Hillary Clinton has been fighting a silent battle throughout this entire presidential primary. So far, the fact that she is female has been behind most of the attacks on her character and appearance.
Even Clinton's handlers disagreed among themselves as to how she should portray herself to her supporters and the media.
I can think of several times at which her femaleness was thrust front and center. The question about whether she prefers diamonds or pearls at a debate. The story about Clinton's cleavage showing on the Senate floor. The story of her choking up in New Hampshire. Each one was taken up by the media and the right-wing pundits and analyzed from many different angles, instead of being scrutinized for the incendiary trash it was.
Why did Hillary lose Iowa? I have a guess. The state has never elected a woman to be governor and is one of only two states in the nation that has never elected a woman to congress. We have few good examples of female elected leaders in our state. Don't get me wrong, women lead everything else and do a damn good job at it, but we struggle to elect women to national office.
The older women who voted for Hillary have lived long enough to have felt the string of sexism. Younger women who may have voted for Hillary on her merits voted instead for the excitement and momentum of Obama's campaign, thinking that surely, Hillary would be viable on her own.
The women of New Hampshire realized the gender gap and quickly closed ranks around Hillary. Male pundits made fun of her loss all week, poking her with a fork to see if she was done. Men I know routinely complain about the sound of her voice, the fact that she has wrinkles (my God, the woman is 60 years old, after all) and that she stood by Bill Clinton and her marriage even though he cheated on her.
Hillary could run circles around most men, and it is intimidating. Her strengths are seen by men as threatening, so she is villified. Some women even take up the lines and call her a bitch, a control freak, and worse. All of this from people who know nothing about her as a person, or her record, or her past accomplishments.
These same women would vote for Obama in a heartbeat, without knowing a thing about him except that he looks great in a suit and knows Oprah. Obama is a fine man, and a great candidate. But if you compare his life's experience and work experience with Hillary, it pales in comparison.
Factoid: Black men had the right to vote fifty years before women were allowed to vote.
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