Why not Hillary?

• Author: Clinton, Kate
• Position: Unplugged - Clinton, Hillary Rodham

OK, I did not leave on the four-year gay cruise that sailed down the Potomac on January 21, nor am I planning to leave the country. I already live in the tiny island nation of New York City. But the state of Washington looks mighty tempting. The actual state, not whatever sorry state of the union George read to us about.

Washington State's governor and both Senators are women. The prominence of women is attributed to several factors: Early women pioneers engendered abiding respect for women's contribution; outrage over Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings caused women to seek and win political office; the state's weak party structures don't foster strong old-boy's networks; hi-tech entrepreneurial culture created businesswomen who write political checks. No one has mentioned record levels of caffeine consumption, but my research people are looking into it. In addition to the trifecta at the top, 44 percent of their Supreme Court Justices and 33 percent of their state legislators are women.

And I know, according to Lawrence Summers, I am way over my head here even dealing with percentages. Lordie, lordie, where are my vapors? Nationally, 50 percent of bachelor's degrees in math and science are earned by women, but they make up only 10 percent of those college faculties. I'm woozy! In his speech to an academic conference, the president of Harvard offered that women may be innately unsuited for math and science. Summers suggested that one of the main obstacles to their tenure tracks was their biological clocks. I'm as outraged as the next sister, but you can be sure I will be using "The Suddenly Last Summers Rationale" as an excuse if I ever get an IRS audit.

It is still mind-boggling to me that we have not yet had a woman President or Vice President. That darned Aspermative Action. In Finland or maybe it's Sweden (and I am a little geographically challenged, but hey, I'm not the President), they have had a woman president for five years. Long enough to cause such a shift in the paradigm that one young boy...