Clinton Shows Class
On the day after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, I wrote a piece in which I asserted that Senator Hillary Clinton’s post-election speech indicated that she knew her quest for the presidency was over for 2008. Near the end, I said:
…for the first time in my recollection, Senator Clinton allowed for the possibility of defeat and, in a possible effort to assuage the concerns of superdelegates fearful of the bitterness aroused by the contest between Clinton and Obama, spoke more about Democratic unity.
Clinton spoke of the common “journey” being made by both she and Obama…
I then concluded the piece in this way:
The 2008 campaign is over for Hillary Clinton. She clearly knows that in her head. Some time in the next few weeks, when her heart catches up to her head, she’ll put an end to her quest, showing more class than her most vicious detractors claim she possesses, clearing the way for Senator Obama to begin the work of solidifying his Democratic base for the fall campaign.
For weeks now, in spite of her campaigning for Barack Obama, some pundits have said that Clinton wanted to sabotage her former Democratic nomination rival’s efforts to win the presidency this fall.
But if anybody thought that, Clinton’s address to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night must have disabused them of such notions. Her speech was, as the New York Times rightly puts it, an “emphatic plea at the Democratic National Convention to unite behind her rival, Senator Barack Obama, no matter what ill will lingers.”
One thing that struck me as I watched Clinton tonight is what amazing strides she has made as a speaker since the beginning of her presidential campaign. Gone was the shrill, wooden regurgitator of tag lines. Instead, Clinton has become, if not a gifted orator, an effective one who connects with her audience. Only once did she step on a line that deserved more emphases, an impressive achievement in a hall filled with thousands of people and a sophisticated sound system. If Clinton, an indefatigable campaigner, had been as honed a speaker at the beginning of her nomination quest as she evidenced being tonight, one with an incredible capacity not just to empathize with people, but convey that empathy, the results might have been very different in 2008.
But more substantively, Clinton displayed the class and the political smarts I attributed to her in that piece written on the day after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. She was gracious and enthusiastic in her words of support for the Obama-Biden ticket. Her speech will go a long way toward securing the party unity Democrats know they need to face off against a formidable John McCain.
11 Responses to “Clinton Shows Class”
Hillary’s Shining Moment
by The Puppet Mistress | I’ll post the speech when it’s available. For now, here’s a list of reviews. As a former Clinton supporter, I can’t help loving the kudos she’s getting. I just hope this speech will remind the
Yes, a true experienced and tenured stateswoman worthy of the Oval Office 18 million times over.
So let's get busy promoting the struggling Obama to his defeat this Fall..
Oh, and by the way, up is down and zebras speak chinese. Makes as much sense as anything else.
And where was Obama during Clinton's unity speech tonight? Nowhere in the house. Forget tradition, of all the conventions this was the one to buck tradition and have Obama in the audience applauding Hillary's promotion of unifying behind him.
Snub #3.
Obama wasn't in the house last night during his wife's speech either. Would you say he “snubbed” his own wife?
It seems like the decision was made to let Hillary and the Clintons have the day to themselves and not steal Hillary's thunder by having Obama appear prematurely. Had he been there it may have been a cause of friction for Hillary's supporters (their joint appearance in Unity didn't exactly end in the crowd singing Kum Ba Yah), and it would have caused the networks to broadcast Obama's reaction to Hillary's speech half the time rather than keeping the camera on Hillary herself.
To a lot of people (most?) I'm sure granting Hillary and her supporters their own time to reflect/celebrate/grieve seemed like the considerate thing to do, but I suppose if you want to act like Joe Pesci from Goodfellas and perceive every act and remark as an insult, you're free to do that too. Have at it.
Hilliary did what she had to do, nothing more as far as support for Obama is concerned. Take out Obama's name from her speah and insert any democrat, and with one exception about he started his political career it would fit. This speech did nothing to praise Barrack Obama's abilities or qualifictions, nor was it really an attack on McCain's policies. What it was was a pledge of support to the general platform of the Democratic Party, a condemnation of the Bush administration (Bush isn't running in 2008 BTW) and a tale of the evolotion of the woman's movement.
The first two parts came out quite dull and not terrible effective, but on the last part she did well and this will serve her well on the campaign trail in 2012.
Great last line pico13. Of course Silhoutte is really a republican operative and they are all like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.
No further comment except for this guy nails it:
http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/election_2008…
Silhouette, if you'd been paying closer attention to the words and meaning of your champion you wouldn't still be making posts like these. Did you actually hear what she was saying? Hillary is telling you it's time to move out of your rut and see the forest, not just the trees.
I was listening to the classic-Kool-Aid drinkers on the Bill Press show this morning and it's not surprising, but it's embarrassing to see more of the same here. Clinton's speech wasn't good at all — she was wooden in her diction to the point of being almost another Al Gore at times, she was simply trying to appropriate air time for herself (for no good reason, thinking people will realize), I was getting remarks real-time saying things like “Pathetic,” and by the end, I was laughing hard and clamoring for “the hook.”
Last night was almost 100% a dud. Sibelius was flat and predictable. Napolitano was a bellowing fool. The only good guy was from Montana, who started with clown-like form but got the crowd excited by the end of his speech. (Comments I was receiving from others expressed recognition of this.) All the speeches should have been like the Montana governor's.
The night was empty, it threatens to make the rest of the convention other than Obama's speech empty (do we now care what Bill Clinton will have to say? [yawn]) and it shows the Dems are all about Obama and his image this year.
Hopefully tonight will be better. It certainly needs to be. Hillary was pathetic.
Margaret Thatcher gave a speech last night? Huh?
Not a single thread yet exists on this site about the one (1) speaker who wasn't a dud or worse last night, Montana Governor Schweitzer, whose speech should have been _routine_ last night insofar as its rallying effect is concerned. Those of us who correctly saw Clinton's speech as pathetic also were telling each other about Schweitzer: “This guy is great!” It was what every speech last night should have been like rather than Clinton's crummy speech, pretty boy Warner, Sibelius (who made Nancy Pelosi look human and lively by comparison), or other failures.
http://www.forbes.com/prnewswire/feeds/prnewswi…
“Obama wasn't in the house last night during his wife's speech either. Would you say he “snubbed” his own wife?”~ pico 13
********
Well now that you mention it, yes, it seems a bit odd at that.
But not being present for a speech Hillary gave on party unity is absurd as strategy. What good is a speech on party unity when half isn't there? There can be no substitutes for Obama himself being in that audience; which of course, he wasn't.
And it sent a message loud and clear which is: Hilllary Clinton delivers, Obama doesn't….again….