Both Made History, But One of Them Had to Win

So today it is truly over. I have very mixed emotions. Obama's speech on Tuesday night struck every chord -- personal humility combined with overarching faith, pride and determination in what this nation has achieved and can achieve again. I called our sons to watch history in the making; he thrilled us all. The cliché is true; he makes us proud to be Americans. That feeling was particularly strong for me because of a recent conversation I had in Beijing with a number of Chinese academics and fairly high-ranking party officials. The conversation quickly turned to American politics, and it became apparent that most of the people around the table expected McCain to win. When I probed as to why, the response was essentially that America would not really elect a black man. How I longed, and long, to prove them wrong, to prove that America is not defined by its past failures but by its continuing ability to overcome them. That capacity and desire for continuing renewal is precisely what Obama is tapping into.

At the same time, I loved Hillary's speech. I honestly do not understand the prevailing reaction in the media and among many Obama supporters -- that she was ungracious, that she should have made the night about him rather than about her. Why on earth did it have to be only his night? Obama, after all, gets the big prize -- the first African-American nominee, possibly the first African-American president. His place in history is assured. Hillary lost, but she ran an incredibly gutsy campaign, even though there was plenty of stuff that made me cringe, stuff that betrayed the very values she wants to stand for. She is the first woman ever to be taken seriously as a possible president. And she was smart, tough, poised, committed -- she was in fact all the things Obama complimented her for in his speech. She was true to herself, eschewing grand oratory for stories about individual voters. And she reminded everyone that 18 million people DID vote for her, and that they are people who will be critical to a Democratic victory in November. On a more personal level, I ached when I looked at many of the older women standing behind her, many of whom so obviously felt that they had lost for good. Her effort to celebrate rather than to concede was in large part to give them one last moment of pride and dignity. She did not win, but she made history too.

Today the healing and the reuniting officially begin; Obama himself has already done a great deal to start it; he has the right instincts and the right stuff. But based on the public debate this week, he needs to begin not by reaching across to her supporters as much as by talking hard to many of his. The nastiness of their reactions to Hillary even in victory, their inability to see anything more in her and her supporters than narcissism and opportunism, is another version of the politics he wants to end in this country. He must talk particularly to his younger supporters, who are more naturally inclined to idolize him and demonize his opponents. If the politics he stands for is to prevail, then his supporters should certainly celebrate the defeat of Clintonian politics, which is the true loser in this primary season. But they should not exult at the defeat of Hillary herself, as a standard bearer for millions of voters and an entire generation of women and a history maker in her own right.

Comments

[GrainOSand]

Word to America, the process is screwed.
You are what you say, but also what you do.


Hillary Clinton conciliatory, magnanimous, and dignified is a marvelous sight to behold.
Some of Americans are still hot while others who support the idea of principled fairness still feel a chill from the cold of the ill winds of the campaign trail that in some quarters continue to haunt and continue to blow.

Is the premise that it takes divide to create unity?
Is the premise that you can act wrongfully yet have an expectation for later immunity, and to be believable in clarion calls for community?
That is fine if that is true, let that premise permeate the society and become undeniably true for all citizens, not just a few, who may run for office.
If the premise is untrue then unity and righteousness was the call and mandate beginning with the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucus.

Johnny come lately morality may be acceptable to some as the game that is played.
Yet while people are playing the time on the clock of real life keeps ticking away.
Can anybody really afford a show rather than a strong commitment to principle?
How many of us were taught conscious channeling of the indefensible with calculation that if things do not work out, we can later atone?
Who amongst us is allowed such an extensible leeway to go so far a field and roam and then be allowed to come back home?

[Leota2]

I would like to believe that soon we will get past this. This is an election. We are all adults.
The more I discuss what happened on Tuesday night, the angrier I get. I want to let that go.
There was a great post that spoke of Joseph Campbell and ceremonies. I agree. I believe Obama supporters would be way past this anger if Ms. Clinton had at least done what was ceremonially correct on Tuesday night.

She didn't. She hasn't yet. Therefore our anger and angst.

I for one pledge to stop posting anything else critical of Hillary if SHE makes us believe
she is a Democrat who will do EVERYTHING to get Obama elected. But I can sympathize
with those who cannot forgive just now--I will not judge them.

The ball is in HER court in a few minutes.

[Softnsweet]

I totally disagree with your post. That Tuesday belonged to Obama. He will never have another Tuesday of winning the democratic nomination, not because he was the first African American that clinched it. Why can't it be because he won. Hillary could have conceded and had a party 4 days later instead of raining on Obama parade. Hillary was still leading her supporters on and it was unfair to them and to Obama.

[richie]

Lather
Rinse
Repeat
Beat McCain.
Beat McCain.
Beat McCain.
Beat McCain
Beat McCain
Lather....

[johntal]

I respect any person who is able to put their thoughts together in a coherant manner' ; but I must object to the absolute neglect of "intellectual rigor " in this item

[johnwinner]

By claiming to be the last hope for breaking te 'last glass cieling' for women, and by dredging up rhetoric from the old 'Black Power'/''Womens Libber' quarrel of the early '70s and the academic 'Feminism'/'Afrocentrism' quarrel of the late '80s, Hillary set back the cause of women in America by a good two years - would've been ten if she had actually gotten elected. Her anachronistic dialectics (inherited from a German philosophy most participants of the old quarrell never fully understood) are exhausted and out of date. As to Hillary's Tuesday speech - one doesn't imply that one's own Party's nominee can't win the election and expect to be considered gracious! Her campaign was certainly historic - historically embarassing.
Well, enough; hopefully beginning tomorrow she will realize that pragmatic real politics demands a party of unity, not a party of synthesis.

[Yohomegirl]

'Sounds like the DNC had to put a gun to her head on Wednesday to get her to 'make nice'. We will all be watching tomorrow. If she puts her heart into it, then I will extend to her a cool glass of Kool-aid. I am ready, hoping, but I also fear that she will not go all the way. BUT it really doesn't matter. Enough women will make the right decision. And I, and millions like me are constantly campaigning and will continue and we will win. Obama 08.

[BitJam]

Read what a Clinton Super Delegate has to say about uniting the party:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/superdelegate_says_clinton_cam.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Democratic superdelegate from New Jersey said he is worried that unifying the party behind Barack Obama may be difficult because the Clinton camp "has engaged in some very divisive tactics and rhetoric it should not have."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[PKSSK]

Ms. Slaughter, if I may make a recommendation; please read the post on the political page on Huff post by Elizabeth Birch, a Clinton supporter. It provides an example of a beautifully written piece to reunite both, Clinton and Obam supporters behind the nominee.

[BitJam]

HuffPost's Pick

Thank you for you effort to unite our party.

Are you at all familiar with the work of Joseph Campbell? He did a series on PBS called "The Power of Myth". He wrote a book called "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and he told us all to "follow our bliss". Before reading Campbell, I thought that ceremonies such as weddings, graduations, and funerals were useless throwbacks to superstitious times.

But Campbell taught me that these ceremonies are of the utmost importance because they help ease our psyches through times of transition. As an Obama supporter I was expecting to have just such a ceremony on Tuesday night signalling the end of the primary campaign vying with Clinton and the beginning of the general election campaign against McCain.

Clinton's faked concession speech ruined this transition ceremony for all of Obama's supporters and that is what has made so many of us so angry with her. Of all the things she has done during this campaign, ruining our victory night was the most nasty and the least forgivable.

The primary season was long and drawn out. Tuesday night felt like we were finishing a marathon. But there was Hillary Clinton standing at the finish line moving the goal posts yet again. The reason her Tuesday night antics were so egregious is because the primary is NOT OVER until she concedes defeat and endorses Obama. She spoiled our wedding/graduation ceremony for no good reason.

[Boadicea]

Thank you for saying this so much more eloquently and compassionately than I did.

My apologies to Ms. Slaughter for my angry comment.

The anger I feel may be understandable and even justified, but it ultimately is only hurting me. After reading your comment, Bitjam, and after watching Arianna on Leno (that woman is a CLASS ACT) I realize that it is time for me to let go of my anger and maybe even follow my bliss.

Thank you for taking the time to post.

[memphispaul]

And, in the end, needed to be reminded by Uncle Charlie & Cousin's Ed & Barney as to what protocol is required under such circumstances.
Hillary Clinton is too fine a politician & human being to need such reminders from within the family.

[knighthowl]

Although I voted for Hillary in the California primary and agree that she is a fine politician, I no longer agree that she is a fine human being. I understand that her supporters are very disappointed, but she has behaved like a Republican. I would never vote for her again.

[ewj1]

I beg to differ, I beg to differ.
Neither have made history. Blacks and Women have been in primaries, nothing historical there.
It is only historical if one gets into the Presidency or Vice Presidency.

No time to pat anyone on the back, time to get to work.

[XME]

Yes, both have BEEN in primaries before, but no woman has ever won a SINGLE primary, and no African American has ever earned the nomination for a major party. Those two first are historic and deserve to be recognized and commended. You have to recognize the small steps that are stepping stones to the bigger ones. It doesn't come all at once, and regardless of what happens in November, both ot their accomplishments will forever change what female and African American children view as realistic in what they want to accomplish in their own lives. No matter what happens in November, if it makes even a few children in America reach a bit higher than they might have, to expect more of themselves, that's tremendous.

[memphispaul]

Cast.. Reel....Cast....Reel...Cast...Reel

[happyblackman]

"I agree that Obama supporters need to be gracious and allow the Clinton supporters to grieve and be respectful that their candidate didn't win".

As a guy who started off supporting Clinton, I totally disagree with that statement! It is customary, and tradition for the loser to call up the winner to not only concede the election, but to endorse and offer support. Her display on Tuesday night was downright disgusting! She did neither! Hillary Clinton lost my support, and Barack Obama won it! Plain and simple! It wasn't because I'm sexist, or an elitist! She can't keep on changing the bar to fit her selfish ego!

[BlueOnBlue]

Check out what Peggy Noonan had to say about the speech and about how Clinton ended the campaign. The national audience was there Tuesday night for her to deliver a great and gracious speech. Regardless of what she does tomorrow to a much smaller mid-day Saturday audience (interesting choice on her part), she will not erase what she did Tuesday. It, more than almost anything in this race ripped off the curtains and showed her true character.

Noonan is right: we are lucky to have dodged the bullet of having her in the presidency.

"But enough about me Just go to me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me.com and tell me what YOU think of me."

[ReportThis]

I have two words for you: "Harriet" and "Christian".