Hillary Clinton almost got to be president. The reasons why she didn't become president had to do with bad judgments about how to handle the early caucus states, which is not a gender-specific trait.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It was impossible for Hillary Clinton to have chosen a path to the White House that bypassed the loathing, jeering derision and gendered stereotyping built on two centuries of male power. What was interesting was how hard she tried to do just that.
Clinton is the first female to be taken seriously for the highest office in the land. She has the credentials, the stamina and she is a good campaigner. Her detractors in both parties like to say she can't win, but they may be proven wrong.
I'm not going to advocate for a female leader who I'm voting for solely on the basis of gender. And I think a lot of people feel that way.
When I joined Bill Clinton's start-up presidential campaign in 1991, I was confident that women would play an ever more important role, but I never gave a minute's thought to what would happen if we won. When we did - and I became the first woman to serve as White House press secretary - it changed my life. But it didn't change the world.
Hillary doesn't play. She has more experience and exposure to the presidency than any candidate in our lifetime - yes, more than Barack, more than Bill. So she is absolutely ready to be Commander-in-Chief on day one. And, yes, she happens to be a woman.
The women I see are very brave women, very strong women, women that are facing a lot of challenges and yet are up to the challenges and are making a very big effort. So I don't see why one of them cannot become a president - one day.
In 2008, I started the election season as a critic of Hillary Clinton, a fan of Barack Obama, and a supporter of John Edwards. But by the end of Clinton's historic drive toward nomination, the gendered rhetoric used against her - as well as the way so many men in my own party diminished the value of electing a female president - had radicalized me.
I don't think anyone should pick a candidate for any office based solely on gender. That would be, I believe, a mistake.
As an Independent, she has no party backing... Her being the first Independent president trumps the fact that she's a woman. It causes even more upheaval in Washington than her being female.
I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman - not me, not Bill, nobody - more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.