SAN ANTONIO - Some women in their 30s, 40s and early 50s who favor Barack Obama have a phrase to describe what they don't like about Hillary Clinton: shoulder-pad feminism. They feel that women have moved past that men-are-pigs, woe-is-me, sisters-must-stick-together, pantsuits-are-powerful era that Hillary's campaign has lately revived with a vengeance.

As a woman I know puts it: "Hillary doesn't make it look like fun to be a woman. And her 'I-have-been-victimized' campaign is depressing."

But Hillary -- carried on the padded shoulders of the older women in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island who loved her "I Will Survive" rallying cry that "I am a little older and I have earned every wrinkle on my face" -- has been saved to fight another day.

Exit polls showed that fans of Hillary -- who once said they would be happy with Obama if Hillary dropped out -- were hardening in their opposition to him (while Obama voters are not so harsh about her).

Three Hillary volunteers in an Austin parking lot on Tuesday vented that Hillary hasn't gotten a fair shake from the press. They said they used to like Obama but now can't stand him because he has been cocky and disrespectful to Hillary.

As Hillary, remarkably, put Obama on the defensive about a real estate deal, health care and NAFTA, her campaign ratcheted up the retro battle of the sexes when they sent Dianne Feinstein onto Fox News to promote the idea that Hillary should be able to keep campaigning, even if she lost both Texas and Ohio, simply because she's a woman.

"For those of us that are part of 'a woman need not apply' generation that goes back to the time I went out to get my first job following college and a year of graduate work, this is an extraordinarily critical race," she said.

With Obama saying the hour is upon us to elect a black man and Hillary saying the hour is upon us to elect a woman, the Democratic primary has become the ultimate nightmare of liberal identity politics. All the historical victimizations go tripping over each other and colliding, a competition of historical guilts.

People will have to choose which of America's sins are greater, and which stain will have to be removed first. Is misogyny worse than racism, or is racism worse than misogyny?

As Ali Gallagher, a white Hillary volunteer in Austin told The Washington Post: "A friend of mine, a black man, said to me, 'My ancestors came to this country in chains; I'm voting for Barack.' I told him, 'Well, my sisters came here in chains and on their periods; I'm voting for Hillary.' "

Meanwhile, the conventional white man sits on the Republican side and enjoys the spectacle of the Democrats' identity pileup and victim lock. Just as Michelle Obama urged blacks to support her husband, many old-school feminists are growing more fierce in charging that women who let Obama leapfrog over Hillary are traitors.

Julie Acevedo, a precinct captain for Obama in Austin, noticed that things were getting ugly during the early voting when she "saw some very angry women just stomping by us to go vote for Hillary. They cut us off when we tried to talk about Barack." She said that if Obama outpaces Hillary, she will work to "heal the wounds" and woo back women who are now angry at him.

Watching Bill Clinton greet but not address -- the Big Dog has been muzzled -- an excited group of students at Texas State University on Tuesday, 19-year-old Allison Krolczyk said she was leaning toward Obama and felt no gender guilt about voting for him. "Not at all," she said. "I think they're both pretty amazing."

The crowd held up their camera phones to capture the former president, in his bright orange tie and orange-brown ostrich cowboy boots. "We love you, Bill!" yelled one boy. "You did a good job, except for Monica."