Enemy Combatant
Friday, May 14, 2004
The Most Exclusive Job In The World
You know, we Americans like to TALK a good game about being "a Nation of immigrants," and continuously claiming that "anyone can grow up to be President," but in fact, we've never chosen a President who's not of Christian white European (i.e., Nordic-Celtic-Germanic-Anglo-Saxon) male background. Ever.
Maybe someday, you say, we'll be the first Western country to elect a leader of, say, a Jewish background? Too late; that was Britain, over a century ago: Benjamin Disraeli.
Well, you say, maybe we'll be the first to elect a President of, say, Japanese background? Again, Peru was there first, with Alberto Fujimori.
Well, what about, say, a President of Syrian ancestry? Argentina has us beat: Carlos Menem.
Surely, you say, we'll be the first in the Western Hemisphere to elect a President of African descent? Too late: Mexico's SECOND President was Vicente Guerrero.
Well, what about a WOMAN leader? There, Great Britain, Israel and India have us beat, with Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, and Indira Gandhi, respectively.
And now, the final blow -- the world's biggest democracy, with no real history of significant immigration -- India -- appears on the verge of electing a woman of Italian birth to be Prime Minister: Sonia Gandhi.
