Clintonistas have recently taken to comparing the Obama-Clinton campaign to a sort of hiring process, whereby the most qualified candidate in their minds, Hillary Clinton, has lost out on the promotion because of her gender.
Let's say for argument's sake, that it is appropriate to describe the election as a competition where Ms. (or Mr.) American Electorate, the CEO of the United States of America, has to choose the new manager of the firm. Senator Clinton and Senator Obama both want to be considered for the promotion, but Ms. American Electorate is pretty sure that he/she is going to hire Sen. Clinton. But, because the company policy requires that the candidates sit down for an interview (the campaign process), Ms. American Electorate has to go through the formality.
Barack Obama shows up for the interview, and Ms. American Electorate is surprisingly very, very impressed. He is well prepared, knowledgeable, and has demonstrated that he has the skills for the job. Ms. American Electorate is second guessing her previous decision to give Sen. Clinton the job and decides to see what Sen. Clinton has to say.
Senator Clinton was really confident that she was going to get the job. She was sure that her resume was more impressive than her closest competitor, and decided that the interview process wasn't that big of a deal.
She showed up 15 minutes too late for the interview and obviously came unprepared. And over the course of the interview, she happens to slightly offend Ms. American Electorate to boot.
It's a no-brainer to figure out who is going to get the job.
If Clinton had displayed this kind of conduct for a top corporation, she would have, too, been passed up for the promotion.