If this is "second wave" feminism, then the movement is lost.

I actually agree with Morgan's thesis that feminism has been backsliding in recent years and that this is a serious problem.

However, to assert that the solution to this problem is to elect a woman who has gotten to where she is by repeatedly and actively using her husband's name and reputation as her biggest "qualification" is stupid to the point of being offensive.

This would not actually counter any of the symptoms that Morgan points out and plays right into exactly the scenarios that feminism was founded to counter-act.

Frankly, it is also a vile parody of what feminism is supposed to be.

It's blindingly simple: Coat-tails candidacies ultimately hurt both feminism and the perception of women in society.

There are plenty of qualified potential female candidates who have gotten to where they are on their own merits.

Coat-tails is a great word. And the last time we blindly let this leap-frogging happen was what got us W. Of course Hillary is smarter than he is and better prepared. But they both are missing some essential developmental phase that I worry will result in poor leadership. Never mind that such dynastic choices erode our ability to convey or instruct the future democracies here and elsewhere.

It is a damned hard road to toe. Brilliant and focused women like Senator Clinton or Michelle Obama often marry brilliant men like Bill or Barack. This is good. Those men are to be praised, because a powerful man could instead marry his yoga teacher with nary an eye blinked, while for her any other decision... staying single like Condi or marrying your high school doofus lout like Governor Sebelius's "First Dude" looks just as bad.

In politics it's doubly hard, because it touches so much. Power couples I know in other fields just keep their business lives as separate as possible. But, Hillary Clinton taking a position at Wal-Mart is irrevocably linked to her being First Lady of Arkansas, despite her qualifications. Clinton as leader of the healthcare taskforce is linked to Bill. Clinton as Senator, too. Fair or not.

In a political power couple, the husband is, unfortunately, going to be noticed first. That's even more true when Bill was a "natural" and she really isn't.

So I'm sympathetic as heck, even though I won't support her (too much corporate connection, too much sleazy garbage was true for both of them, and I really, really like Obama) except to support Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Thanks- always glad to hear from another Ginsberg fan!

I definately appreciate your point. Still, it is Clinton herself who is explicitly running on her husband's administration, not her Senate experience, so the irrevocable links to Bill's coat-tails are nobody's fault but her own.

Personally, I desperately wish she had not gone down that road.

marrying your high school doofus lout like Governor Sebelius's "First Dude"

You mean a respected federal judge whose father was one of the most beloved politicians in Kansas history? Wow, you must have a very different idea of what a doofus or lout is from what I do

Ears are buring. My apologies. I've supported her and met him. He is smart, not a lout, but indeed a doofus. But, other professional women I've known that fall in that trap.

I agree--that HRC is smart in her own right. I also agree that smart women like HRC and Mrs. Obama tend to marry equally smart men. However, the choice to put one's own ambitions (perhaps HRC always had political ambitions---not a bad thing btw), but she chose (perhaps in conjunction with her husband as is the cas in most marriages) to let him leave out his dreams first, and put her on hold.

I have no doubt that HRC like a lot of wives in her position, made several sacrifices and also helped in an array of ways to make her husband's dreams come true, but not to the extent of earning the right to use his experience (eight years as a state executive and eight years as a federal executive as her own).

I also don't believe that she would be in the position that she is (50/50 chance of being the next democratic nominee for president) without riding her husbands coat tails. We women have difficult choices to make, but we should be honest with ourselves and in HRC's case, the people she wants to vote for her, about her experience. When we are not honest, we cheapen our sacrifces, worth, and our ability to reach whatever goals we have set for ourselves, by standing on our own two feet.