‘Yes, my daughter, a woman can be President of the USA’

“You see, Hillary understands that the president is about one thing and one thing only, it’s about leaving something better for our kids.”
– Michelle Obama 
I wonder how many of us have long awaited the moment when a woman would be elected president of the United States.  For too much of the lives of current adults, the possibility that a woman could lead our country was unlikely. 
Research indicates that women have been underpaid. Their power has been underutilized. No amount of anger or protest could crack the “glass ceiling” that kept women in leadership from soaring into the level of power they deserved.  
Although there was a failed attempt in 2008, no candidate had crossed the boundary of equal treatment for equal skill, until last week.
Last week, Hillary Clinton dominated the news with her nomination to run as the first woman president of the United States of America. 
Past President Bill Clinton may soon be drafted back to the White House to support his wife, the 45th and first female president of the United States.  This is a time for goose bumps.
Not very far from the exquisite beaches of our own Cape May County, Center City, Philadelphia, home of American independence, hosted the Democratic National Convention.
The importance of Hillary’s nomination in bumping forward the power of human equality simply dazzles me.  For the first time in human memory, the United States of America, a superpower in world players, may select a female to lead this unparalleled country.  
For the first time, female U.S. citizens like me can see “one of us” in power; helping leaders of both genders make wise decisions about the future of our planet.
Because of the unique power of this moment in history, I was delighted when, on July 26, 2016, the first lady Michelle Obama took the stage to help us all understand the meaning of this moment in our future as a nation. 
Many of us forget that our president’s wife is also a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School.  She is eminently capable of analyzing history with brilliance and warmth, and she did.
She began by reminding us “Every election — is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of our lives” and that she wants a president “who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters.” Michelle went on to make two major points:
1. A woman can and will lead superpowers.
2. The role of a nation’s leadership is to shape the future for children around the globe.
Noting that Hillary is the first female presumptive nominee of a major U.S. political party, she said: “Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States…Leaders like Hillary Clinton, who have the guts and the grace to keep coming back”… (puts)…” those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.”
Michelle went on to focus on the power of leadership to shape the assumptions and the futures of the children in the world. 
“You see, Hillary understands that the president is about one thing and one thing only, it’s about leaving something better for our kids. That’s how we’ve always moved this country forward, by all of us coming together on behalf of our children”…”And as my daughters prepare to set out into the world, I want a leader who is worthy of that truth, a leader who is worthy of my girls’ promise and all our kids’ promise, a leader who will be guided every day by the love and hope and impossibly big dreams that we all have for our children.”
Clearly, the best candidate is the person whom we all need to want to win.  And this year, for the first time in history, that candidate might just have been born female. 
She might just know what it is like to have the immensely powerful maternal instinct. She might just know what it means to push through a marriage that has patches of difficulty of immense dimensions, and remain true to the power of the family to see her through a marital disaster.  She might just know what it is like to be the only woman in a room of male business leaders who are unaccustomed to the power that female leadership wields. 
To Consider: How do you feel about having a woman president?  Why?
To Read: Powerful Wisdom. Laurene Nevels and Judith Coche. 1993. Jossey Bass.
Dr. Judith Coche has championed the future of women by helping them achieve optimal lives at The Coche Center, LLC, for 35+ years. Reach her in Stone Harbor and at Rittenhouse Square through www.cochecenter.com