Hoping for Africa's first-ever "Big Woman"
■"Liberia's 'Iron Lady' Goes for Gold: Election Would Mark a First for Africa," by Lane Hartill, Washington Post, 5 October 2005, p. A16.
In a few days Africa might have its first national leader elected in Liberia. A grandma, an economist, and a JFK-school grad from Harvard. She's been the finance minister of the country and a vice president of Citicorp in previous lives, along with a an early collaborator and then foe of deposed leader Charles Taylor (she supported him when he took on previous strongman Samuel Doe).
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's main competitor is a former soccer star with almost no education to speak of, but he's popular with young people.
Here's hoping the Iron Lady makes some history (note the iconic reference to Margaret Thatcher).