An all-female ticket? Not in 2016

Let me say at the outset, had Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) challenged former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, it’s possible Warren would be the presumptive presidential nominee today.

{mosads}So when I hear all the chatter about Clinton picking the senator as a running mate, I have to repeat what I wrote earlier: “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but an all-female ticket simply is not going to happen in 2016. Yes, America is ready for a Madam President, but there is no way this nation is ready for both a female commander in chief and second in command. Maybe in 2020.”

I understand women of all ages and professions want to break the proverbial glass ceiling. They say things like, “It’s time to smash it to pieces” and “An all-female ticket will do that loud and clear.”

True, it will; but it also will doom Clinton’s chances of becoming the first woman president. So which is more important? Making a political statement or winning the election?

(Personally, I think winning is more important. I have a strong feeling presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump would agree with me.)

Before you report me to EMILY’s List, know this: I started writing about a woman being named to a presidential ticket years ago. Back in 2000, and then again in 2004, I urged both Al Gore and John Kerry to pick Silicon Valley Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) as a running mate.

Besides having known Zoe since high school, and working with her as a staff assistant to Rep. Don Edwards (D-Calif.) in 1972, I have enormous admiration for Zoe as a person and as a political leader.

Case in point: In 1994, when the GOP tsunami laid the groundwork for Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to become Speaker of the House, Zoe was the only freshman Democrat west of the Rockies that year to be elected to Congress. It was the same year my daughter was born. Guess whom she’s named after? (Hint: It’s not Gingrich.)

Zoe also is smart and savvy. Here’s what she said about the recent firestorm between the FBI and Apple over the San Bernardino, Calif. terrorist’s iPhone: Apple is “unable to deliver to the government what they do not have — in this case, a key to break into their operating system in the manner the FBI desires. It is astonishing that a court would consider it lawful to order a private American company be commandeered for the creation of a new operating system in response.”

Even though I’m clearly with Hillary, my daughter is “feeling the Bern.” Considering the Republican alternative, I’m glad she is. My hope is Zoe-the-younger realizes it will be better to win in November than break a glass ceiling.

I think even Elizabeth Warren would agree with me that the sound of glass breaking into a million pieces will have to wait a little longer. At least until a woman is elected president of the United States.

Freidenrich writes from Laguna Beach, Calif. His letters and commentaries have run in the New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Christian Science Monitor, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register and many other newspapers. He can be reached on Twitter @freidomreport.