“Yes, We Can”

Hillary Clinton was truly remarkable today, making the most difficult speech of her life and finding her voice as a national leader over and above that of a politician seeking office.

Coupling pride in her own achievement on behalf of all women, she rallied them to the imminent cause of backing Barack Obama in restoring their country to its best self–to “take our energy, our passion and our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama…I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.”

She encouraged party unity, acknowledging the hard fight and the disappointment of her supporters, while reminding them that “the Democratic Party is a family, and now it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together.”

Clinton’s full-throated endorsement had a heartfelt quality that should quiet critics who see her as cold and manipulative, culminating in her raising the Obama banner of “Yes, We Can.”

For those of my generation, she brought to mind an old song popularized by Bing Crosby in the 1930s:

Three little words, oh what I’d give for that wonderful phrase,/To hear those three little words, that’s all I’d live for the rest of my days./And what I feel in my heart, they tell sincerely./No other words can tell it half so clearly./Three little words, eight little letters which simply mean I love you.

Today Hillary Clinton got the words and the music just right.

Cross-posted from my blog.