Lynne Cheney, being colorblind, and funny but wrong

Friday, October 19, 2007



Listening to a broadcast from the National Press Club with Lynne Cheney - historian, best selling author, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney - there were a couple of noticeable items.

One is that she is a lot funnier than you may think.

Especially for a historian.

The second is that when asked what she thought about the statement that 25% of Republican woman would vote for Hillary Clinton - she said that people shouldn’t let gender affect their judgement - that they should just pick the best person for the job.

Let’s think about that for a moment…

Does Lynne Cheney think that gender or race (or religion) doesn’t matter in these situations and hasn’t already played a part? Does she really believe - and more importantly does she think the rest of us believe - that up until this point ONLY white males have been suited to be the President of the United States because they alone were the best for the job?

The problem with this type of thinking is the same as being colorblind - you can’t be colorblind and pretend as if race, and ethnicity don’t matter or haven’t made a difference in how our world has been shaped. You can’t deny the fact that both sexism and racism have played an overwhelming part in the election of U.S. Presidents, and who has been able to even run for the office (not to mention voting rights).

See - we’ve realized there is an importance to having a diverse and representative mirror of the country in all other facets of our government, media, learning institutions, et al. - and that same standard needs to be applied to our highest elected office.

Just as it’s been acceptable for voters to make the decision that white males would serve better as U.S. Presidents - it is equally acceptable to vote against the status quo for the exact same reasons.