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If Hillary is not to be the first woman President, is there a woman President on the horizon?

Kate Zernike surveys the possibilities. Of course, it's a ridiculously inadequate argument for Hillary, but I've heard it over and over: If we don't elect Hillary, we'll have to wait too long to see a woman President and a lot of us won't get to have a woman President in our lifetime.

Zernike thinks the potential female candidates may "feel dispirited" by what happened to Hillary:

?Who would dare to run?? said Karen O?Connor, the director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University. ?The media is set up against you, and if you have the money problem to begin with, why would anyone put their families through this, why would anyone put themselves through this??

For this reason, she said, she doesn?t expect a serious contender anytime soon. ?I think it?s going to be generations.?

Others say Mrs. Clinton had such an unusual combination of experience and name recognition that she might actually raise the bar for women.

In fact, the biggest point of agreement seemed to be that there is no Hillary waiting in the wings.

Except, of course, Hillary.

Oh, good lord, is this really the way it is? I think people were open to the idea of a woman President, but Hillary Clinton did not suit us. We don't want someone else like her. We want someone different. For starters, how about a woman who did not build her political career through her husband?

Full post as published by Althouse on May 18, 2008 (boomark / email).