Transcript provided by cnn.com

A.J. HAMMER: Well, we’re betting that Geena Davis is watching President Bush’s every move. That’s because she plays the first woman president on ABC’s “Commander in Chief.” The ABC drama finally back. We’re thrilled to have it back on the air after three months of being off the air, and Geena Davis joining us live here in New York. Pretty strong words from Ben Affleck (previous guest on the show), Geena, but I couldn’t see President Mackenzie Allen, the character you play, ever committing treason. It’s just not in her spirit.

GEENA DAVIS: No. No, I have a very strong moral compass, no.

HAMMER: A very virtuous woman.

DAVIS: Absolutely. Absolutely.

HAMMER: I always wondered if it gave you a little insight, because obviously the president, as powerful a person as there is, playing the president, does it give you a little insight into perhaps why people in such positions of power are led to do the things that they do and make bad and unpopular decisions?

DAVIS: Well, you know, I can say that when I do interviews or, you know, press events or something, people invariably ask if I intend to run for president. And I always say, you know what? I get zero practical experience in being the real president by playing the fake president. So, you know, it actually doesn’t give me insight into that. It gives me insight into what it’s like to work countless hours. That’s about it.

HAMMER: But people do, probably more than any other character you have played, tend to confuse you with your character, because you just play the president, as you said. It’s just a role, but I’ve heard other people who played the president, Martin Sheen for example, says people treat me presidentially.

DAVIS: Right, right. Well, it’s helpful in a restaurant. You know, right this way, Madam President, if you’re looking for a good table. And it’s so - it is, it’s different and fascinating, people’s reaction. And often I get asked questions like, well, what would you have done about Hurricane Katrina?

HAMMER: They wouldn’t have asked you that coming off of “Thelma and Louise,” perhaps.

DAVIS: Exactly. “Stuart Little,” they wouldn’t have asked that.

HAMMER: But I would like to believe that just as Geena Davis, you’d get a fine table in a restaurant without having played the president.

DAVIS: But I wouldn’t get the Madam President part.

HAMMER: Probably not.

So a lot of people, since you have taken on this role, have asked you, do you think Hillary Clinton would be a good president? Do you think we should have a woman president? What I’m curious about is why do you think, even just your perspective as a human being, why have we not had a woman president yet?

DAVIS: You know, it’s fascinating to me to think about, because so many other countries have had female presidents, female premiers, prime ministers. We are actually 61st in the world as far as female representation in government. It’s stunning.

HAMMER: What’s the deal with that?

DAVIS: So I can only speculate that it might be - it might be that we haven’t been able to picture it. You know, that it’s just - it’s been so foreign to our thinking. Founding fathers, you know, and that iconic image of a man being our leader, maybe it is just a deficit of imagination.

HAMMER: Because it’s certainly not out of a lack of having qualified candidates.

DAVIS: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We are in effect ruling out half of the talent pool by not even considering female candidates, you know, that we had this thing of like, should we even? Are you crazy?

HAMMER: Some would say even more than half of the talent pool.

DAVIS: A little bit more, but let’s not quibble over that.

HAMMER: I want to shift gears for a moment. Something that we’ve been talking an awful lot about lately here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is body image in Hollywood, and the pressure that is put on young stars or older stars in Hollywood to remain impossibly thin. It’s a problem. Now, you’ve been at this acting gig for a while now, actually coming up on 25 years in film and TV. Have things changed a lot from when you first started? Are we much more obsessive about it now than perhaps when you were first getting going?

DAVIS: It certainly seems so. I don’t remember that insanely thin image bleeding over into actors. I know that it had been in and out of fashion with modeling.

HAMMER: Which you’ve done as well.

DAVIS: Right. Right, and I was never stick thin anyway, but it certainly has now gone over into the acting part of it, and we see it. You know, we see a lot of actresses that are just unbelievably thin.

HAMMER: So you don’t think it’s just something that the media now perpetuates and just focuses so much attention on?

DAVIS: Well, I think they know that - that increased focus on that in the media makes it more hurtful, you know, the more images you see of unattainable body types, the more you’ll thank that’s what you’re supposed to be. By the time girls are 17, I think they’ve seen a half a million messages.

HAMMER: And images.

DAVIS: Of how they are supposed to look. You know, commercials or ads telling them this is how you’re supposed to look. It’s massive. Yes.

HAMMER: Geena thanks for your insight on that and congratulations by the way on “Commander in Chief” coming back. It will be back on ABC this Thursday.