I am a great proponent of women’s issues – always have been. My kids and I marched down Independence Avenue many, many times. Truthfully, I was marching and pushing them in strollers when all this family activism began! I was a charter subscriber to Ms. Magazine and a charter member of the National Organization for Women. I was also one of those glass ceiling women and one of the very few to break the glass without getting too badly injured. So I am very, very glad to finally see a female Presidential candidate. Although, I wish there were more than one!

But now the internal struggle begins. Do I have to vote for the female candidate because she is female? Or is it more complex than that? I have finally decided that it is. The deciding factor – I wouldn’t vote for someone outside of my political spectrum just because she was a woman. If you are a Republican, could you imagine voting for Barbara Boxer? For Democrats, the equivalent is Liddy Dole or Condoleezza Rice – no way.

No, I am going to apply my Warren Buffett litmus test: ‘You can’t do a good deal with a bad person’ I am going to back someone that I think is honest, ethical, telling me what they really think and not what the latest poll told them to tell me. Right now that is removing John McCain and Hillary Clinton from my select list. (I am sad to remove both because one is an American hero and one definitely has the smarts and is a woman). And, I am going to pick someone that agrees substantially with my beliefs, although there are a couple of items that are non-negotiable. And I am hoping that I am going to pick someone that is going to win, but I can’t compromise on the Buffett criteria just to elect a ‘winner’. And I continue to hope that the person who rises to the top of my list will be a woman.

So, now let’s stop picking on the African-American community because they all aren’t automatically backing Barack Obama just because he’s black.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive