When will the first female U.S. President be elected?

[HAnnA MArin County]

Sarah Palin in 2012 and 2016

God help us all. That would be the day I actually moved to Russia via Wasilla.  

Since I think Obama will be reelected to a second term, I think we could see a woman in the White House possibly in 2016. While I'd love to see Hillary run again, I don't think she will in 2016 considering she'll be almost 70 years old then. Yes, I know, McCain was like 72 when he ran, but there's a double standard applied to female politicians. But I will say this much, it will hopefully be the Democratic Party that shatters that highest, hardest glass ceiling that Hillary worked so hard for. Some have mentioned my Senator Claire McCaskill as a possibility as well. Someone who I think would be good for our party, but is hardly ever in the news, is Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.

The Republicans would need to nominate a moderate such as Susan Collins or Olympia Snowe but they are both pro-choice and pro-gay rights so that automatically eliminates them from getting the nomination. Sarah Palin is far too polarizing (abstinence only? Give me a break), controversial (recall the "real" American comments), inexperienced (the Bush Doctrine is his world view, lol), and to be frank, too stupid (not knowing that Africa is a continent?!). And I'm sure Saturday Night Live and Tina Fey will just LOVE to bring her down again just like they did in 2008. Let's face it, the "I can see Russia from my house" line is just classic.

I'll stick to my belief that the best female presidential candidate the Republicans could nominate would be Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. I don't agree with her on lots but she is not as polarizing and demeaning as the majority of the Republican Party is. I like her charm and personality and could actually fathom voting for her (this coming from someone who has never voted Republican). Plus she's like extremely popular in her home state of Texas so that would be a good springboard.

[HAnnA MArin County]

The fact that all the GOP women in the Senate are pro-choice would make it extremely difficult for them to get the Republican nomination. They will probably pull a Romney move and say they are now pro-life when/if they run for higher office. The Base will be in shambles if they have to swallow the fact of possibly electing a woman who supports infanticide and "special rights" for homosexuals. Unfortunately for the Republicans but fortunately for Democrats, Bailin' Palin is the best female candidate the GOP has. She fires up the base but is so inexperienced and dimwitted on political issues that I'm sure a high school senior class president who ran as a Democrat could easily defeat her on the national level. For those reasons, I don't see the GOP being the party that shatters the glass ceiling, so let's turn to the party that will.

Obviously, my girl Hillary is the top-tier one but I doubt she will run in 2016 unless Obama implodes in 2012 and Republicans take back the White House and then you have a Bush-like scenario where Democrats regain the momentum going into 2016. Someone on here mentioned Democrat fatigue. That may be true. We get tired of one party then go to the next until they screw up or we're tired of them then we go back to Square One. Disregarding Hillary, I'd say Democrats have a plethora of potential female candidates - all the Senators, some House members, Obama cabinet secretaries (Sebelius, Napolitano, etc.). Some rising female stars in the party in the House like Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and Gabrielle Giffords are both young and could ignite the youth vote, which seems to be a growing and reliable bloc for Democrats, and Giffords is a Jew so we could elect the first female AND the first Jewish president.

But I do agree - I think 2016 will be the year in which we may see that glass ceiling shattered. Hopefully it will be Hillary, but if not, at least it will be historic.