On June 7, 2008, Hillary Clinton took to the podium for what would be her last speech as a presidential candidate. After thanking her supporters, volunteers, staff, and friends, she spoke very openly about what her candidacy meant for women's political progress: “You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable.” Then, in what became perhaps the most famous lines of her campaign, then-Senator Clinton commented on the prospects of electing a woman president:

Nearly three months later, during her first speech as the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin uttered very similar words. She reminded her supporters at a Dayton, Ohio, rally that “Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out that the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.”

Clinton's and Palin's candidacies made the 2008 presidential campaign historic, but the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States was nothing short of monumental. On election night, in front of an audience of 125,000 people assembled in Grant Park in Chicago, then-President-Elect Obama reflected on the symbolism of his victory: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.” Sending a strong message about the importance of engaging the political system, regardless of race, class, sex, age, or ideology, Obama told the crowd about Ann Nixon Cooper, an elderly supporter from Atlanta: