It was not that Hillary Rodham Clinton teared up. It was all the times she did not. Even in low moments, Clinton has been a picture of steely public composure. She has rarely, if ever, seemed to let herself go. Not when her health care initiative failed. Not the first time the world found out about her husband’s marital misconduct. Not the second time either.

In contrast, Clinton’s challengers for the Democratic presidential nomination have been emotionally accessible. Barack Obama wrote about his absent father in Dreams From My Father and about quarreling with his wife in The Audacity of Hope.

John Edwards, former senator from North Carolina, is the star of a long-running, heart-rending family drama: he lost a son in a car accident and has a wife with incurable cancer and he discusses all of it with seeming ease.

In contrast, Clinton has meted out her inner life one teaspoon at a time: a suggestive line in an interview here, a hearty laugh there.

So on Monday, when she choked up during an appearance at a New Hampshire coffee shop, making a nakedly emotional plea for her candidacy, Clinton prompted one of the most fiercely debated moments of the presidential campaign to date.

“If she is breaking down now, before winning her party’s nomination, then how would she act under pressure as President?” Mark Mayfield, 52, a sales manager in Nashville and a supporter of Obama, wrote in a post on nytimes.com.

As if in reply, Katha Pollitt wrote on thenation.com that the spectacle of Clinton misting over brought up “the oldest, dumbest canard about women: they’re too emotional to hold power”.

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