Hillary’s Speech

I have to admit.Hillary surprised me on Saturday. I had expected a whiny, self-absorbent diatribe against the press coupled with a demand that Obama select her as his running mate. Instead we received an impassioned plea for unity, freedom, and progress coupled with a heartfelt endorsement of Obama. This clearly was not what I had expected. For the past sixteen months Hillary had been pouring pails of political manure over Obama’s head, so when she gave a speech about freedom, progress, and coming together like a family you can well imagine how surprised I was by the positive nature of Hillary’s speech. Indeed, if Hillary had been that positive during the primaries I might have supported her. But the Hillary who delivered a concession speech on Saturday was not the same Hillary of the primaries. That Hillary was an angry, do-anything-to-get-elected shrew who ran a negative campaign tinged with racist populism. Did we forget Geraldine Ferraro’s foolish remarks about why Obama was attracting so much support, that he wouldn’t be where he was if he weren’t a black man? Okay, to her credit Hillary condemned those remarks but by the same token you have to wonder why anyone would have uttered such a remark unless he or she felt that the climate was safe to utter those remarks.

But the Hillary Clinton of Saturday afternoon gave no indication of racist tendencies at all. As a woman she compared the struggle for civil liberties to the struggle for womens rights, a tactic designed to endear Obama to older voters who show the most reluctance to vote for a black man. Remember, Hillary did better with seniors and blue collar workers than Obama, who routinely did better with younger, more highly educated individuals.

So what did I like about the speech? I dismissed the first few minutes as little more than protracted bragging. That’s all right. Hillary gave a tenacious fight. She had a right to brag about the people who had supported her. In fact one might look upon the opening portion as a public thank you directed at volunteers who worked for the campaign.

Equally inspirational was the main body of the speech in which she talked about using public service to help people achieve their dreams and how we should take all our energy to help elect Obama as president. I’m certain that the portion in which she suspended her campaign and threw her support must have hurt after the huge effort she employed. Hillary after all understands that this was a tough fight and that the Democratic Party is a family. Asking her followers to support Obama was tied in nicely with economic issues, and health insurance and a plethora of issues ranging from ending America’s occupation of Iraq to genocide. True, she had to toot her husband’s horn but I appreciated her comments about what we could have accomplished with democratic presidents and hard work And God knows I appreciated her comments about race, ethnic background, and sexual orientation. Ditto to the Littany of reasons as to why we need to elect Obama.

Perhaps my favorite remark came when she talked about men and women understanding the struggles of their mothers and grandmothers, about how their are no acceptable limits and prejudices in the 21st century, how it will be unremarkable for a woman to win votes in a presidential election. Which brings us to her fine remark about 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.

So what’s the upshot here? The upshot here is that if Hilary had behaved that civilly during the primary she might be the Democratic Nominee this afternoon.
While Hillary wasn’t my cup of tea I have to admit that this speech did what it was designed to do. It sought to unify women behind Obama; it threw her support behind Obama and called for Democactic Unity. But the primary target was women, the group which will be the most disillusioned with an Obama victory. This becomes a question of urgency when you consider the fact that opinion polls show that some Hillary Supporters had threatened to vote for McCain or to sit out the election if Hillary didn’t win. The speech went a long way towards repairing broken bridges, but one speech won’t do it. If Hillary wants to run for president again she has to prove that she’s a team player. If she doesn’t hit the campaign trail not only won’t she be able to mend the broken bridges between Obama and older women. Not hitting the campaign trail will reveal her as a selfish, self-absorbed politician, essentially ruining her chances as a future candidate,

Will Hillary be the Vice President Nominee? A recent Gallup poll says 50 percent yes 36 percent no and the rest undecided. She has proven that she is a strong advocate, so if Obama were smart he would use both, Hillary and Bill as advocates and find a place for her in the Obama Administration, perhaps as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. But not as VP, Those who want Hillary for VP forget that in addition to high positives among certain groups, she also brings high negatives to the general population, trust being a major issue. Many still see her ties to the first Clinton Administration. In addition many see her as bringing a sense of entitlement. Others note that she is a lightning rod for what Hillary herself refers to as the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. In other words, Hillary may well organize the far right and attract visceral attacks from the Bible Thumpers and other reactionaries.