Is sexism still a potent force in American cultural and political life? Well, of course it is. Just survey the seats of power — from the swank offices of CEOs to the floor of the U.S. Senate — and you'll come across few women. Or just read my e-mail, where you're likely to stumble across a weird strain of racism steeped in misogyny (or misogyny steeped in racism).

But Sen. Hillary Clinton is too bright and too clearheaded to believe that her improbable defeat at the hands of Sen. Barack Obama is due to bigotry against assertive women. Surely she recognizes that she lost the Democratic nomination because of the strategy and tactics adopted by the two men she put in charge — Mark Penn and Bill Clinton.

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Indeed, having helped to engineer her loss, Penn is now reportedly urging her to fight on. If she did, she would only damage her standing in the Democratic Party, which is eager to start unifying its constituencies.

Sen. Clinton began the election cycle with formidable advantages: name recognition, millions in the bank and the renowned Clinton political machine. Before a single vote was cast in the primaries, 184 superdelegates had already pledged to support her, while Obama had only 71.

With so much establishment support, Clinton made the single biggest strategic blunder: running as an incumbent in a year when so many voters are clamoring for change. She also clung doggedly to her vote to authorize President Bush to invade Iraq, believing that she needed to shield herself from accusations that a woman, especially a Democrat, would not make a forceful commander in chief.

But as voters began to pivot toward concerns about the economy and health care, Clinton could have rebounded. She is a font of detailed policy proposals on domestic issues.

But Penn had not immersed himself in the rules by which Democrats allocate delegates. So the campaign ignored caucuses, allowing Obama to rack up delegates in places like Maine, Kansas and Colorado.

Meanwhile, the Clinton camp counted on big states to carry them to victory. But the Democrats allot delegates proportionately, so Obama could still rack up large numbers of delegates in states he lost narrowly. (Penn, CEO of a PR/lobbying firm, finally resigned his campaign post after disclosures that he met with Colombian officials pushing for a trade pact with the U.S., an agreement Clinton opposed.)

Then there's Bill Clinton. His denials notwithstanding, he most certainly did play the race card. After Obama's lopsided win in South Carolina, he sneeringly pointed out that Jesse Jackson had also won the state in his quixotic presidential campaigns, a transparent effort to ghettoize Obama.

Other efforts to "help" his wife were equally puzzling. After reporters and pundits had finally stopped talking about the senator's curious case of exaggeration — her claim of landing under sniper fire in Bosnia — Bill Clinton brought it back up on the campaign trial. Further, he made her sound old and addled, claiming that her critics, "when they turn 60, they'll forget things, too." Outbursts like that made me wonder whether, subconsciously, he was trying to sabotage her.

As for sexism, Sen. Clinton knew she would encounter it, and she did. (And had she won the Democratic nomination, there would have been a lot more of it.) When two protesters yelled, "Iron my shirt!" during a New Hampshire rally, she answered with a sense of humor that she showed too little on the trail: "If anyone out there would like me to explain to them how to iron their own shirt, I can do that." She went on to win the New Hampshire primary.

(Her embittered supporters ought to take a cue from Clinton's handling of that bit of sexism and stop whining about her defeat. Complaining about misogyny will never get a woman elected to the highest office in the land. There is nothing more self-defeating for women who are trying to promote the idea of a female commander in chief than whiny recriminations and victimhood.)

Clinton ran all-out, long and hard. She proved what some of us have always known — a woman running a high-profile race for president can be tough, tireless, savvy and resilient. She didn't win, but she still broke barriers. Making her a victim diminishes her accomplishments.

• Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor. Her column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.