generalities

Lee, the Cillizza argument is part of the common mentality of the honor in being "first female" or "first black" or "first gay" to make it to a position of distinction. Think Halle Berry sobbing and crying out the names a list of black actresses who had not received an Oscar before her. This position isn't based on recognition of merit, it's based on recovering entitlement that's been denied.

A lot of women who've supported Hillary are coming from the school of the ERA, a camp convinced of a sexist conspiracy against Hillary Clinton (with videos like that compilation I sent a couple of weeks ago, I can see how that is a palpable explanation for those who've been ensconced in an ERA-school battle against rhetoric for forty years). For them particularly, this has been a passionate battle and they feel Hillary has been deprived of "First" status. It's like, Hillary built the farm, tilled the soil, tended the crops, all to be told that some woman will be sweeping in so late in the season to reap the spoils.

And I have a good feeling those women were especially moved by the bit in Hillary's concession speech about putting cracks in the glass ceiling. She's killed herself only to make the White House accessible for some woman after her, but jeez, don't they at least get some time to mourn before that happens?

I don't feel like this, but I do get it. Heeding the most extreme is an approach that's been consistent in the media's coverage of feminists, so I suspect that people outside her core base are capable of shuffling loyalty to Obama, Sebelia or not. Of course, we won't hear much from them on TV.

Diana