Tammy Duckworth is the first expectant mother to give birth while simultaneously being a United States Senator  — I wish that would’ve been a headline from the 1980s.  (BTW, it’s her second child.) Patriarchy’s been absurdly over-rated and overwhelming assumed as “the norm” in this country. Sen. Duckworth being a mom and having a meaningful job is not a first for many women.

But there are few men–and who knows how many more women–like Tammy Duckworth.

On duty in Iraq in 2004, the former Black Hawk co-pilot took a hit from a rocket-propelled grenade and still managed to successfully land the helicopter, losing both legs and critically damaging her right arm. The fact that military hospitals were not equipped with female supplies gets buried in that story’s lead.

In 2006 she lost a race for IL’s 6th congressional district in the U.S. House, but we’re talking about a military service woman…