On Monday, the women of Denver are planning a dry run on the celebration that the nation has been waiting more than 200 years to have. Cue the military jets. Make sure the First Gentleman has the kids under control.
The first woman president of the United States is about to take the oath of office.
The ABC series “Commander-in- Chief” premieres Sept. 27, and The White House Project selected Denver for a sneak preview, panel discussion and blowout party in the hope that life really does imitate art.
(Call 303-594-5594 for details.)
I know what you’re thinking. Denver? A city that has never elected a woman mayor in a state that has never had a woman governor or a woman senator, a place where cowboy boots, goofy hats and macho posturing are de rigueur on the campaign trail. Denver?
It’s because Denver is the future.
The city has a terrific ground organization for both The White House Project and Vote, Run, Lead – national organizations working to prepare women to run for all levels of public office, said Marie Wilson, president of The White House Project. Denver has mobilized powerful businesswomen and political activists to transform the political landscape.
Wilson will be speaking at the event; Geena Davis from the series is sending a taped message; and everyone from Barbara Bridges of the Bridges Family Foundation to Steffie Allen, founder of the Athena Group and the Women’s Vision Foundation, will be there to cheer whenever the chairman of the joint chiefs says the words, “Madame President.”
Damn straight, I say, and remember to salute when she steps off Air Force One.
I previewed the first episode of “Commander-in-Chief” last week and was surprised at how it affected me. When President Mackenzie Allen stands before a joint session of Congress to speak to the nation, I wanted my mother there to watch it with me. I wanted my grandmothers who fought with their husbands over a woman’s right to vote there too.
Who cares that it’s fiction.
Wilson too views the TV series as far more than mere entertainment.
“The most important part of our work at The White House Project is the perception piece,” she explained.
Americans have to be able to envision a woman effectively running the country before they will elect a woman president, and pop-culture images can do what thousands of hours of speeches, educational campaigns and campaign ads can’t.
They capture imaginations.
“For eight years, we’ve been trying to get a show like this that will help change perceptions around women running the country,” Wilson said.
The timing couldn’t be better.
“We know we will have women running for president in 2008,” she said.
The names most commonly mentioned: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas.
A poll commissioned by The White House Project that was released last week revealed 55 percent of Americans said they were “very comfortable” with the idea of a woman president. Twenty-four percent said they were “somewhat comfortable” and 63 percent said they expected a woman to be elected president within the next 10 years.
“We are much closer than we’ve ever been,” Wilson said. ” ‘Commander-in- Chief’ can only accelerate the pace.
“I can’t believe how good it (the show) is,” she said.
“She takes on women’s human-rights issues in the very first segment and makes it into a national-security issue for the country. I mean, how good does it get?”
Alas, it’s only TV. And when the sweeps weeks come, brace yourself for petty jealousies, soapy melodramas and plenty of shallow sexual stereotyping.
For now, though, Wilson thinks women have reason to celebrate.
“I think you’re going to like it,” she said. “I think you’ll cry.”
She’s right.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-820-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
