“In Friday’s New York Times, Susan Faludi rejoiced over Hillary Clinton’s destruction of the myth of female prissiness and innate moral superiority, hailing Clinton’s ‘no-holds-barred pugnacity’ and her media reputation as ‘nasty’ and ‘ruthless.’ Future female presidential candidates will owe a lot to the race of 2008, Faludi wrote, ‘when Hillary Clinton broke through the glass floor and got down with the boys.’ I share Faludi’s glee — up to a point. Surely no one will ever dare argue that women lack the temperament for political combat. But by running a racially tinged campaign, lying about her foreign policy experience and repeatedly seeming to favor McCain over her Democratic opponent, Clinton didn’t just break through the ‘glass floor,’ she set a new low for floors in general, and would, if she could have gotten within arm’s reach, have rubbed the broken glass into Obama’s face.” (05/12/08)