Visualize this:

Two amazing women are top five members of the presidential hierarchy. Additionally, these two women are second and fourth in the presidential chain of succession as determined by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. The chain determines who assumes the presidency should our leaders perish or become incapacitated during their terms. Since the presidential primaries indicated race and gender would be major considerations this November (for the right of it or for the wrong of it), were these two extremely high ranking and powerful women vetted by McCain and Obama?

Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. She is the first woman to hold that high ranking position and is second in the chain of presidential succession. She is a saucy Italian-American politician from a political family and a proudly accomplished and an extremely distinguished member of the Democratic Party. Her mother immigrated to America from Italy in 1911. She waited to run for political office until her youngest child was a senior in high school. You want to talk pit bulls – this woman is a pit bull. She is currently the highest politically ranking woman in American history and she is white. Did Obama vet her? His veep choice received many, many, MANY votes less than Hillary Clinton during the primaries in what was an obvious cue from the Democratic Party as to their feelings about sending Mr. Biden to Washington. Was Obama hasty is refusing to draw a gender card this season? He has in recent days accused McCain of playing one. Clinton’s eighteen million votes deserved serious gender consideration and by all appearances, those votes were not considered in that way by the Democratic contender. It is a noble ambition that Obama does not want the game to be about race and gender. However, based upon this country's history alone, it was evident from his party's own primaries that race and gender are the cards in play? Stacking his deck would have been prudent. Would an Obama/Pelosi Democratic ticket have been a good hand?

Ranking fourth in the chain of presidential succession is Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. She is the first African-American female to hold the position. She was National Security Advisor during the current president’s first term and she is demonstrably comfortable being a black woman. She handled with grace and ease being described as “that darling African woman, mistress of the Arab slaves” by Muammar al-Gaddafi on her recent and successful trip to Libya. She lost a childhood friend in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963. She is extremely well educated and well versed in international relations and policy. She supports the right to bear arms quite strenuously and is a member of the Republican Party. McCain did not draw a running mate until after Obama announced his. Good strategy, and then he shocked the world with his maverick choice of Sarah Palin. In cards, while suit’s very important; typically, players prefer queens to deuces, if queens are high. McCain might have trumped given he had last draw: but did he? Given a choice between a queen high and a deuce, should you explain to the American people why you did not choose the queen – a woman of his own party fourth in line to assume the presidency if tragedy strikes. Did he vet her? Would a McCain/Rice Republican ticket have been a good hand?

Two women. One from each party. Both in the top five of the presidential hierarchy. No matter your political affiliation or ideology, these two women are golden. Were they vetted - and if not, why not? The American people have no say in choosing vice presidential running mates and yet should tragedy strike a sitting president, it will be the veep who takes the office. Unless the process by which vice presidential running mates are chosen changes (as in states where lieutenant governors are elected same as the governors), care must be gravely undertaken by the candidates while vetting and choosing. It is after all, the first major decision they make. Each day passing indicates that this election season, both candidates have some explaining to do. Since the game is cards, both could have drawn much better hands.