example, marriage) and that you've been (legally) resident 14 years in the country.

[hr]http://www.greebo.org.uk - Loadsa drunken photos and suchlikes.

[exnihilo]

It does say "natural born citizen", the residency requirement is to prevent people who are citizens but live elsewhere from standing. Also, the Constitution has been amended to make the same true for the Vice President, so no loophole way in there either. Still, there is always talk of amending it again to allow naturalised Americans to stand (most recently as a result of Mr Schwarzenneger's win in CA).

[Andrew Cusack]

[s]Greebo wrote on 14:54, 2nd Mar 2005:
Surely, according to that, the requirement isn't that you are necessarily born in the US, just that you are a citizen (which you can gain through, for example, marriage) and that you've been (legally) resident 14 years in the country.

Alas, for better or worse, such is not the case. When it refers to being "natural-born" citizens, they mean born in the United States.

However, the exception cited in the clause is if non-natural born citizens are already citizens by the time the Constitution is adopted. But being as that occurred in the 1790s, it is more or less irrelevant today, as there are no living people under that category.

There is a popular myth that Alexander Hamilton could not have run for president because he was born in the Caribbean. It is only myth, however, because he was a citizen by the time the Constitution was adopted. (Indeed, he was one of the chief architects of it).

[Preacher's Kid]

Barack Obama, my home state of Illinois' newest senator, has a lot of buzz going his way. He's the 2nd black(ish) senator since the 19th Century [both from illinois], nearly everybody in the country likes him, and he's a genius on the stump.

If you need any more proof, 'Obama '08' groups are very popular on facebook back home. So there.

[CrisisLoan]

[. At least George Bush has the excuse of being dumb,







I dont think George Bush is dumb, after all he did graduate from harvard.

And although i do not agree with many of his policies, i think the perception of him being dumb has a lot to do with media manipulation.

Although i do not think a war mongering cristian fundamentalist should be in a position of such power.