Hail to the Chief

The news that Romney was announcing his running mate this morning definitely piqued my interest. Maybe it's our proximity to Washington that engages me in politics, maybe it's something else, but let's just say I was the only adult of five in our group today who had any interest at all.

I'm not sure what I was hoping for when I tuned in, but I don't think it was Paul Ryan. As a liberal, I think I should be happy: Ryan is polarizing, but substantive, his record will frame an interesting debate that I think will ultimately wind up in an Obama victory. We'll see.

It's much more of a gender thing that's beginning to irritate me, though. Why can't the United States elect a woman to the executive branch of our federal government? With the current tickets set as they are, we will have to wait at least four more years to join these countries:

Argentina
Australia
Bangladesh
Bermuda

Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzogovina

Brazil
Bulgaria

Burundi
Canada

Chile

Costa Rica
Dominica

East Germany

Ecuador

Finland
France

Gabon

Georgia
Germany

Great Britain

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Ireland

Israel
Jamaica

Kosova

Kyrgyzstan

Latvia

Liberia

Lithuania

Malawi

Malta

Mauritus
Moldova

Mongolia
Mozambique
Netherlands Antilles
New Zealand

Nicaragua
Pakistan

Panama
Peru

People’s Republic of China

Philipines
Poland
Portugal
Rwanda
Sao Tome and Principe

San Marino

Serbia
Senegal
South Korea

Sri Lanka

Switzerland

Tannu Tuva
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Ukraine
Yugoslavia