According to media reports, Hillary Clinton’s strategists have decided to change Bill Clinton’s role in her campaign. Based on polls and anecdotal reports, it appears that many voters have been turned off by the former president’s current level of involvement. As a result, insiders believe that Bill will reduce his public appearances and antagonistic comments and return to the mild-mannered and supportive husband that he was before Hillary’s loss in Iowa. Judging by Obama’s heavy-handed victory in South Carolina, which was partially due to a sizable number of female voters, it may be too late. While I’m not at all disturbed by the idea that Hillary may lose the nomination, I am bothered at the broader consequences of her current strategy. At the same time that Hillary Clinton has promoted her presidential bid as a sign of gender progress, her recent tactics offend the very spirit of feminism.

When Clinton flashed the infamous New Hampshire teardrop, she did more than mobilize white women against an ostensibly threatening black man. She also sent a signal that she would stop at nothing, including compromising the integrity of the first viable female candidacy, to satiate her desire for continuing the Clinton dynasty. Since that day, Clinton has allowed her husband Bill to serve as the political version of Lucca Brazi, openly firing salvos at Obama while she tries to appear above the fray. Fortunately, most of the country is too familiar with the Clintons’ thuggery to buy their Good Cop/Bad Cop routine. Instead of making her look more presidential, such tactics make Hillary look like a weak pawn in Bill Clinton’s ego-driven strategy to run the country again.

During the South Carolina debate, Obama quipped that he can’t tell whether he’s running against Hillary or Bill. While his comment may have ruffled Hillary’s feathers, it did little to affect her strategy of using the former president as her public cosigner. For the past three weeks, Bill Clinton has gone into full-fledged campaigning mode, substituting “she” with “we,” and “her” with “our.” Through his speeches, Bill Clinton seems to be winking to the American people, promising that he’ll be there to make sure “the little lady doesn’t botch things up.”

Now that Obama has regained his momentum, the Clintons seem prepared to return to the strategy of promoting Hillary as an experienced politician with more than a matrimonial connection to the White House. Although this approach may win Hillary the presidency, it will do little to destroy controlling images of women as extensions of male desire and ambition.

Contrary to what Hillary has said, this is the real glass ceiling that women must crack.