It's already begun.

The polls have no sooner padlocked their doors than the feminist columnists have fired up their laptops to declare that Hillary Clinton lost the U.S. presidency because sexist Americans just don't want a woman in the White House.

Here's the mournful Alison Philips at the U.K. Guardian:

It was within touching distance – the dream that a woman would for the first time ever hold the world's top job.

Just 12 hours ago I wrote that with Hillary Clinton in the White House no longer would a girl grow up believing there was a job she couldn't get. No pinnacle she couldn't reach .

Today that top job and that pinnacle remain out of the reach of women. Perhaps, now, for several generations to come.

Mmm, Alison, as I recall, a girl grew up to reach a certain pinnacle in your country some 37 years ago. (Oh wait, not that kind of girl!)

At Mother Jones, Stephanie Mencimer wrings her hands over Clinton's loss in Utah:

It's not just because the state is overwhelmingly Republican. It's also because she's a woman.

Mencimer blames pins the blame on the fact that women in this overwhelmingly Mormon state are encouraged to major in the wrong subjects in college:

Utah has one of the worst gender gaps in the country in college graduation rates, and the depth of the education gap may be further masked by all the bachelor's degrees given out by church-owned Brigham Young University in "family and consumer sciences," with college courses like "Preparation for Marriage," interior design, and food preparation in the home—classes dominated by women.

Nothing says patriarchy like taking a class in interior design in college.

And then there's Ruth Graham at Slate:

There is a lot to mourn in this sickening moment in American history. After Tuesday night, it becomes much harder to believe that America is even trying to express its highest and simplest ideals.

But I can’t help thinking right now about Hillary Clinton as a person, rather than a symbol. She’s a woman who stayed so strong for so many years, but who is, after all, only human. And she’s a woman who many of us have grown to love.

Get a grip, feminists. First of all, polls have consistently shown that a huge majority of Americans have no problem with the concept of a woman president. But as with male candidates, they like to elect female candidates on the basis of what they think are their qualifications, not their gender. That's why we currently have six sitting female state governors in America: three Republicans and three Democrats.

It's a little early after the election to do a post-mortem on Clinton's qualifications, or the baggage she brought with her to the ballot boxes, starting with her husband. Or maybe with Benghazi. But if feminists wanted to see a woman president, shattered, maybe they should have promoted a woman presidential candidate whose main claim to high office seemed to be her desire to continue a dynasty. There are plenty of reliablly liberal but also reliably competent female Democrats out there. You feminists just didn't pick one of them.