I don't think many "progressives" realise the degree their criticisms of Hillary - and especially their imputations as to her character and beliefs - have been manufactured for her by the conservative and corporate media which they seem to accept wholesale. She has suffered considerably for her public service - from the suicide of her close friend Vince Foster when he couldn't stand the heat to all the bogus conspiracies and scandals manufactured for her - none of which would have raised an eyebrow for a Republican male candidate. The degree of misogyny and opposition to women in leadership still rampant has also to be seen to be believed.

If one of Obama's great achievements was simply to be a black man elected to the Presidency, then her achievement to be elected as a women will be similar.  It forces all sorts of changed social attitudes simply by virtue of them having been elected.

The other great fallacy is to simply assume that her Presidency will simply be a continuation of Bill's and Barack's Presidencies.  Both those Presidencies were considerably shaped by the political realities of their period in office. Far more important than any imputed ideological orientations in determining the course of her Presidency will be the degree to which Democrats, and Progressives within the Dem party, can take control of Congress and State houses to tackle such issues as gerrymandering, voter suppression, campaign finance, the make-up of SCOTUS, Wall Street regulation and infrastructural investment in sustainable energy, energy conservation, education, student loans, healthcare and prison reform etc.

I find the media - and many "progressives" focus on imputed or ascribed personalities, media performance, character, and personal presentation to the exclusion of all serious policy discussion or the structural factors and processes which can block or facilitate change utterly infantile, naive, lazy and dishonest.

And that is why we have Trump.

Index of Frank's Diaries