It has been interesting to be an observer of the Democratic nominating process from the outside. You have in Hillary Clinton a woman who desperately desires to be the first female president, and you have in Barack Obama a man who desperately desires to be the first "black" president. The former hardly has a speech without mentioning her gender, the latter seems to go to all lengths to DEFUSE race as an issue. And Obama is clearly in the lead. This has lead feminists to ask whether there is still a glass ceiling for women in politics, despite so many gains in business and elsewhere.
My own feeling is Hillary's biggest weakness is America's sense of historical order. Americans are ready for a female president, a black president, a latino president, etc. But they feel that the color barrier should be broken before the gender barrier. I suspect if Obama is the nominee in 2008, that another woman will have NO problem becoming the nominee in 2012 or 2016. But at the moment, Hillary is facing a barrier in voter attitudes who first want to see Martin Luther King Jr's dream realized, before they see the dreams of the Feminist movement realized.
But, as always, it is hard to be patient and let history play itself out.
I think you are right, but I also think that Hillary is a polarizing figure in politics. I think if it was a different woman, one perceived as less power hungry and willing to do anything to get elected. And she hasn't calmed the voters fears on that issue, if anything she has exacerbated the problem with some of the campaign antics, and certainly the actions of her husband.
YanıtlaSilBut we'll see. The media seems to be pushing her more now, hitting Obama on substance issues... subtle, but I do sense a change.
I agree more with Nick's assessment, that it is not that she is a woman, but rather that she is Hillary Clinton. She's just as devisive a character as President Bush, and despite her claims to the contrary, most people know it.
YanıtlaSilShe has always come across as a bit of shrew, and in this campaign, she has seemed so fake as to make the Goracle seem warm and human in comparison. That is the only ceiling I think she's hit, is that she is doing a terrible job to mask the fact that she is a power hungry trailer park woman riding on the coat-tails of her husband.