The New Republic

This is indeed the end of a hellishly long primary season. I hated to read about the male booing at the mention of Obama's name. Roid's opposite numbers are voicing their displeasure today in Washington D.C.

- liberal reformer

June 7, 2008 at 1:22pm

As someone who has hectored Hillary a lot on this site (seen by many of you as a Hillary disliker but not a "hater" I hope), my hat is truly off to her today. This was a terrific speech. It was beautifully written and well delivered.  Its purpose is to get her supporters to join Obama's effort.  It advances and does not undercut that purpose for her to start off speaking of her own accomplishments and expressing gratitude to her own supporters.

Her endorsement of Obama appeared sincere and whole-hearted. He could not have written it better himself.

So I hereby put aside my venom for the indefinite future. Thank you, Hillary.

- LDuncan

June 7, 2008 at 1:28pm

Thank you Senator Clinton.

- Wandreycer1

June 7, 2008 at 1:47pm

Yeah, good enough and better than expected. There was a point where I was thinking she was going on a bit too much about women's progress and calling more attention to her heroic efforts than how to move forward with Obama. But it became pretty clear that she HAD to do that as a transition back into calling on her supporters to work for him in the general. They needed the pep talk on how much had been achieved before they could call it a partial victory and move forward.

So, well done!

- ramboorider

June 7, 2008 at 1:48pm

Definitely exceeded my expectations. My hat's off. It may have been her audition tape for the vice presidency, but even so, she was fulsome in her praise of Obama and gave her supporters every possible reason to rally to his cause.

- BHLnyc

June 7, 2008 at 2:04pm

LDuncan: I applaud your gracious comments. I have never thought of you as a Hillary hater at all. You are quite distinct from the mad hatters of TNR Online. I myself have been increasingly critical of Hillary and I ceased supporting her after her Zimbabwe remark.

- liberal reformer

June 7, 2008 at 2:05pm

Amazing.

- shamh

June 7, 2008 at 2:08pm

She really has found her voice.  She seems to evolved past her husband.

- shamh

June 7, 2008 at 2:09pm

Truly a good speech. The only thing that could have made it better is maybe more emphasis on the women's progress portion ... kind of quickie I've been to mountaintop and you're seeing the promised land every time a Sebelius or Napolitano makes the news as a contender in her own right.  But then that's just a thought.  

Well done Senator.

- arsonplus

June 7, 2008 at 2:10pm

I can't understand why people can't see that essentially Hillary is for Hillary, and everything else is commentary.  It undermines everything she does.

Here is my distinctly minority opinion, cut and pasted with a few revisions from my posting on the Stump:

On reflection, the speech was mediocre and self serving at best.

Yes, she thanked her supporters, as was required.

But then she went on to spend most of it talking in trite terms about her role as a breakthrough female candidate -- as though she really did it essentially on her own, which is nonsense.  How many women running for anything have a husband who is a former president?

And was she running as a candidate who happens to be a woman, or as a woman out to prove something independently of the policies and personal qualities involved.  I got the sense of the latter.

All she really had to do was talk briefly -- very briefly -- about judging people by their character, and then move on.

It was her obligation to emphasize that whatever very small policy differences there are between her and Obama, the differences with McCain represent an immense gulf and Obama is on the side of the angels.

Instead, she underlined several times the 100% health insurance coverage notion -- which is to say she has an ongoing argument with Obama's position on what she sees as her signature substantive issue.

She repeated the semi-lie about 40 years in public life -- since she was 21!  Roughly half of those years were as a law student and corporate lawyer in Little Rock.

And after endorsing Obama with minimal enthusiasm, she circled back to praising herself and what she and her husband had accomplished.

She talked about only the fact of only three Democratic presidential victories in the last 40 years -- so instead of controlling the agenda in her own favor in her own speech, she opened the door to a comparison of Jimmy Carter with Ronald Reagan.  Why not instead list the great Democratic presidents, such as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and JFK?  She couldn't bring herself to doing that since it would have overshadowed her husband.

Where was her promise to continue the battle shoulder to shoulder with Obama, and an appeal to her volunteers and contributors to volunteer for and contribute to Obama.

All in all, mediocre or worse.

- PeteBeck

June 7, 2008 at 2:32pm

PeteBeck --

"How many women running for anything have a husband who is a former president?"

Few, if any, women have ever broken a significant political barrier (first female Senator, for instance, and the majority of those who served after) without some attachment to a powerful male political figure, husband, father, etc. So it is not at all surprising that the first woman to be taken "seriously" -- by financial backers, the party establishment, and the media -- in the presidential arena, and the first to win even ONE presidential primary, was a woman with a powerful political connection.

I always find it amusing when people suggest that Hillary is unique among women in national politics and in governorships in having benfitted from a connection to a male politician or from being part of a powerful political family. Even today, many women who enjoy political careers were able  to do so in large part because of family political connections. Gov. Sebelius, for instance, often mentioned as a contrast to Clinton as woman who has "made it on her own,"  is the daughter of a Governor and the wife of a man whose family has also been politically well- connected (his father was a congressman) over a couple of generations.

Even more amusing -- for someone who enjoys irony -- has been seeing, in the last few days, some Obama supporters who have condemned Clinton as part of a political "dynasty" oohing and awhing over Caroline Kennedy  and even suggesting she would be a wonderful choice for VP.

- esmense

June 7, 2008 at 3:10pm

PeteBeck --

By the way, it's been more than half a century since JFK was president. And considerably longer since Truman and FDR served, of course.

Running a campaign on the successes of administrations that are part of such ancient history is unlikely to serve the Democrats very well in this century.

- esmense

June 7, 2008 at 3:12pm

It's funny how different people's reactions to the same speech can be.

The speech I heard was heavy on the first-person stuff. Somebody do a count of the "I"s and "me"s and "my"s in her text: it seemed like there were a LOT of them.

The long, drawn out self-glorification about her role as a breakthrough candidate sounded heartfelt, genuine and passionate. The endorsement of Obama didn't. It was a speech by Hillary about Hillary for Hillary. This isn't what endorsing somebody is supposed to be about.

And her reference to *universal* healthcare smacked, yet again, of her deep inability to realize that there was an argument, yes, but she lost it. It's as though she didn't quite grasp that endorsing Obama also means endorsing his platform. Message: I endorse Obama...but only to the extent that he governs how I would have.

Obviousl, the punditocracy sees it differently - there's a desperation to put the whole sorry episode behind us. Even now, though, the one person who can't seem to let go is Hillary.

- emigdio

June 7, 2008 at 3:22pm

I'll stand on my criticism of some of the tactics her campaign used but have no trouble thanking her for the graceful and humble route she chose when it counted.

Republicans should be very nervous. In the span of a single news cycle they need to recalibrate as their small world shrunk further. We all know she's not anyone's choice as an opponent.

- michael

June 7, 2008 at 3:38pm

esmense -

In my state, Connecticut, we had a governor who did indeed make it on her own, which is to say that she had supportive parents who encouraged her to get an education and she took it from there -- Ella Grasso.

Her parents were Italian immigrants -- her father had gone to school for two years, her mother six years.  Her father ran a small family bakery.

Unfortunately, Ella died of cancer which was found while she was governor.

As for FDR, I wouldn't run a campaign on the "successes of administrations that are part of such ancient history" but I would refer to them with pride.  Social security, a regulated stock market, victory in WW2 (in less than four years), the rebuilding of post war Europe, the partial nuclear test ban treaty, the Peace Corps, school desegration (remember Wallace)etc. are hardly "ancient history" and significantly impact our lives today.

By the way, McCain regularly mentions Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt in the same context at Ronald Reagan.

I repeat, HC's speech was light weight -- pandering rather than leadership (in many respects like her husband).

- PeteBeck

June 7, 2008 at 3:40pm

To follow my own suggestion:

There were 25 "my"s, 17 "me"s and a whopping 47 "I"s in Hillary's remarks today.

By contrast, the word "Obama" appeared just 15 times in her speech.

- emigdio

June 7, 2008 at 3:45pm

As an African American woman and former Clinton supporter (meaning the 90s) I have to admit that today was no where near enough for me.  My resent me is real and deep and it will be a very long time before I can ever possibly forgive the Clintons racist behavior in this campaign.  I am trying to be gracious in victory but I defended those people for years.  Years!  And when it mattered most, they left me out to dry.  

She did okay today but she has a hell of a lot more work to do to redeem herself in the eyes of many of us.

- kwaller

June 7, 2008 at 4:04pm

I'm afraid I feel just like you do kwaller - and it is going to take a long time to get that bad taste out of my mouth.  I am a white woman in my 40's, but I was raised that  there was nothing more evil and ignorant that racism and I'm frankly still shocked at what I witnessed.  In the name of the first woman candidate!  WHoa!

But I will try.  It's a very yin and yang world, Hillary does have many things to offer.  She does have a good chunk of power to work with.  I just hope she is a responsible leader with it, no more threats, humility about her mistakes.  After this speech, I have more faith (but I can't help but know it took her supporters to make her stop, not her conscience).

- Wandreycer1

June 7, 2008 at 4:48pm

I'm with kwaller and Wandreycer. Today may have been the first step towards redeeming herself. It was a step in the right direction, but just a step. There's a tough campaign ahead, let's see how she - and her wild husband - conduct themselves. Emigdio's observations regarding her narcissism are on point. I hope she isn't the VP. I don't believe for a second she can play second to anyone - especially a man.

- fougasseu

June 7, 2008 at 5:31pm

I said about her speech on Tuesday night last that Hillary would come around and endorse Obama with grace and force for any number reasons including there poltically was nothing else for her to do. And today she did. And she did it excellently by my ears. There is a reality framing this speech. She came within a hair of winning. She had to turn herself inside out to give this speech. But she  steeled herself to the task and she did it. It was right for her to be somwhat self referential. This is the right time--as she supsends her campaign-- to pay tribute to what she and the legions of her supporters have done for the last 18 months and for paving the way for a woman to ascend to your presidency in the future. She did better than Ted Kennedy who with a much higher electoral mountain to climb than her refused to back down and dissed Carter at their Convention, refusing to believe a Kennedy could not get what he wanted. Here she uncategorically and passionately threw her support behind Obama, even while she rightfully lauded her own campaign.

Somtimes some people have me at "hello". Here Hillary had me at “This is sure not the party I planned but I love the company.”

- basman

June 7, 2008 at 5:57pm

Gawd, not even today is there a 24-hour (or 3 hour) moritorium on the Hillary bashing on TNR.  Talk about sore winners -- zeesh, don't you think that if her concession speech had been an over-the-top Obama love fest with 100 "Obama's" for every "me" it would have come off as bizarrely phony?   What-the-ef-ever: LET'S MOVE ON!

- Lymon1

June 7, 2008 at 6:06pm

lymon,

If you haven't noticed, the reaction from both the TNR writers and most of the commenters has been very positive.  I count myself among the Obama supporters who thought she gave a wonderful speech today.  I fully agree that it's time to move on, and I'm glad that this is the note on which we end this phase of the campaign and move on to the contest between Obama and McCain.

- AlanSP

June 7, 2008 at 6:44pm

She exceeded my expectations, satisfied my hopes. And those among my fellow Obama supporters who wish the speech had been less about her and more about him are failing to recognize that her primary audience wasn't us. Her primary audience was her supporters, many of the most ardent of whom were in that room, some (though seemingly few) greeting Obama's names with boos. She needed to endorse him wholeheartedly but also change the minds of those still strongly inclined to see Obama and his supporters as the enemy. She needed to seem strong in defeat and help her supporters concede the primary without feeling that they'd conceded their dignity and their beliefs. She needed to speak especially to those women who had cast her in the role of feminist standard-bearer and convince them not to abandon the party in bitterness. I was especially impressed that she called upon the faithful not to dwell on what might have been or why she'd lost ("don't go there," she said, "life is too short, time is too precious").

I was also struck by how much she braided the two campaigns together, borrowing some of Obama's rhetoric, weaving her own campaign themes into it, grafting the historical import of her campaign on to his. As for universal healthcare, that did not strike me as a rehearsal of an old argument but a response to Obama's call from Tuesday night when he singled out her devotion to that particular cause.

- Nippers

June 7, 2008 at 8:23pm

Together with Obamasupporters, I hope she isn't a VP candidate. She would be abused continuously - blamed for whatever goes wrong with his administration /campaign, while he would take credit for all the good.

If she is a good politician, she will skip being Obama's VP doormat and wait for 2012 and 2016.

- sleepyavl

June 7, 2008 at 9:26pm

Just got back from seeing a truly horrible movie - not my choice please - called The Strangers. Wow, what crap.

I was out most of the day so I watched the speech on one of the news sites.

I give it a 2 out of 4 boxing gloves. She endorsed Obama yes but it was hardly stirring. I am not an HC hater - anyone who has followed this campaign here at tnr talkback knows that - so I was hoping for something more. She came to life when talking about her campaign and her bond with her supporters. I really felt that a smile here or there would have helped, especially when uttering Obama's name. Ah well, it was what it was.

Boy, that movie was awful. Truly cinematic nihilism. What a terrible waste of a beautiful talented actress and that hapless male character couldn't take out three unarmed wackos with one truly badass shotgun. That boy obviously never grew up on mother f-ing Clela street..downhome cookie would have taken at least one or two of the wackos out, even if I had to bite the f-ers neck while they were slicing up my innards...

- thejauntyboulevardier

June 7, 2008 at 11:38pm

Excellent speech. Yes, it was a bit self-serving; speeches by politicians always are. Yes, some of the content was politically calculating and carefully measured; speeches by politicians always are. But it was more than all that--it was, quite simply, elegant and well delivered--even triumphant, while giving Obama all he could have hoped for in props, and more.

I've always found Hill's oratory a bit grating. Her tone is often shrill. I don't mean the content, I mean the actual acoustic frequency. She's had trouble modulating her vocal delivery, and for me her speeches, even when they were full of red meat I liked (and they often were), were kinda painful.

But not today. There was a gentleness and grace to the timber of her voice, and at times her speech almost soared. In fact, it soared the most when she was entreating her supporters to follow Obama's standard. It went a long way toward redeeming her in my eyes. I begin to think that maybe, just maybe, she's still In It To Win It--for Obama, for progressives, for Party and country. We shall see.

I would have been perfectly willing to support anybody our party nominated, most especially Hillary. On many occasions, early on, I  argued, here on this very forum, against those who thought she was playing too rough or that she "could never win." Today, as I listened to her speech, I couldn't help wondering: what if her speeches before Iowa and New Hampshire and Super Tuesday had been more like this one? I might have been signing up to volunteer for Hill in the general, instead of Obama.

Onward, all, to victory in the fall.

- sullydog

June 7, 2008 at 11:49pm

Terrible speech.  Self-serving.  trying to cement her own place in history more than anything else.  She smiled when talking about herself and frowned when mumbling through the obligatory pro-Obama words.  She totally phoned in that endorsement.  She can't help herself.  I hope Obama picks Sebelius and Sebelius becomes the first female president.

- stgla

June 8, 2008 at 1:54am

Well, add me to the tally that thought her speech was perfect.  If she'd campaigned with as much class as she demonstrated with her concession, I would still be supporting her.  Yes, it was very heavy on first-person pronouns.  So what?  She came thisclose to the nomination, albeit in ways I often found objectionable to say the least, and this was her send-off for her supporters.  I think critics should see the forest for the trees.

- drdannyu

June 8, 2008 at 9:10am

I agree 100% with the sentiments eloquently stated by sullydog.

- sdemuth

June 8, 2008 at 10:57am

Basma: Ah. perspective, something lacking here the vast majority of the time. Thank you for the post.

- liberal reformer

June 8, 2008 at 12:46pm