This article in the Washington Post shows there are serious roadblocks to Clinton's election above and beyond the fact that she is a woman. (I'm sure there are people out there, even now, who would not vote for her just for that reason.) It's almost a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. If Hillary went on Oprah, wept into her tea, and shared intimate secrets, she'd win over some people who don't feel they "know her," but she'd lose others who don't want a chief executive who shows weakness. I would probably vote for her. I've never voted anything except Democrat in a presidential election and if she's the nominee that probably won't change (in the absence of an overwhelmingly compelling moderate Republican or Independent choice).
"Anna Shelley, a mother of three from Utah, says she is ready for a female president, and she is sure that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has what it takes.
But Shelley, a Democrat, is not sure she could ever pull a lever for Clinton. Her reservations are vague but unmistakable: Something about Clinton leaves her cold.
"I want to see her as a human being -- I can read a newspaper and see her agenda," said Shelley, 27, whose husband did a tour in Iraq and who is appreciative of Clinton's support of the military.
"I think she's a little hard," she said. "She may be strong, but at the same time, if you're driven sometimes you're perceived as not having sympathy. And perception is reality for most of us."
It is a reality that Clinton's advisers are confronting as they seek to position the former first lady for a possible 2008 presidential run. They expect that any campaign would begin after this fall's election, in which Clinton, a Democrat, is running for a second Senate term from New York.
Never has a politician stepped onto a presidential stage before an audience of voters who already have so many strong and personal opinions about her, or amid arguments that revolve around the intangibles of personality and the ways people react to it.
Clinton's assets are formidable: an unrivaled ability to generate publicity and money, and approval ratings that are notably strong, given her polarizing reputation and the controversies she has weathered over 15 years in the national eye. In recent public opinion polls, she handily leads potential Democratic rivals.
Beneath these positives, however, there is evidence of unease -- about her personal history, demeanor and motives -- among the very Democratic and independent voters she would need to win the presidency." [Washington Post: Beyond the Poll Numbers, Voter Doubts About Clinton]