Jessica Johnson, Athens Banner-Herald
- The historic hallmarks of the presidential campaigns of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama provide an interesting analysis concerning the dynamics of gender and race in American politics.
During Clinton’s bid for the Oval Office, the overt sexism was obvious in the media’s coverage of her campaign, from Rush Limbaugh’s obnoxious comment of a woman aging in the White House to Chris Matthews’ likening the voice of the former first lady to “nails on a blackboard.”
As Obama was closing in on the Democratic nomination, race reared its divisive head when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said many conservative white people in his state probably would not vote for a black man for president.
Yet, despite the biases, both Obama and Clinton encountered, they broke major ground in the political process for minorities and women, and when examining the historical significance of their 2008 campaigns, another civic icon who paved the way for them comes to mind: Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.
