Clinton's Gender Comfort

WASHINGTON -- The 2008 campaign was the first time a woman was a serious presidential contender, so it was not surprising that gender was an uncomfortable, tiptoe-y subject. The male candidates weren't sure-footed in dealing with it -- recall Barack Obama's "you're likable enough, Hillary" and the debate discussion about the color of her jacket.

Neither, actually, was Clinton herself. Her campaign was never certain how, or even whether, to talk about gender. Often, it put the issue at arm's length. "I am very proud to be making history running as a woman for president of the United States," Clinton would say on the campaign trail, "but I'm not running because I am a woman."

Sometimes, under pressure, her campaign unnecessarily turned the gender card face up, as when, after a bruising debate in November 2007, her allies complained of six guys "piling on" the candidate -- as if anyone ever thought of Clinton as a defenseless victim.

If the pre-campaign season is any indication -- and, yes, I do think we are in pre-campaign season -- this time could be interestingly different.

Clinton, like her party, is prepared to put issues of gender equality front and center; the preponderance of women voters and the Democrats' edge with them make that focus a no-brainer for candidates of both genders. "We talk about a glass ceiling," Clinton said at a forum on women's economic security at the Center for American Progress last month. "These women don't even have a secure floor under them."

More notable than the new focus on gender substance, though, may be Clinton's newfound comfort -- or new degree of comfort -- with being the female almost-candidate.

Witness Clinton's full-on embrace of grandma-hood, tweeting out pictures of her new granddaughter despite the twin potential pitfalls of gender and age. No one remarked on whether Mitt Romney's passel of grandkids made him seem old. (By the way, Clinton is seven months younger.) And no one questioned whether being a grandpa would diminish his zeal for the presidency.

You might call it sexist -- except that Clinton herself has raised that possibility. "I know I have a decision to make," she told People magazine in June. "But part of what I've been thinking about, is everything I'm interested in and everything I enjoy doing -- and with the extra added joy of 'I'm about to become a grandmother,' I want to live in the moment."

Just last week, though, baby Charlotte made her first appearance -- in name, not in fact -- on the campaign trail. Touting her "grandmother glow," Clinton, campaigning for Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf, noted that "there's a lot of Philadelphia and a lot of Pennsylvania in Charlotte. ... Her father's already held her while watching the Eagles play."

And Charlotte is not just a cute prop -- she serves a substantive point: That "you should not have to be the grandchild of a president" -- or perhaps two presidents -- "to get a good education, to get good health care. Let's make sure we give every child in Pennsylvania the same chance that I'm determined to give my granddaughter." Get ready to hear that line on the presidential campaign trail.

At the same time, Clinton seems looser, almost playful about gender in recent appearances. There she was at the Economic Club of Chicago earlier in the week describing how she tried to turn down President Obama when he asked her to be secretary of state.

"In my discussions with him, after he offered me the job here in Chicago and I said no, and I said no again, and I said no again, and finally I just gave in," Clinton said. And as I said to somebody the other day, I told my husband no and I wouldn't get married, and no, and just gave in. So ... I have a history with charismatic, attractive men. They just wear me out "

Pretty edgy, with its coy, no-sometimes-means-yes connotations. Except that everybody understands that Clinton knows her mind; this girl is swept off her feet only when she's so inclined. No one hearing it would think, "Gee, if she can't say no to Barack Obama, how will she stand up to Vladimir Putin?" Clinton knows: whatever criticisms she might encounter, not being tough enough won't be among them.

We saw some glimmerings of this Clinton in 2008, but her comfort level with gender, her willingness to engage in a bit of post-feminist flirtatiousness, seems greater now. The 2016 campaign could be the one that lets Hillary enjoy being a girl.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.