I just read this flimsy article discussing female Obama supporters that I encourage you to review. (Kellman "Obama Super Delegates Find Their Sisterhood Questioned").  Why would I recommend a flimsy article?  Well, the reporter notes that my senator, Amy Klobuchar,  received some criticism from donors for her endorsement of Barack Obama. The article quotes other women -- Pat Schroeder and Ellen Malcolm -- who claim that women have significant hurdles in politics and that the Clinton candidacy really highlights this fact. They claim that with Senator Clinton, the media have primarily focused on the stuff that doesn't matter: her ridiculous laugh or her abrasive personality.

The problem with this sort of assertion is that it ignores the record. Barack Obama is successfully challenging Hillary Clinton because of Hillary Clinton's record, and to a lesser extent his record. When Hillary ran for Senate in 2000, there was a fairly widespread belief that she was progressive. As the former head of the Legal Services Corporation and as a strong-willed First Lady who had the courage to take on the insurers in the 1990s, she had the background.

Senator Clinton's reluctance to be perceived as progressive nearly began on her first day in office. The big-business bankruptcy bill got rolling and we saw where she landed. Next came the brutal No Child Left Behind Act, which removes federal money from schools which are "failing" (what is failing? It's when fourth graders don't pass standarized tests at a high enough rate).

And then an act of true weakness: her vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq. As a former First Lady, Senator Clinton brought noticeable support to the Bush Administration's plan for war. For years, she refused to acknowledge her  role in the Iraq War.  Sure, she criticized it nearly two years after the invasion -- on her Senate website -- but then days later she showed up in Iraq and voiced her support for the war.

All of this other stuff -- the cackle, the makeup, the personality -- serves to minimize Senator Clinton's record. That's unfortunate because her record is driving the progressive (and, in some instances, female) opposition to her candidacy.