I wish I had had a partner in crime to hash out the letter to the editor from "Hope Porter" in today's issue - the one about which of two powerful women (Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin) will be remembered more fondly.

Where women's political accomplishments and what "they've actually accomplished in their lives" concern the writer, certain things stand out:

Since her election to high office Mrs. Clinton has worked hard to achieve a successful career. As a wife and mother she fulfilled the obligations of both roles. That her husband was President is not an "adjunct" of her own accomplishments. But that's only the part I'd like to discuss.

Since Mrs. Palin came to high political office she has done little of significance in the political world - she has built a media brand and, at the advantage of her children and Alaska's leadership, has made a fortune; which is fine but which our author didn't acknowledge or say.

I don't believe it's because my only issue was a letter to an editor that appears in today's Eccentric. There's another side to what we're discussing; a kind of complicated and rather un-resolved matter about woman's place in the modern world. It's not about whether women should make money or be famous. It's about a certain kind of woman's place.