"Do you, Madame President, solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States?"
That's what Marie Wilson, founder and president of the White House Project, hopes to hear in 2008. In order to raise awareness and achieve the goal of a woman president, Wilson participated in a panel discussion Monday as part of the Center for Politics 2006 National Symposium on Women and Politics to kick off her organization's "8 for '08" campaign.
The "8 for '08" project highlights four Democratic and four Republican women whom the White House Project believes are qualified to lead the country. The final cut includes Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta (D), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, D-Kan. and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
Lindsay Clinton, a 2002 graduate of the University, is the communications manager of the White House Project.
"The whole process [of "8 for '08"] is what's important," Clinton said. "We're getting people thinking about women and leadership."
Wilson, who herself served as city councilperson in Des Moines, Iowa, first worked with the Ms. Foundation, the oldest and largestpolitical women's foundation in the United States.
"Women were helping create the best public policy," Wilson said. "But they were a government in exile."
Wilson said she questioned why these women were not in the mainstream government, so she founded the White House Project in 1998 to accomplish that goal.
Though some would assume the staff of the White House Project to be mostly female, Lindsay Clinton said the 12 staff members are both males and females of different races and backgrounds.
"We're lean but mean," Lindsay Clinton said.
The panel discussion was facilitated by Morgan Felchner, the managing editor of Campaigns and Elections magazine. Other panelists included Republican political strategist Bob Carpenter and Dee Dee Myers, former Clinton administration press secretary, who combined their opinions with Wilson's on the idea of a woman president.
Felchner, who works with a mixed staff of men and women, said that in her experiences, her gender has not hindered her career. But she admitted that a woman's career path can be more challenging than that of a man.
"Every day women face different obstacles, especially in politics," Felchner said.
Myers, the first woman and the youngest presidential press secretary, said she agreed that female politicians are treated much differently.
"The highest hurdle that women face is the national security issue," Myers said.
All three panelists said they agreed the people of the United States would be more comfortable with a male commander in chief, even though women ranked higher than men in areas such as honesty and integrity.
"Women have to clear a different bar to be considered qualified," Myers said.
Even the media coverage of male and female candidates is distinctive to gender.
"Media coverage of women is a real barrier," Wilson said.
When a woman runs against a man for office, Wilson said the media pays more attention to the man's campaign issues as opposed to the three H's for the woman: her hair, hemline and husband. Myers said she could agree from her own personal experience.
"They can't hear a word you say until they get past your hair," Myers said.
Along the same lines, another challenge for women to overcome is achieving the correct balance of femininity and authority.
"It's not enough for a woman to be tough," Wilson said. "She has to convey authority without losing appeal."
Carpenter, vice president of the public opinion firm American Viewpoint, said people even view campaign advertisements of men and women differently.
For example, a male candidate walking through a field wearing jeans is considered believable, but when people view the same commercial with a woman candidate walking through a field wearing jeans, they do not view her as credible a candidate, he said.
"It's not fair, it's not right, but it's true," Carpenter said.
Carpenter said the ideas of women and politics, however, are gaining popularity. His firm -- incidentally run by a woman president -- has seen an increase in research of women and politics in the last four or five years.
A survey released two weeks ago reported than 92 percent of Americans would vote for a well-qualified female candidate of their party for president. On the other hand, Carpenter mentioned many people will answer surveys with how they think they should answer, but will act differently if truly faced with a similar situation.
Carpenter then cited a survey that asked the subject whether he or she believed his or her neighbor would vote for a well-qualified woman for president, which he thought reveals a more accurate number. In this survey, the number who voted "yes" dropped to 61 percent.
First-year College student Michael Gannon said he disagreed with Carpenter's opinion that the latter survey is better.
"In college, people always overestimate the importance of alcohol consumption among their peers," Gannon said. "So I would question the neighbor [voting prediction] numbers to an extent."
Another difficulty the panelists said women face is balancing a family with a political career. Myers said the public is "fine with men having teenagers" as children and serving in office, but not women.
Despite the challenges mentioned by the panelists, fourth-year College student Anna Scholl said she left the discussion feeling optimistic about the role of women in politics of the near future.
"In general, it was great to listen to two very educated women talk about hurdles that women face and still have an optimistic view," Scholl said.
Scholl, who said she may run for political office one day, added that the discussion made her realize prospects were available for her.
"Our generation will have so many more opportunities," Scholl said.
Gannon, who also may run for office in the future, said he would not mind running against a woman.
"I would judge a woman candidate by the same standards as a man," Gannon said. "But, by that point, [women candidates] will be completely normal."
Although Wilson said the crowded room was infused with woman power, she wanted to make an important point.
"To be for women is not be against men," Wilson said. "We're for women leading alongside of men."
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