Sarah Palin == glass ceiling?

[iconicgnom]

There are glass ceilings all over the place between discriminated against groups and their rightful opportunities. The metaphor is sound. But it isn't always the right metaphor to use in every circumstance where a member of an often discriminated against group struggles but fails to achieve.

I don't think Hillary Clinton's "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" is a very good description of her achievement. The description suggests that she didn't win because she was discriminated against, because she hit a "glass ceiling" of discrimination, and I don't think that's true. There was no "glass ceiling" for Barack. In fact, from the start Barack Obama denied its existence, saying that if he lost it wouldn't be because of his color, but because he didn't fight the best campaign. We all know the result. And that brings us to today.

Now we have the spectacle of Republican candidate Sarah Palin claiming Hillary Clinton's "18 million cracks" as her own, as "cracks" in her own "glass ceiling", suggesting that now, with her running backup, "women" can break right thru'. The fallacy is that those "18 million cracks" weren't actually "cracks in a glass ceiling" at all, they were simply fair DEMOCRATIC VOTES for a certain candidate. Those fair votes aren't transferable to another candidate, whatever gender - even were that candidate a Dem. But that doesn't stop Sarah Palin and the Republican party from exploiting the bad metaphor. They were given the meme to use - handed it on a platter - and I can't think of an easy way to neutralize it.