“…what Hillary Clinton has accomplished to this point would have been impossible thirty years ago…”
You think? Twenty years ago it wouldn’t have been impossible, or even difficult. There was a substantial movement in the Republican Party to draft Jeanne Kirkpatrick in 1988, but in the end she declined. There may have been some people looking at her in ’80 as well, but I don’t remember any specifics. Some female heads of state have always been popular with Americans, e.g., Margaret Thacher, Golda Meir.
I don’t think gender or race is a conclusive factor in the general U.S. population, particularly in the party formed to end slavery. I’ll bet a large majority of Republicans and conservatives would love to have a Clarence Thomas as president, and most moderate Republicans (whatever that means) would support a Colin Powell. A lot of people wished for, and would still like Condi Rice on the ticket, although it appears that she doesn’t want to lower herself to the level of the mud pit. (This speaks well for her, I suppose.)
