Hillary Clinton’s nomination is widely hailed as the breaking of, in Eleanor Clift’s words, “America’s 240-year glass ceiling,” and there’s no denying that many people, and not just women, are thrilled by the prospect of the election of a woman president. Whether you share that feeling or not, it’s easy to understand, and easy to understand that many people feel that it’s long overdue.

In my view, American voters have been ready to elect a woman president for quite some time now, at least for the last 25 years. The right candidate has just not come around. Certainly there’s little reason to doubt that Hillary Clinton, if she had been nominated by the Democratic party, would have won the general election in the circumstances of 2008.