Whenever Republican presidential candidate John McCain is asked about Sarah Palin, he begins his comments with something like, "I'm so proud of her." As if she's his middle school daughter, who just avoided a D in math or something? How patronizing; a very public mode of speech straight out of the "women as perpetual children" mode of discourse.
Can anyone imagine any presidential candidate saying of a male vice presidential running mate, "I'm so proud of him"?
No. I can visualize Hussein saying, “I’m not so proud of Biden all that much - so I’m trying to hide him, just like Michelle.”
Kerry did that about Edwards, IIRC. I don’t see anything wrong with either gender saying that about their running partner. YMMV.