I've been floating a theory that one reason Barack Obama could be elected
president while Jesse Jackson could not is that Obama was not part of
the Civil Rights movement, the movement that clearly helped make these
historic events possible. Obama has emerged, post-Civil Rights, the way having been cleared for him by a previous generation, much like the Israelites were said to be forced to wander in the desert for 40 years, waiting for enslaved generations to die off and make way for a
generation that knew only freedom. Believe me, I understand that
freedom is relative and not absolute; however I think the metaphor can
be applied.
The same metaphor works in the case of Hillary Clinton and, IMHO, explains why she could not be elected president (of course it's not the only reason, but to me, it's a bigger reason than personality and the other issues people had with her). Hillary Clinton is part of the generation that is still wandering in the desert. The first female U.S. president will come from the subsequent generation that emerges, free of the baggage of both doubt and entitlement.
There, I said it.