Hillary Hilarity

NOTE: The title of this post may or may not fully apply to this story, but I thought it was catchy so it's staying.

Ok, so I was parusing the CNN Political Blogs today and found a pretty interesting story from the Blue camp. John Edwards, former senator and former loser to Dick Cheney for VP has apparently been against Clinton's presidenial bid for a little while now, and he's released several statements about her candidacy.

First, he said that Hillary should be treated no differently in the race because she is a [the only] woman in the field.
The week after, his said that Hillary is using her...womanliness?...to be "the strong woman ready to lead" for one minute, then the next minute becomming "the woman under attack, disingenuously playing the victim card" and avoiding hard questions thrown her way.

Is she doing this? Maybe, but the more all-encompasing question is how her being a woman is really effecting this election as a whole. She has the attribute that no other candidate has, and while it may help her in places like her all-girls alma mater Wellesly College, the odds of influencing all women to vote for her is slim.

I, for one, have this theory: Americans love cool records being broken, history being made, and being able to say "we were there." People will always remember 9/11, and maybe even Katrina depending on where they were, but what better thing to be alive for than to see the first female (or black) president. If Clinton or Obama earn the Democrats' backing for the White House bid, they may not want to rest solely on their unique gender or race, but it may just be the trait that puts their chances over the rest.