Rachel Maddow: The ceiling continues to crack, as a woman again overachieves to reach the same level of recognition

By now, you’ve probably heard that Rachel Maddow will have her own show on MSNBC beginning Sept. 8, in the 9 p.m. timeslot. Maddow has been around for a while, including hosting a program on Air America. But she recently has gained much public favor for taking over the reigns of “Countdown” when Keith Olbermann went on vacation. We all felt she was a wonderful relief form Olbermann’s rantings, and there’s a reason for that. You see, uh, to put it bluntly, she knows what’s she talking about. Because Maddow, unlike Olbermann, has a background in politics. In fact, she is a Rhodes Scholar!. And what? She has a PhD. From Oxford University.

But she was only offered a primetime show after successfully “proving herself” by subbing for Keith Olbermann, the former sportscaster. Yeah, let that sink in for a moment.

Another woman who is highly respected, and also the object of much affection at the House of Jello, is Amy Walter. She writes a column for the National Journal, appears regularly on CNN and on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer (PBS). She’s been a panelist and commentator on Face the Nation (CBS), Meet the Press (NBC), and Washington Journal (C-SPAN). And oh, that’s right, she’s also an adjunct professor at American University in Washington, DC. Maybe someday Amy Walter will get to lead her own show, as well.

These two women are the real deal. They are experts. Yet it has taken this long for them to get the same network recognition as the Laura Ingrahams and Nancy Graces of the world. (Don’t tell me Nancy Grace is an “expert.” She’s also a nutjob. That cancels out any expertise she may have in matters of the law.)

So if anyone is still wondering why I still resent that Hillary Clinton was pushed aside by the Democratic party even though she was clearly the more qualified candidate, even though she proved that again and again by being held to tougher standards that always shifted, maybe you can see by the examples of these two highly intelligent, professional, hardworking women. It just gets a little tiresome to work twice as hard to get to the same point as men.

Working twice as hard, and yes, enduring insults along the way. Yesterday Rush Limbaugh described it as a “shame” that Dan Abrahams was losing his 9 pm timeslot: “He’s losing his show to somebody with more testosterone than he has.”

It’s exciting. And very, very tiresome.