In considering Senator Clinton’s speech tonight, I have tried to take a few minutes to let things absorb before I posted my reaction.
There is little doubt that her speech was powerfully-delivered with a good deal of soaring words and rhetoric. Her review of the people she met along the campaign gave the speech more of a human touch. The decision to cite the memory of two recently-fallen Democrats helped to bring an energy to the room.
The closing segment discussing the anniversary of votes for women and quotes from Harriet Tubman helped to wrap together the historical theme of her address. Her call for her supporters to support Obama and her words about whether voters entered the race to support her or to support the issues that she and Obama agree on was compelling.
But in the end I think the reaction in the days to come will be more muted than the initial reaction tonight. In examining the text of her speech, I find that about 20% of it offers support for Obama while over half is a recitation of the Clinton campaign and what ‘she did’ or ‘her supporters did’.
The words of endorsement are even somewhat backhanded, with Clinton saying basically ‘Well here are all the great things my supporters and I did so we should have won but he’s OK on the issues so vote for him rather than the other guy’. Once the glow of the speech starts to wear off over the next few days I suspect that things will not look nearly as positive for Obama.