I think this is naive. Hillary may have taken sides against other women in her history, but if you think Obama has never abandoned anyone in his quest for power you are even more naive.

Condemning a heterosexual woman for the extra-sexual conduct of her husband is just as outdated as insisting she stand by her man. You may think she should have cut and run in her marriage, but that ethic is also clearly a product of the one man, one woman formula. So it's a wash who is feministically correct. It's her choice and it's her business who she sleeps with and lives with. Especially given that she's not out prosecuting sex crimes and has NOT committed a crime by staying with a philanderer.

Your analysis reeks of the double standard I addressed just moments ago:

Obama can "pass" as black or white, and does so when he so chooses, and he is adept at it. No woman can switch hit by passing as a man or a woman, at will when the situation demands it, or whether she wants to or not--the majority of this nation's citizen's voters will not let her. That is the number one reason so many hate Hilary--not misogyny, but gender stereotyping. As a woman you are taught that you can have one or the other but not both. You can have a career but you must be willing to be a castrating bitch. Since she was the supportive wife and mom therefore we MUST deny her this opportunity. That's how the gender mythologizing goes. It's not that different from demanding that non-American WASPs give up their unique cultural identity.

It is an illustration of how and why gender roles are MORE primary to our culture than race, because we are forced into an appropriate gender role before we even leave the home or womb...

. . .As a married female with a child, Hillary is politically considered greedy. How dare she want to be the First Lady and the President? What an upstart bitch! She must have lied somewhere in her past to want both these things. Unfortunately, we still have not gotten past the view that citizens first and foremost must be men.

Maybe some women see Hillary as hopelessly loyal to her role as wife/victim or duplicitous for desiring both roles. If so, you have been swallowing the conservative religious repackaging of her hook line and sinker. We are all complex beings and marriage for life is a difficult task under the best of circumstances.

You may be uncomfortable with why or whether she takes advantage of her husband's fame. Not me--marriage is not a piece of cake and I wouldn't have been in it for 30 years if there was not some advantage beyond being a second rate citizen. Men take advantage of marriage--they get regular sex, kids with their name, and household services for free.

You can expect more from women (the sisterhood ideal), but that does not mean you should hold them to a higher standard of punishment just because your ideals for them are higher.

Esya,

You have missed the point. This article is about Hillary using the victim card to her political advantage, not about having higher ideals for her.

I do not even want to mention the fact that at one point in her law career, HIllary defended a sexual predator by questioning the credibility of the twelve year old female victim. But this is relevant information. Hillary is willing to sacrifice any sense of the values that most Americans have in her political and professional ambition. You can say she is empowered in this way, but it is shaky ground.

The main difference I can illustrate for you is that Senator Obama chose not to throw his pastor under the bus, consequences be damned, while Hillary will throw herself under the bus if it means that she is nominated.

I would love to have a female president, but I would rather not see that woman's election be devalued by the sort of nepotism and victim politics that Hillary engages in. I admit we may be a long way from that still, but electing Hillary on the premises of her public life thus far would be a step in the wrong direction.

I missed the part where Hillary was maligning members of her family publicly? And the issue was not about Obama choosing a racist to be his uncle the issue is that he goes to what is essentially an anti-american anti-semetic gendist church. I know that Obama is the passive aggressive candidate for office, which is even moreso, why I really don't want to have to deal with him and his unjustified fear of white America.

It has to do with Education. Centralizing Education will help advance education in the US especially to financially disadvantaged people who WANT an education, not demand the degree without credential.

The issue is not the actions of Hillary's husband, the issue is her demonizing of the women involved, demeaning them as money-grubbing, destroying their reputations, and maintaining a relationship with a man who believes it is acceptable to exploit women.

Bill Clinton exploited his power over women for sexual gain on a routine and ritualized basis, using state troopers to facilitate this exploitation. I am disgusted. Hillary Clinton -- again and again -- objectified and dehumanized these same women.

In her brief role as a prosecutor, she also did the same to a 12 year old girl who was forcibly raped by Hillary's adult male indigent client.

I am appalled by Hillary's insensitivity to the other women who were wronged by Hillary's husband. Hillary is rich, a Senator, and widely respected. THese mostly low income women had their reputations destroyed and they enjoy none of her privileges.

As a woman who has been cheated on, but also raped, molested and forced to defend my own value by the perpetrator, I can't respect her actions or her position. She is no role model for my daughters.

Please tell me how Obama can "pass" for anything other than a black man? His mother is white as is her side of the family, but make no mistake about it. When you see Barack Obama, you don't see a white person.

Please read Nella Larson's Passing before you use such a fraught term so carelessly.

Esya, no where in the article did the authors attack Hillary for the sins of her husband or her choice to stand by him. What they did point out was her willingness to blame the victim which goes against everything feminism stood for. Her husband was in a position of power every time. If he were any other man, we’d call for his head.

Second, Obama can never pass for anything other than a black man. The fact that you state otherwise shows your ignorance. And the assumption that gender is more primary is absolutely absurd in this day and age. I highly recommend you look at the statistics. As recently as 2003, white women earned more than black men who earned more than black women. So please do not tell me, or anyone else, that it’s a greater disadvantage to be a (white) woman. Tell me, are women segregated into the worse schools across the country? Do you not acknowledge the privilege of being white and female? After all, they are freely allowed to get a quality education with their white male counter parts. Are a significant portion of the female population incarcerated? I know that black men are. I could go on for days but I challenge you to seek out an objective opinion. I honestly can not believe there is a woman on the planet that believes a white woman is at a greater disadvantage than a black man. Someone would be inclined to ask you what country you lived in.

Calvardos, you are incorrect in your reading of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Though it was originally enacted with the black population in mind, there is nothing specific in the language that says it only applies to them. In fact, since it has been enacted it has been used to protect ALL citizens of the US, including women. So please do not state otherwise.

To the person that thinks Obama can pass for black or white, I'd like to correct that. No way can the man pass for black or white, when you can look at him and tell he's black. Born of both black and white parents he's able to see both sides of the coin, that most of us cannot. I am a female, a black female, and I appreciate the fact that this person is speaking up for women, but cannot be Hillary. She's too divisive. Hillary can't keep her campaign together how is she gonna run the whitehouse. Her campaign is divisive. Sure she is a leader, but what kind of leader?? Do we really want that in the whitehouse?

Hillary has other people speaking negatively for her. Example, Gerladine Ferraro, who absolutely refused to apologize for her comments, what about husband Bill? Who keeps making negative inuindo's. Like the one he made in South Carolina that ticked everyone off, and he keeps making those inuindo's, the off the cuff statements.

We don't want that in the Whitehouse, we want someone that has the charisma of Obama to get people to do things for him without pissing them off. That's why Hillary couldn't pass her healthcare bill the first time. Her mannerisms. Maybe another female, maybe another time, but not this time, and not her.

You said: "...Obama can "pass" as black or white, and does so when he so chooses, and he is adept at it. ..."

I pride myself with learning something each day that I didn't know the day before.

Thanks.

Patrick

The idea that Obama can pass as black or white is patently absurd. I don't expect this post to be respected - there seems to be an entire generation of American women who attack any woman who disagrees with their precise concept of feminism with the venom that should be directed toward child abusers (See Gateway). It would be a reach to say it's that it's an attitude close to the cultural revolution, but it does follow a Gang of Four mentality. If the problem is gender, why isn't Olympia Snowe constantly attacked? Compare her legislative record to Hillary's. Or Madeline Albright? or Condi Rice? Compare their foreign policy record to Hillary's - and they were not shrinking violets in the Middle East. They made their case and they did not back down. The problem is not gender - it's Hillary. Most prolific posters seem to be outraged about the second section of the article. I'm not. I've experienced outageous bias in my own life - from women in academia and in corpoate life who were only out for themselves. The generation before them? Women who were gave support, wisdom and mentorship. The baby boomers? Watch your back. The posts on this board don't refute the Slate article, that are a testament to the article.

Barack Obama can pass as white? Wow! News to me!

Well, time does tell, doesn't it? Obama HAS thrown his pastor under the bus, I still disagree that expressing frustration in the heat of a campaign is "playing the gender card" (name at least three men who have done the same--and your reaction is a gender card in itself). Some things are just too obvious to give a speech about, and that is what draws the line between sincere and sanctimonious.