A Period of Firsts

We seem to be in a period of a "firsts." I was reminded tonight during the State of the Union speech, that this was the first State of the Union introduction (the second introduction in the program) ever announced by a woman as the Speaker of the House. We have, for the fist time in 41 years, not just one but two black football coaches in the Super Bowl. Looking ahead (and perhaps too far) there appears to be a decent chance that in a couple years, we may have our first woman or black president.

Reflecting on this, I had a couple interesting exchanges with my wife that I felt like sharing.

• I asked my wife if she felt some sort of identification or pride when she thinks about Nancy Pelosi. Her first reaction was 'no' but this was followed by the caveat that she felt the reason that identification was not there had more to do with a lack of appreciation of that role.
  
• I asked my wife if she would feel any identification or pride in womankind if a woman was elected president. "Hell yea" was the answer.
  
• At this point, Bush turned around and declared how honored he was to be the first President of the United States ever introduced by a female speaker of the house. At this point, my wife, with a beaming smile says, "Well that was pretty cool." I think that at that point, she felt that identification/pride.
  
• I am not black and am not a woman. It occurs to me that I will probably never feel that type of emotion ever. Interesting. Well, it's interesting to me at least.
  

One initial thought on the State of the Union: No matter what side of the aisle you're on, you have to admit that Condoleeza looked rather sinister in some of those scenes when the camera showed her. Scary.