How Much Did Hillary Clinton's Historic Run Really Break the Glass Ceiling?

The "woman power" movement has become its own worst enemy. If women would stop defining themselves in terms of gender, they would do better in elections. But as long as this crap is shovelled down our throats, we'll continue to resist swallowing. Part of Obama's success is due to his refusal to define himself as simply "black", and therefore entitled to something.

Women running for office would be well advised to avoid gender-based strategy (e.g. Clinton 08). If she had run as a person rather than as a "woman", she might have succeeded.

mike of MD 6:48PM August 26, 2008

I have three words for all of the bitter Hillary supporters out there, "Get Over It!"

Your candidate lost, something that happens quite frequently in elections, and in defeat you are showing that you are no better than the supposed "oppressors" you all rail against. Evidently you care less about the ideals and policies of the candidate than you do about their gender - the exact prejudice you decry in the male majority. Obama's positions and ideals are much more in line with Hillary's beliefs than are McCain's. The bitterness, the whining and the refusal to move on are clear indications that this election for many Clinton supporters was far more about nominating a woman for president than it was about nominating someone who could move this country in a positive direction.

Chris of CO 3:28PM August 26, 2008

It seems such a double standard that having been a politically active woman on her own, elected and re-elected to the Senate, is not enough experience to overpower the idea that the only source of Hillary’s power is supposedly family. And Ms Halloran, why does that bother you? Taft, Adams, Roosevelt, were they not all families where one person got ahead because of their relationship to someone else of the same name? I ask you, if anyone named Kennedy runs for office, do we denigrate their efforts as a hanger-on or are the welcomed as the last heir of the American Dynasty? Is it okay to be the son, brother, or nephew of a former president, but being the wife is somehow tainted?

Is there a double standard? You bet there is! The Republicans complained that HRC stayed married to her husband but then chose a man who cheated on his wife! Then the Democrats got the old bull of their family dynasty, one that is famous for public power and infamous for private shenanigans, to coronate Obama.

I was a Clinton supporter, still am, for next time. I went to see her because she is a woman, and the more I listened, the more I liked her as a candidate. I am glad she is not Obama’s VP because I think such a move would be a disservice to both of them. It is too late for the Democratic Party to change horses, even if they could. Biden was a less undesirable choice for VP than some he could have chosen.

I want a roll call vote, because I want to see it on the record. I further will never accept that the people of Florida and Michigan can have a publicly funded election for both parties, with the date decided by their respective state legislatures, and the unelected DNC gets to discard their votes. Further, if we are not going to have a roll call vote, why have a vote at all? Why have a convention? We could just have the media show up at the rallies and count the size of the cheering section. Wait: Obama had 20 times the cheering section at his rallies, but somehow that did not translate into winning states. It seems that the elderly and people with blue collar jobs who cannot get to rallies can vote (except in Michigan and Florida). Obama has raised enormous funds and spoken at huge rallies, but somehow cannot translate that into people believing in him. His backers say that if we all got to know him, we would like him. What do they think he was doing on the road all those months in the primary? People heard, they saw, they voted for Hillary.

I am not sure who I will vote for. I do not like the idea of McCain on health and abortion, but I don't like Obama either and fear for our future if either McCain or Obama wins. The fact that everyone who disagrees with Obama is treated as an ignorant racist by the media and by the Democratic Party does not help his cause. I found Mrs. Obama’s speech in Denver condescending. My problem is not with his “funny name.”

Party Unity? I did not have to leave the Democratic Party: they left us by telling us to shut up and sit down. Some of us shut up and left.

Cynthia GH King of OH 12:49PM August 26, 2008

Michael Ryan,

Your statement and that of many other Hillary supporters just puzzle me. What exactly has the Obama campaign done that has been so "shameful" in their treatment of Hillary. I just don't get it. He hasn't said or done anything that her campaign did not. The primary became ugly and heated but BOTH of them were responsible for that. How do you not see that Hillary too has said some not so nice things about Obama??? I understand some are naturally biased towards those they support, but this constant cry baby victimization of Hillary will not help her cause! Oh and I guess it's Obama's fault too that "the media wasn't fair to Hillary."

Santana of NY 9:59AM August 26, 2008