She Rocks Alright: Hillary Knocks It Out of the Park
I have to hand it to Hillary Clinton. She just gave a great Democratic speech in Unity, New Hampshire.
It was strong, hard-hitting and generous. It was also softer than her previous speeches. She seems to have been transformed by her campaign. While she was running, it was all about winning. But not in retrospect.
She seems to have become a vessel, embodying the hurt of her most hurting supporters. She conveyed that her support for Obama is not about him or about her. It's about them.
It was a masterful performance and, in many ways, a beautiful one.
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I've got to agree. I actually admired her today. That's a first for me.
June 27, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I watched the whole thing on my computer from my perch in Northern Newfoundland. I thought it was one of the best political moments in this campaign, at least so far. Both Hillary and Obama did terrific jobs. Then again, what would you expect--They are both great world-class politicians or they wouldn't be where they are. They both looked very professional.
Hillary did an exceptional job, particularly when she stressed the humane and idealistic values of the Democratic Party and made it clear that any Democratic nominee was a thousand times better than any Repug, even the honorable John.
It was the first time since late January, when I went from being a Clintonist to an Obamaite, that I felt good about Hillary. And not because Obama won or she lost, but it felt like she was speaking about her own values rather than her own ambition. I was also pleased that she talked not about "her" 18 million but about the 36 that voted for both of them. Again, good job all around.
June 27, 2008 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did she mention anything about a "threshhold"?
June 27, 2008 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds like two strong alphas leading the pack toward the same goals. I am finally starting to feel proud of my pack, rather than feeling like I have to make excuses for the pussies that have led it for the last 30 years.
I'm anxious to see it tonight after work.
June 27, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's what I want to see at the convention: all of them onstage together. Obama, Clinton, Clinton, Edwards, Biden, Richardson, Dodd--hell, even Kucinich. All of them. The whole damn pack. They don't have to say a word. Just stand there and let the Republicans know what they're up against: a united Democratic Party.
June 27, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word.
June 27, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
really?
i mean it was nice, but i wouldn't go so far as to say it was "gracious"-it clearly wasn't- and it certainly wasn't beautiful.
it was hillary doing what hillary does best: covering her ass and saying what shehas to say in order to have a political future.
thats all it was.
June 27, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought she did well. I think her supporters are far more raw than she is. They all thought they were getting fat jobs in the White House and they were behind the person they thought was the best. Plus, she was the favorite. Had Obama lost, it would have been tough, but there was still an element of disbelief in his candidacy. It never seemed real to me until he got the nomination.
But now it's time to get on to the next event. I hope Hillary and Bill are down for the cause in actions, not just words. And I hope all the 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling do the right thing and prevent McCain from being president.
June 27, 2008 6:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look at the TPM clip again.
There's an interesting part of the Obama speech where he seems to back off from saying "Hillary and I will be campaigning" but then says "I will be campaigning, Hillary will be campaigning, Bill will be campaigning."
Seems to be backing away from the expectation of having Hillary as his VP.
June 27, 2008 6:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or backing away from SAYING it, is what I thought.
I'm with the bunny today. First time I actually admired her.
In my adult life.
June 27, 2008 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another round of applause from here. Unlike some of the cynics posting on other threads, I suspect that Sen. Clinton actually *likes* Obama in some ways, and perhaps even vice versa.
Think about it: Obama has given her more public courtesy and respect than her own husband has(support along the lines of "I can't make her taller, or younger...." doesn't thrill, I'm certain -- not to mention 1,000 other indignities). And Obama the pragmatist **knows** full well that he has become a much better and stronger and more agile candidate because he was up against her. He's not at all the same candidate he was in those first few debates. He may not want to turn his back on her (and I dont' think I'd advise it) but he can't help but feel grateful in some very real way. After Hillary, I doubt John McCain will make him break a sweat.
I've had the vague feeling all along that losing the nomination might, in some ways, be the best possible thing for Hillary Clinton. Whatever happens now, her future course is not going to be following the path-plotted-out-by-Bill-and-Hillary-long-ago ... because that path went no further than Feb. 5th. And now her stature comes from her own efforts and her own standing - and can follow a path that she herself charts out. For a lot of women, even very powerful ones, that first feeling of real freedom and standing on your own feet comes when you *fail* to achieve what was always expected of you .. but then realize that the story isn't over and you have to consider no one's wishes and expectations except your own. I got the feeling listening to her today that inside herself, it's not all grief and loss but perhaps a sense of new options that she hadn't really thought of before. ---- In a way, it's a good argument for her not becoming VP, as that is clearly Bill's fallback plan for her. What she needs, and deserves, is *Hillary's* plan for Hillary!
I don't know if this makes any sense or not. Suffice it to say that I'm a woman her age, who found my greatest strength and freedom and power over my own life at the same moment that I lost all my long-held dreams and goals. I think it's not uncommon and, although I was anything but a supporter of hers during the campaign, I do hope that it becomes a similar threshold for her now.
As for herbendorf's suggestion of having them all (even K) on stage, I certainly hope so as well. (Just, please, not Gravel.....) That was one of the good things about the 2004 convention: Kerry gave a prominent place and good speaking opportunity to each of his defeated rivals. (And he picked a pretty good keynote speaker as well!) This year's line-up of candidates does any Democratic heart proud. (And I'm really hoping that one of them, Joe Biden, will be giving a VP acceptance speech as well.)
June 27, 2008 7:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
....and "I think I found my blogging voice".....
At the Los Times blogging corner this morning, the informal analysis of the Unity rally concluded that one should continue to parse ever word for additional sexism (and by inference, disrespect) by Obama.... to which I continue to respond (even though, as much as I have disagreed with Hillary Clinton); AT LEAST OBAMA ACKNOWLEDGES CLINTON'S FEMININE SIDE WITHOUT BEING A SEXUAL HARASSER LIKE HER HUSBAND, BILL. AT LEAST OBAMA KNOWS AN ATTTACTIVE SMART WOMAN, UNLIKE HILLARY'S HUSBAND, BILL CLINTON WHO MORE THAN ONCE, SOUGHT OUT THE SOLACE OF A GIRL NAMED MONICA (and who else).......
June 27, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary's Senate time was a good time for her and she's jumping to the front of the line in terms of having power and wielding influence there. The US Senate is and always has been her turf to work solo as is her wont. She's an adept in that environment.
Despite my overall negative opinions of her, Hillary's reactions to Obama's jokes during the debates give me hope. Her completely spontaneous enjoyment of his subtle humor was the real deal. Those instances of comradary made me start to consider that in the right roles for both, they could tackle some major challenges as a tag team.
So, I do try to remain positive while maintaining vigilence.
June 27, 2008 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
mariann2--on another post recently you wrote that all of us Hillary supporters should "get over it" along with getting over Bush v Gore, the 80s, the 70s, and the 60s.
now I think it's time for YOU to get over it. Bill, that is.
nobody can know what really happens between two people in a marriage. Hillary made the decision to stay with her husband for whatever reasons, and I think we need to be ok with that. I certainly wouldn't want you--or anybody else--looking in at MY relationships and deciding on my behalf what I "should" do. that's really not your place.
now is the time for us all to "get over" whatever hard feelings there have been and come together to try and take this country back for the people. the evil reign of King George must not be allowed to continue with John McSame.
Hillary for SCOTUS, Webb for VP, and Obama 2008!
June 27, 2008 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I second the motion for Biden as VP.
And it's true that women may experience real freedom only after losing what they perceived to be their dreams -- dreams that were often, in hindsight, actually the dreams of others they loved and/or supported. So brava, Hillary. If that was the authentic you today, maybe those friends of yours who kept assuring us during that we would like you as a person were right.
June 27, 2008 10:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Edit: ...those friends of yours who kept assuring us, during the campaign, that we would like you as a person were right.
June 27, 2008 10:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
So much for the Republican plan of letting us lose the election ourselves. They've gotta be sweating it out now.
Actually, only McCain is sweating it out. The rest will be happy to see him gone and must already be vying for an 08 run.
June 27, 2008 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was VERY impressed by the speech Hillary gave today. Obama is gonna need hers and Bill's support if he is to win the election. And getting a D elected in November is what it should be about. Well done Hillary...kudos on the VERY classy speech.
June 27, 2008 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll get over when those Hillary Supporters stop telling the MSM that they will be either writing her name in, voting for McCain, or staying home. Actually, I'd rather have the ardent Hillary voters vote for McCain if they feel Obama is not the right candidate. Your vote should be valued, so why squander your freedom....
And as for Pres Bill Clinton, he sullied his own reputation and place in history with his affair with Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent perjury to the Grand Jury (and the American people). He was also disbarred. So, I'll get over those issues when the Hillary supporters decide to vote for Obama instead of McCain this fall.
As for issues of marriage and defending whatever is personal between Bill and Hillary, I do agree, are minor and probably irrelevant. But what is relevant, is that it does matter in the sense that they are elected officials, are accountable to the American voters in their words and actions, and are public figures.
June 27, 2008 10:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that Hillary gave a classy speech today. couldn't ask for more. I enjoyed reading these other comments and agree with the the drift that she was authentic and that her life finally might be her own. personally, I'd like to see her either stay in the Senate or serve as HHS secry. Teddy became the lion of the senate only after losing the presidential nomination in 1980. the dreams of him becoming president were shared more by his family and his brothers' followers. i don't think he ever really wanted it. as for hillary, good luck and welcome back!
see koulflo@wordpress.com
June 27, 2008 10:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
mariann2--meow! easy there, girl.
I too hope the Hillary people stop talking about voting for McCain. and I agree that she shouldn't be on the ticket. people are still pissed, or hurt, or angry, but it's only June. it'll be fine by November.
as for Bill and Hill being accountable, I agree with you there, too. but honestly I could not care less if a president has an affair. look at the faithful ones (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush) and then look at the ones who played around (FDR, Kennedy, our boy Bill). I'd take the adulterers any day.
June 27, 2008 10:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not surprised at all by Sen. Clinton's classy speech in Unity NH. Hillary Clinton is a woman with class, a former candidate with grace, and an experienced and mature politician.
That people would be at all surprised is what surprises me. I have friends who are diehard Republicans, conservatives from Chicago. They were disappointed that Clinton wasn't the Democratic nominee; they planned to vote for her in November. They know Obama all to well. They won't vote for him.
June 28, 2008 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Beautiful?
No. After all we've heard from her about the millions of cracks in the glass ceiling, and after Obama has been so fulsome in his praise of her paving the way for his daughters, beautiful would have been if, having cheated us all, and especially the African-Americans, on the night of the final primaries, she'd finally said that she and her husband had for so long worked for civil rights and equality of opportunity, and how they had for so long dreamed that one day an African American would be the Democratic nominee for President of these United States. What an inspirational candidate he'd been and now every child in America, whatever their colour, as well as whatever their sex, would grow up truly believing that only the content of their character would define their boundaries.
That would have been graceful. That would have been truly beautiful.
June 28, 2008 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in her concession speech - It's a pity you missed how truly beautiful it was.
"Could a woman really serve as Commander-in-Chief? Well, I think we answered that one.
And could an African American really be our President? Senator Obama has answered that one.
Together Senator Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more perfect union."
...
"Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America.
Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes. Think of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot-soldiers who marched, protested and risked their lives to bring about the end to segregation and Jim Crow.
Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote. Because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could go to school together. Because of them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard fought campaign for the Democratic nomination. Because of them, and because of you, children today will grow up taking for granted that an African American or a woman can yes, become President of the United States."
June 28, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fran -- I agree ...... and I don't doubt for a moment that in her heart Hillary Clinton feels the exaltation of that threshold-crossing as much as AAs and the rest of us who know how monumental it is. (Heck, I work with die-hard Republicans who get a bit choked up at what has happened in their lifetime!) I hope, and am beginning to trust, that at the right moment she will acknowledge it in an appropriately meaningful way.
BUT .... for right now, I'll give her a pass. You know -- and she knows -- that there are many of her supporters who are still so hurt/angry/whatever that their ability to shift their allegience to Obama is still very much in question - or if not the shift, at least the enthusiasm of any support they will give. They are her responsibiity -- she led them to that point and she is obliged, at least ethically, to lead them back. And if - today - she stood aside and saluted the achievements made on that front, it would be interpreted by those still hurting as turning her back on their struggles. It isn't - the fight against prejudice is a single struggle - but it feels that way to them right now. (I agree that it would have been better, and easier, for her to acknowledge it on the night of the last primaries .... that will always be a disappointment. But, then, she is new to this way of looking at things as unified, not triangulated.)
Think how it would feel to those of us who are more invested in that part of the struggle dealing with prejudice based on race if Obama had lost and then, rather abruptly, started shifting his focus to celebrating the breakthrough for women? ----------- I'm hoping that perhaps he can teach her more about the politics and language of inclusion, so that when she makes that pivot she can do so in a way that heals and brings along those whose chief fight has been against gender discrimination.
June 28, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great perspective, Elizabeth. I'll try to cut her more slack. I had resolved to that already, but was really reacting to the eulogising - I thought it simply a political speech that fulfilled the bare minimum, and felt sick about it being deemed `beautiful`.
June 28, 2008 8:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Visually, this is the ticket to beat. It makes history in a big, big way.
June 28, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, even I could see that, thought it. But it doesn't solve the problem of governing. I think the Clintons' objections to Obama are deeprooted. I saw a glimpse of it and could understand it when in his speech yesterday he criticised the notion of attacking `the right` - of splitting America into left and right.
It really t'd me off - McCain's policies are SO damned right wing and I want him to be called on them. There IS a right wing in America - and their policies are so damned selfish and cruel. I noticed the arranged blank look on Clinton's face when he said it and for only the second time ever sympathised with her. (The first was in Wisconsin when she attacked his flyers on her health policy.)
They'd have one helluva lot of talking and reasoning with each other to do before it could work.
And the GOP attach machine would be in paroxysms of delight if it were a joint ticket. Where some other VP candidate might help to defuse those attacks, all her vituperative attacks on Obama during the primary would be on the air incessantly.
June 28, 2008 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't presume to know the relationship between Clinton and Obama. For all I know, they're the best of friends. My guess is that they're both professional politicians. Certainly Obama has shown himself to be less than the "Change" vehicle he campaigns as. (his gun control stance was a surprise.)
In any event, I am talking HISTORICAL. I am talking ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS.
No other running mate that Obama chooses would constitute such a massive, historical event as would his choosing Hillary Clinton. It works on a subconscious level and is something bigger than politics. It is giving legitimacy to an interracial couple (in a manner of speaking). I'm sure many political types will find that a crazy notion. It is what it is.
Honestly, in the history of politics, much of the story is told in pictures, images.
P.S. To Josh -- prop? I expect more from you.
June 29, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink