# What's the next "first" we'll see in the Oval Office? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-next-first-well-see-in-the-oval-office/484426 "2009-02-04T15:58:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-next-first-well-see-in-the-oval-office/484426/61 "2009-02-05T15:06:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For that short-term, I think that it’s more meaningful to look at individuals than demographics… Are there any specific up-and-coming women who you think are likely prospects? And yes, I know that Obama was a local nobody eight years ago, but I think he’s an outlier. I was thinking Gov. Bev Perdue of North Carolina, who is a fresh-ish face from a significant state. What you’re saying is correct in general- people didn’t elect Black Men president, they elected a specific guy who is black. So demographics have little predictive value here, but considering women are a full half of the population and that a woman came close to winning this time, and the idea that these barries are falling, I think that suggests a female president is probably next. There’s nothing that suggests it’ll happen specifically in 2016. That’s my own prediction from another thread here. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-next-first-well-see-in-the-oval-office/484426/62 "2009-02-05T15:09:04Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Similar thread, three years ago: [Rank these Presidential attributes!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=359382) > > IIRC Clinton and Obama were already floating around as potential candidates back then. Didn’t Obama speak at the Dem Convention in 2004? And weren’t some thinking of him as a potential candidate back than, more than 4 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-next-first-well-see-in-the-oval-office/484426/63 "2009-02-05T16:59:03Z")
Yes. That was his first big moment in the national spotlight. One Doper - I forget whom - posted here the very next morning, predicting Obama would be the next President. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-next-first-well-see-in-the-oval-office/484426/64 "2009-02-08T09:33:36Z")
Wasn’t Herbert Hoover also Quaker? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-next-first-well-see-in-the-oval-office/484426/65 "2009-02-08T14:35:59Z")
Lemur866 writes: \> Religiosity ebbs and flows. Exactly. The following is taken mostly from _Head and Heart: American Christianities_ by Garry Wills, but you can find this in any good history of American religion. The U.S. has gone through four periods of religiosity. It has about a 90-year cycle. The following is an approximate timeline: The First Great Awakening - peaked about 1730 The Second Great Awakening - peaked about 1820 Fundamentalism - peaked about 1910 The Religious Right - peaked about 2000 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-next-first-well-see-in-the-oval-office/484426.md?page=3)