Hillary

I don't claim to know much about american politics, but it does seem to me that it is unfortunate for Hillary Clinton to have timed (not by any fault of her own) her run for president to coincide with the run of Obama. This post by Megan McArdle talks about the difficulies she has faced because she is a woman.

Professional women have great difficulty projecting authority without projecting aggression, or bossiness. And running for president is probably the one place where this is hardest. Recently, one of my friends said, disparagingly, "She reminds me of my mother." It's hard to imagine someone saying, in the same tone, that they wouldn't vote for McCain because he was too much like Dad.

Personally, I think she would have cleaned up if she had been running against an Edwards or a Kerry. She just happens to be running against someone who seems to have that `X' factor. A cynic would say `X' could be substituted by colour, but I don't think that is the reason. I do think that sentiment is right at the moment for that kind of change, but I don't think sentiment is the primary reason Obama is doing as well as he is.