The cynics ( including Barkha Dutt) say that Patil is a compromise candidate and, therefore, loses the sheen of being first possible woman Prez of the country.    I would like to inform such people that healthy politics is all about compromises.  There are, say, a dozen parties who together have formed the present Governement at the Centre in India. All these parties have every democratic right to put forth their viewpoint forcefully and the main party viz. Congress has a duty to try and accomodate all of them. That is how every government should, in fact, be run (even in case of single party governments of 1950s, the ruling Congress had a dozen lobbies and the same situation exists in the US and UK also). 

Therefore, to run down Ms. Patil's candidature on the grounds that she was not the first or even the second or third choice shows a scant disregard  for the democratic process, What is important is that the democratic process ensured that , finally, a good candidate got selected.

Three Cheers Pratibhaji and three Cheers UPA.