Case By Case

Venus asks Quasi and a NOW director this question: What qualities are essential for a good American president?

By Venus Zine Staff
Published: September 11th, 2003 | 10:41am

Janet Weiss
Quasi and Sleater-Kinney

This is such a complex question. Presidents are not usually "good" but usually dishonest, power-hungry career politicians who make policies either to ensure their re-election or to satisfy the insatiable greed of the powerful multinational corporations. Reagan wasn't good. George Bush Sr. was definitely not good. Nixon wasn't very good. Clinton bordered on good but still seemed pretty caught up with his own image and with securing his place in history. At least he was smart.

A good president might be worldly and educated, somebody who never ate from a silver spoon, and who traveled and understood how our culture fits in with the others’ around the globe. A good president would be humble and fair. Ha! It's funny even to write it, 'cause it seems these qualities would guarantee a person NOT be elected. That's our fault. Presidents are groomed to be scheming and secretive and keep all their cards concealed. A good president would not do these things.

A good president wouldn't wear a suit all the time and wouldn't talk to the people like they're ignorant. A good president might be a woman, or black, or in their 30s. I imagine the Warren Beatty character in Heaven Can Wait being a great president. Whatever it is that makes a good president, we haven't seen much of it yet. Each is basically a slightly different, slightly more or less sinister version of the last. Anyway, everyone knows between the CIA and the rich folks and the corporations, the president isn't doing too much of the decision making anyway. There's always revolution, huh?

Sam Coomes
Quasi

Easily our greatest president was our ninth, William Henry Harrison, a Whig from Ohio. His presidency lasted exactly one month, the last week of which he was bedridden with pneumonia. Then he died. If all presidents could accomplish what William Henry Harrison did during his tenure, the world would be a much better place.

What happens when the president dies? The vice president takes over. In Harrison's case, John Tyler succeeded him, and was largely ineffectual in the office due to partisan bickering. Unfortunately, he did manage to annex Texas during his reign. Texas is, of course, the state that has brought us our current nightmare of a president.

Now if George W. Bush did humanity a huge favor and died today, Dick Cheney would succeed. Cheney is easily more diabolical than Bush, but
probably already has more say over policy than our supposed president. This creepy, sickly backroom politician would have no chance to be elected on his own, and I’m sure the Cheney presidency would flounder, though his policies would not differ from Bush's in any way. The additional stress might even bring on another heart attack, this time fatal. Then he, in turn, would be succeeded by the Speaker of the House, who is Denny Hastert, another Republican, of course, but one who very few people have even heard of. Maybe he could die too. Unfortunately, time is short, as elections are not much more than a year away. So, Mr. Bush, die now.

Helen Grieco
Executive Director, California National Organization for Women

Many great women have already taken the highest leadership roles in countries like England, India, Ireland, Iceland, Nicaragua, and the Philippines. When will a woman be elected president of the United States and break through the ultimate glass ceiling? When women are deemed as equals capable of running a nation with such political, economic, and military might. With the momentum building, I hope this will happen by 2020 — fingers and toes crossed!

We as a society must recognize that treating girls and boys as equals is the only way to ensure that a woman can make her way to the White House as president. Until then, men will continue to dominate the fields that lead to political power and therefore strengthen the Old Boys’ network that keeps women out.

Too few women have been elected to office, much less been considered for the jobs on the pipeline to the presidency. Women's public political history began when Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, took office when women couldn’t vote. Right now in California, no women occupy executive offices, and we are scrambling to get more women to run for the legislature. Nonetheless, we are grateful to the pioneers like Bella Abzug, Pasty Mink, Carol Mosely-Braun, and Nancy Pelosi, and applaud Mosley-Braun for stepping up for 2004. Hillary in 2008, anyone?

In order for a woman to become president, she must demonstrate that she has what it takes to lead this complicated nation. She must inspire us with her vision for a domestic and foreign agenda. She must have the courage to voice her convictions and stand up for them in the broiler that is Washington politics. She must recognize the role of the government as caretaker of not just the nation’s resources and various agencies, but of the people of the United States. She must be a deep thinker with a commitment to humanitarianism and tolerance. She must have the leadership abilities to work cooperatively, but also to stand alone when need be. She must have a comprehensive understanding of the issues imperative to keeping the people of this country safe, healthy, and afforded equal opportunity. She must acknowledge the complexities of this nation’s history as well as the role the U.S. should play in the world now and in the future. And she must do so with charisma! I have seen these qualities in the women of the U.S.
Congress — the time is ripe for a woman to take on the presidency.

This edition of "Case By Case" was originally published in Venus issue No. 17 (Fall 2003).