Madam Speaker

It's a big deal. But it's not really a big deal. For the first time a woman is a heartbeat and a defibrillator malfunction away from being President of the USA.

Women have earned the highest jobs within governments and business throughout the world and the United States remains one of the few developed countries that has not had a woman chief executive. I mean if Pakistan can do it, why can't we?

I have no idea what kind of job Nancy Pelosi will do as Speaker of the House. I have no idea where she will rank among her predecessors Dennis Hastert, Tom DeLay, Tom Foley, Tip O'Neil and Sam Rayburn. She may present an agenda of unifying reforms and responsible accountability or she may take bribes and kickbacks and divide the citizenry with demagoguery. Only time will tell.

But I do know one thing: her job will not be easier because of her gender. Unnecessary comments will be made about her attire, her hairstyle and her make-up. Missteps or weakness will be attributed to something as irrelevant as her chromosomal configuration. Strengths will not.

Whenever such a hurdle is jumped, the hurdler later recounts the pressure that was sensed and the encumbrances that were met. From Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson to Madeleine Albright and Sally Ride, the first person through a particular gate pays a certain price. These other pioneers were capable, talented and honorable persons who overcame obstacles that were artificially burdensome. Like these other pioneers, Ms. Pelosi is specially qualified for the charge and will serve with distinction.

Serving as chief resident more than a decade ago, I remember walking through a surgical ward with a female attending several years my senior and asking her advice on the management of a particularly ill patient. On three separate occasions we were interrupted by patients or family members asking for nursing help or food service or hygiene care or some such thing. On each occasion the female physician stopped and politely directed the person to the proper nursing or clerical personnel. After the third incident, it occurred to me that this never happened when I was alone or with another male doctor. These people, either consciously or not, viewed a female in the hospital differently, even even one who wore an identical white coat, beeper and stethoscope that I did.

The point is that our culture has not evolved past these stereotypes about gender, and this failure is at our peril. As the first female US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright famously reported that when she went overseas to meet with patriarchal Third-World leaders, she always looked back to the airplane as she disembarked to read the United States of America on the side of the plane. This reminded her that she was not alone, she was representing the greatest nation in the world.

As Speaker Pelosi leads us forward, she has a daunting job. So much has gone wrong in our federal government these past several years that deft leadership is necessary especially now. Her gender is no guarantee of success or failure.

Her job will not be made easier because of her gender. But I'm one proud American who is thankful that Nancy Pelosi is Madam Speaker...

because she's the best person for the job.