For women, perceptions are truths. Forget first impressions - women are impressing all the time. It's not what actually exists - it's what appears to be true, even for a fleeting moment. And it's holistic - any piece in disarray destroys the totality. It's not "you look good, but..." It's "did you see that ..." That's why women use mirrors. One slip-up and it's game over.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton was the first serous female candidate and the first to ever win a presidential primary, eventually racking up 23 of them and arguably winning the popular vote, losing to the rising star of the party by only 97 pledged delegates, while only falling behind in superdelegates a month from the finish.

Throughout the primary campaign, Clinton was labeled as "inevitable", in lieu of her husband's presidency and her party connections, often as a pejorative accusing her of feeling entitled. Missing from this simplified equation was that many Democratic leaders had condemned her husband's actions, that he'd been impeached, that the 2000 election was largely about "Clinton fatigue" with many "liberal" media figures regularly slamming both Clintons' actions and reputation, and he didn't even have the coattails to pull his VP over the line.

Recent announcements of attacks on ISIS paint a picture of a rogue group of militants finally on the run, getting their come-uppance as it were (being "brought to heel", since I'm not running for office?). Defeated in battle, having $800 million in cash destroyed, even having the US turn up the heat on their famed social media advocacy (helped by rock star hackers Anonymous).

After 7 years of maintaining and extending the Bush Doctrine to new countries, and tip-toeing around the Syrian conflict, has Obama finally found his groove, his not a "dumb war", but a smart war, one that has at least tangible benefits to what most people see as something worth fighting for?