The First Woman President?

Who cares what Church he goes to? One's religious is deeply personal and if he is a member of a predominantly black church, so what? I'm sure that most people go to churches or other religious institutions where the majority of the people look like them. Is Bill Clinton or George Bush held accountable for going to churches with a white majority? This is irrelevant.

Are you saying MCCAIN doesn't pander? Since he lost the nomination to Bush in 2000, he's done nothing BUT pander to the right. For all the sharp analysis of the Democratic candidates in this piece, your last second plug of McCain is totally blind.

Well, I would give the professor a "D" for this essay. He does not state his proper thesis up front (that McCain is the one showing true "leadership". He diverges from the obvious thesis at the end to make a personal argument favoring John McCain without first providing any substantive argument of evidence earlier in the essay. He does seem to have used proper spelling, punctuation ,and grammar. However, I'm going to have to recommend that professor Linsky take a few of the essay writing and lower division English classes they offer there at Harvard so that he can learn to avoid ad homonim argument and develop his thesis properly.

Obama - Great Debate
Clinton - Great Debate
Bottom line - stop the bickering and the front runner should oust Mr. McCain in November. Democrats focus on the bottom line. Obama and Clinton both have commendable backgrounds and experience in fighting for the people not the rich so don't minimize his standards nor miminize hers. He is leading in the polls and won 10 straights States that should amount to something. ORDINARY PEOPLE WANT CHANGE NOT SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN THERE AND IS USE TO THE SAME OLD POLITICS. I TRULLY BELIEVE HE WILL MAKE A DIFFENCE AND THE DEMOCRATS SHOULD BE PROUD.

I would like to add that this is one of the most blatant sexist things I've read in a long time. Shame on you. If only I was in the kitchen right now instead of at work... I'd throw the kitchen sink at you!

As a person of strong conviction of patiotism, and a naturalized citizen, it is no contest in my mind. Man or Woman...we must realize the importance of this office: If America does not like being American and the freedoms that lie herein....Obama is the choice. He has clearly self-professed his anti-American leanings and drastic underlying tones of anti-American sentiment. Frank Davis is his long time mentor! Where is his patriotism to qualify him for such an office ? I fear for this country and our freedoms under his concept of patriotism - ( not to mention having a first lady whose pride in country is based solely on having her husband a potential presidential candidate). Wake up America - he's not an Oscar nominee, he's running for the most important office of the county and very arguable the most critical position in the world. DO WE REALLY WANT A PRESIDENT THAT CANNOT EVEN PUT HIS HAND OVER HIS HEART DURING OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM? Come on!

Great article. Very insightful, and I think accurate. One of the ironies of Hillary's campaign is that she has continued to sell her masculinity, her toughness, as though we somehow need to be convinced that she is man enough for the job. What strikes me as odd about that is that was the one question about Hillary that was always settled in my own mind, long before this campaign began. I can't imagine that anyone anywhere thought she wasn't tough enough for the job, or enough of a fighter. That's more or less a given.
I was looking for other things from Hillary in this campaign. I wanted to see her humanness, her heart. I wanted to see if she had the ability to listen, instead of talking incessantly. On the practical side, I also wanted to see how well she would manage her campaign, the kind of people she would surround themselves with and their effectiveness, and how she would manage husband Bill.
After months of intensive campaigning, I'd give her a C+ or possibly B-. She has showed her heart at times, but she is a horrible listener. And, her campaign theme might best be described as "Ready, Fire, Aim." It's been all over the place. It hasn't been well-managed from any point of view. Her time has been overpaid and consistently under-performing. Husband Bill made major blunders, so much so that he might have cost her the election.
Still, all I really know about Hillary is that she's tough enough and a fighter, and that still seems to be all she wants to tell me.

u got it all wrong. It's obvious that Hillary tried to throw the kitchen sink at Obama and it didn't work. Obama is running his campaign with intregrity and facts. So don't think for one second that Mr. McCain run over him that just won't happen. We need change and Obama will bring that change. Look at the polls democrats it clearly shows that Obama has a wide margin lead over McCain not Hillary let's rally behind Mr. Obama so we can see some changes to our country

This is so interesting. As a woman, I couldn't quite put my finger on why HC totally turned me off while Obama (and yes, McCain) appealed to my sense of fairness and reason. I will vote for Sen. Obama because his vision more closely parallels my own, but I still respect Sen. McCain's overall attempts at honesty. HC's: not so much.

If any male politicians who valued inclusiveness, concensus -building, etc., that are traditionally seen as "female" values should be counted as "female"politicians, and I'm sure there were some US President's who excelled in those "feminine" values, then I am safe to assume that all the feminists in the world could stop screaming their demand for the "first female President" for the sake of gender equality. We've already had some, right?

Hillary is absolutely right, the media is so enamored with obama that they don't even want to touch him at all. I've been watching every debate, and all the questions are asked to her first, the media has not been fair to her, when the political pundits talk about her, they show video of obama. the media really hates hillary, white men don't want a woman running the country, it's call machismo. Hillary it's the only candidate who can stand up to the republican machine, Senator McAin will eat obama alive, mark my words.

To add to my recent comment, what's better: to be strong and wrong, or to prevent a mess and risk appearing weak. Strength alone is one component of effective leadership, but without good judgement, we get situations like Iraq. The one point that Hillary has made in the past, which I agree with: If we knew then what we know now, NO ONE would have voted for the Iraq War Resolution.

What you say is true, but the implications are horrendous. Obama is weak, and the last thing we ned is a weak president. The woman in this race is the strong one, and we desperately need someone strong and experienced to fix this country. Obama will go talk to the evil leaders of the world without preparation and come home losing and crying. If you want a rock star, vote for Brittany Spears.

Gender conventions dont exist long past childhood. Women leaders do exactly what male leaders do. America has seen plenty of female leadership. Contrary to feminist assumptions, they did exactly what there male counterparts would have done. We did not witness a tremendous out pouring of compassion or an end to war , peace on earth or any of the other things that were promised.

Calling Obama the first female canidate is offensive to his male dignity. There is nothing wrong with being called a woman, if you are in fact a woman. But as a matter of course a man being called feminent is an insult, as many women feel its is an insult to be called masculine. There is no gender bending, a man can be sensible and I feel that most are. The only suprise is America's tendency to elect arrogant blow hards spewing belacose rhetoric all the way to the oval office. The fact its not happening now i causing the pundits to come to terms with change. I hope that after Obama wins we can change our pundits too!

The point that neither Hillary, George W. Bush, or John McCain understand is that Obama is like Ike, FDR, and Ronald Reagon. That is, Obama believes that you build support by first getting public support and confidence and then going to your political supporters and and opponents and striking a deal. It leaves Rove with his 43% that degenerates to 35% as a great politician marshalls his support from the public and his political supporters and opponents.

Robert Koontz
Major, USMCR (Ret.)

Obama supporters have been discredited too often by too many people including Hillary Clinton. There is nothing wrong with choosing a new strategy once the old one has failed you enough times. If the Clinton strategy is so effective she would be winning. If she was a decent leader she would be winning. The fact people abandoned her is a testament to her inability to adapt to a changing world. I think Hillary supporters are naive and delusional. I think they chose the safe choice without considering the consequences, much like Bush voters in 2004. It is about time the Democratic party stand on principal and not just pandering rhetoric to its base. Voting for the war was stupid, insulting Obama voters was stupid, devalueing the significance of black voters was stupid, attacking the caucus process was stupid, attacking the idea of hope and optimism was BEYOND STUPID.