So how do you address a woman president, anyway? I’m not sure, but I think the proper term is “Madame President.” I bring this question up not just as idle speculation, but because it’s the kind of thing we really need to start thinking about.

Most people would agree that we will have a woman in the White House “someday.” But I am beginning to believe that “someday” may not be very far away at all. Although it’s very, very early to be speculating about such things, there are forces in motion that could virtually guarantee that a woman is leading this country in January 2009.

Hillary Clinton is widely recognized as a frontrunner to win the 2008 Democratic nomination, if she decides to run in the next election. Although she is seen as a polarizing figure, she is wildly popular with the Democratic base, and it is not at all difficult to picture her stepping up to the podium to give her acceptance speech at their 2008 convention.

Republicans realize this, and their strategists are already considering ways to counter the wild (and probably mostly positive) press coverage that a Hillary for President campaign would generate. Some of them believe they have the perfect answer, and her name is Condoleezza Rice.

It’s a long-shot scenario, of course, and Rice has stated that she has “no intention of running” for president or any other elected office. But in the world of politics, saying that you have “no intention of running” is very different than saying you are absolutely not going to run, and can usually be translated as “I’m keeping my options open.” More than a few prominent Republicans are absolutely giddy about the prospect of stealing Hillary Clinton’s thunder by forcing her to face off against a tough, conservative black woman with a list of advanced degrees as long as your arm.

The question that comes up again and again in discussions like this is whether America is really “ready” to elect a woman as president. Personally, I think it’s a silly question. I think a better question is this: Would most Americans vote against a candidate who best represented their values and views just because that candidate was not of the male gender?

Look at it this way. Is a die-hard conservative Republican going to choose John Edwards or John Kerry over Condoleezza Rice just because she’s a woman? Is your typical bleeding-heart liberal Democrat going to throw his support to Jeb Bush or Rudy Giuliani instead of Hillary Clinton just so the White House can remain an all-boys club? I don’t think so.

We all have a certain amount of inborn prejudice regarding things like race and gender and yes, there are some Americans who will never vote for a woman or a minority or what have you. But I think that kind of thinking is largely a relic of the past. For most of us, a candidate’s ideas and philosophy are much more important than gender and ethnicity.

There is no question in my mind that America is ready for a woman president. We’ve just been waiting for the right woman to come along. And who knows — we may just find two of them in 2008. Wouldn’t that make things interesting?

Bill Ferguson is a columnist for the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. His e-mail address is fergcolumn@hotmail.com.