1 Boring Old Man

Will She Ever Get There?

By Anne E. Kornblut
Sunday, November 2, 2008

As the presidential campaign draws to a close, it’s commonplace to hear 2008 heralded as an excellent year for women. But has it been?

First Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ran the most serious presidential campaign of any woman in U.S. history. Then Gov. Sarah Palin, the first woman on a Republican ticket, sparked an initial rush of excitement. Never before have women played such a prominent role in national politics, the reasoning goes, and that has laid the groundwork for even greater advancement the next time a woman runs.

But both women’s campaigns devolved into such strife, their candidacies provoking such frenzied passions and mocking caricatures along the way, that it’s only fair to ask whether the first woman’s path to the White House was eased this year — or whether Clinton and Palin simply unearthed the land mines without defusing any of them. If Democrat Barack Obama wins on Tuesday, he will have broken a huge barrier. But another one still awaits….

But the massive wave of Clinton supporters that Republicans predicted would sweep toward McCain has never materialized, at least not according to the late-October polls. Palin’s selection has turned out to be the one example in recent history of a vice presidential pick having a measurable effect on the direction of the race — a negative one.

In the months and years before she announced her candidacy, Clinton was often asked whether the country was ready to elect a woman president of the United States. "Well, we won’t know until we try," she always said. Having tried, heading into 2009, the question is still out there.

I kind of resent that insinuation, actually. I was an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton until the vote on the Iraq War. She voted for it, and I was surprised. No, I was appalled. Much later, as the Obama/Clinton race heated up, I found myself drawn to Senator Obama. Was it his maleness? Or a reaction to Clinton’s femaleness? I certainly hope not. It’s very hard to defend against accusations of having unconscious motives. Hearing unconscious motives was my profession, but I also know that hearing one’s own unconscious motives is a daunting task – often impossible. The only ‘sexist’ thought that I am aware of was my concern that Hillary Clinton was "too connected" in her thinking to her husband, a former President. That’s sexist because I never thought about Barack Obama being "too connected" to Michelle’s thoughts. So I can’t be sure.