Gratitude for Hillary

Hillary Clinton gave the speech of her life today and as she endorsed her primary opponent, she cemented her place in history. As importantly, she also shone a path for herself as a national leader for years to come.

She said: "The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States."

I was tough on Hillary earlier in the week. I shared the disappointment of her losing a hard fought and terribly close campaign. I thought we needed her to provide us with a bridge to move past the primary and into the General Election by acknowledging Obama's victory. Instead on election night, she announced would take her time. It doesn't matter now whether that was the right decision.

What is clear, is that she couldn't have given the speech she gave today on Tuesday night. Today, her voice was strong, her mind was certain and her back was straight. She wanted us to know she would be an unequivocal supporter for Obama. But she also wanted to say something else.

Yes, it is true she not so silently admitted, in the beginning she was trying to avoid running as a "woman." She thought she needed to prove she was Commander in Chief material instead. But in the last five months, she changed her message because she realized that people accepted her a a national leader, what they wanted was to connect with someone who understood their daily lives. She is filled with the stories of women along the campaign trail. They saw in her a woman who understands the complexities of life as a mother, a daughter, a wife and a worker all at the same time. The glue in other people's lives. Whether it was about health care, education or knowing a soldier in the war, women needed to tell her their stories. She would nod knowingly because she understood them. And she also understood that all too often a woman's dreams take a back seat to someone else's or they are filtered through a thin film of sexism that men don't see.

Hillary found a bold new public voice during this campaign. For those of us who have know her a long time, it was the Hillary we knew. The compassion, the humor and the grit.

She said: "But I am a woman and, like millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often unconscious, and I want to build an America that respects and embraces the potential of every last one of us. I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter's future and a mother who wants to leave all children brighter tomorrows."

She didn't talk about being a wife. Yet as she spoke, I couldn't help but think that among the legacies of this campaign is the certain re-branding of the "Clinton" name. It is now Hillary Clinton who is the contemporary political leader. The one whose future in the Senate and place on the national stage is more important than ever. For instance, when Barack Obama's first presidential priority is universal healthcare, it will be because of Hillary that we will understand its possibilities. What was once dubbed derisively as "Hillarycare" will now carry that moniker as a brand of honor.

We have a lot of work to do in the next several months to win back the White House. But today was Hillary's day in the sun.

"So today I'm going to count my blessings and keep on going," she said. "I will do it with a heart filled with gratitude, with a deep and abiding love for our country, and with nothing but optimism and confidence for the days ahead."

Like so many today, my heart is filled with gratitude for Hillary Clinton.

Follow Hilary Rosen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hilaryr

Comments

[WFV]

It was a speech. She said what she needed to say, but it didn't do much for me. The enthusiasm just wasn't there. I am glad she held her emotions in check, at least. So, yeah, she did what she needed to do, but 'cementing her place in history' or whatever, is not what I saw yesterday. I saw just another candidate who finally came to grips with the fact someone else won. No more, no less.

[uhappytoo]

"So today I'm going to count my blessings and keep on going," she said. "I will do it with a heart filled with gratitude, with a deep and dividing love for our country, and with nothing but optimism and confidence for the days ahead."

What was Hillary Rosen thinking? The word Ms Clinton used was "abiding" not dividing. How could Ms Rosen ever get that confused unless it was what she heard. But that raises the obvious question, "What was going on in Ms Rosen's mind to replace an inspirational word with such a negative one?"

[MaryanneAZ]

It's obviously a typo. It was either made by the author or the person who typed the web version, depending on how stories are imported. I wish we could all drop the paranoia and rancor. It's time to move on. Yes WE Can!!!

[uhappytoo]

Typos commonly refer to mistyped letters, or transposed letters, not entire words having different meanings. This error does not appear to be a simple typo.

There is nothing in my comments to suggest anyone is paranoid--except maybe to the paranoid. The difference in meaning is radical and not unworthy of asking how it happened. That in no way suggested anything sinister, nor was it intended to.

[skycontrol]

A campaign speech disguised as a concession speech.

Once again it was all about HRC - her issues - her struggle - her singularity. And the question remains unanswered, “What does Hillary want?”

HRC has pulled another fast one. Her speech was approximately 3,100 words long, 76% of those were about her. 24% were about Obama.

In the primary, HRC has waged a campaign of character assassination targeting three main points: Barack is not fit to be Commander in Chief (not man enough), he has waged a sexist campaign (no evidence) and his patriotism is in question (Bill in the China Shop handled that one).

Nothing has really changed with her speech. Every word was carefully chosen, “Could a woman really serve as Commander-in-Chief? Well, I think we answered that one. And could an African American really be our President? Senator Obama has answered that one.”

HRC and her cohorts bear some responsibility for exacerbating the racial and gender divide in this country. They owe the Democratic Party a huge effort to undo the damage – the character assassination.

Not one word in her speech was devoted to the phony sexism charge, the masculinity and patriotism questions. HRC did the minimum and has received accolades. Go figure.

The Saturday speech was a feeble beginning. Check out the facial expression, the body language when she mentions Obama. She looked like a student forced to write Barack Obama on the blackboard one thousand times.

[KillTheMessenger]

Without wanting to heap on... Hillary Clintons speech was as boring as all the others I ever heard from her. She did say the right things, but not in an inspiring way. It proves once again that she might be a good lawyer, a good politician she is not.

Much more interesting than her speech which was probably forced on her by reality was the reaction of her supporters. The booing in the background proves that they will need some more time than she did to accept the facts for what they are.

[davenav]

You are so wrong. They DID boo at first and she swayed them. What else did you expect?

There are a lot of new people in the Obama column and you be very pleased about that.

[ATFIllinois]

Agreed. I'm an Obama Supporter and I can feel the pain of the defeat for Clinton supporters. We've all gone thru emotional Hell for a while now and some on both sides need more time than others to, for lack of a better description, get over it. And most will. As Hillary said yesterday, "there's too much at stake."

[suzyhein]

davenav, i'm with you. but you are talking to a wall.

[lyingtruth]

This is just one more case of Clinton speaking out of two sides of her face; Tuesday she spoke out of the right side and Saturday from the left side!

[davenav]

It took time, dude. I know I wasn't ready on Tuesday (after a win, something you guys so conveniently forge). Now we're in. Smile. You're candidate benefitted greatly by Hillary's waiting until Saturday to let the dust settle.

[lyingtruth]

Don't think so, pal. Rangel and other leading Democrats had to set her straight on the right thing to do!

[jrterrier]

Edwards dropped out in January and didn't endorse Obama until May;
Bradley lost in March 2000 and didn't endorse Gore until July;
Hart dropped out of the race in May 1987 and didn't endorse Dukakis until the next summer;
Jackson, with about 22% of the vote stayed in the race, not endorsing anyone, until the convention;
Ted Kennedy had only 35% of the vote and took his campaign to the convention.

i bet you all love each of those men because they have all endorsed Obama.

why can't hillary follow their lead? no good answer?

Then, please stop your anti-clinton rhetoric.

[JennyJay]

Pullllease! ! ! ! Give me a freaking break here! ! ! ! I am an older woman, and extremely ASHAMED
of HIlliary as a candidate. . . . She was MEAN, NASTY and PETTY. Margaret Thatcher acted like an
equal to all the others. But not whinny, woe is me, sore-loser, childish HIlliary. In this campaign she acted like THE WORST KIND OF WOMAN! So now you want to start throwing flowers and praise into the pig pen and pretend crap didn't happen here????? You are not being honest about what actually went on!!!!

[davenav]

It was a pretty tame campaign compared to the ones I've seen. I think Obama's people protest too much. it's not flattering, and it does not help him in any way to conflate things out of proportion.

[mairs]

His "people" aren't the one's protesting. It's posters on a website. I certainly hope you can differentiate between the two.

[MyGuyO]

Puhleese. HRC does NOT speak for THIS woman.
What happened to Hillary Rosen? A few days ago she was OUT-Of-FAVOR with HRC. What HRC did yesterday (speach) did not come from her heart she was pushed into backing Senator Obama by one of her mentor's, Sen. Charlie Rengal. I will never forget her actions on the night Barack won the nomination. She is totally disrepectful, and "souless."

[Marcee]

Ohhhh please! Let it go. Both sides have to get over their grievances and give it up. Look in the mirror. Do you want McCain in the White House? Get over it the cult of personality and laundry list of resentments for the good of this country.

[Pepper14]

I would never vote for Hillary, if that meant McCain so be it. I don't want the Clinton's anywhere near the WH.

[davenav]

Yes. You can't say to Hillary's people to move on if you're not willing to do that yourself.

[Axolotl]

Jeez you said this just right. I heartily agree. NO free pass for Hillary. No free pass for McCaine. Stop Hillary from becoming McCaine's VP.

[LoloZ]

Gratitude? I feel none for Hillary. She has set women back after her despicable performance these past five months. She played gutter politics as nasty as anyone, along with her husband. She blamed everyone but herself for her poorly run campaign. She changed her message and her tone depending on whom she was pandering to. She forgets she was the media darling for all of 2007, the presumptive nominee for months on end. She didn't get it any worse from the media than Obama did. And SHE incited her angry supporters by drumming into their heads that she was ahead in the popular vote blah blah blah,,, on to Denver. She could have stopped giving them false hope and been realistic and decent. She moved the goalposts constantly, She was never gracious until Saturday. Whatever barriers she broke she has done it at too high a price. I've lost respect for her and Bill.

[davenav]

Oh please. Most campaigns are by far dirtier than this one. People in the UK are amazed at how civil our campaigns are. I'm sure Barack knows that and understands.

[davenav]

Between the two candidates they made huge inroads into every facet of American society, even ones we don't like to admit are there. Now she's handed all that to Barack and you people are mad? Talk about being bad winners. Sheesh.

[batguano]

Excellent comment and insight Lola!...and thanks........You have pretty much covered it all. Hillary intentionally whipped her mob into a frenzy, and now must reign them in.......given the vituperative nature of her campaign rhetoric, she may have a tough job......

[acudoc]

The belief that politicians contribute to society! What a load....give me a plumber or an engineer or a teacher or a steelworker or an entrepeneur, or anyone else making a living honestly. These politicians flit around the country, mouthing platitudes unendingly in support of the State's interference in every aspect of our lives, and if that isn't enough, into the lives of people abroad. Yet the dumbed-down populace cries out for more, their unwavering faith in these great leaders of the bureaucrats is astounding. The late Harry Browne said it best: What does government do right? I have only a few suggestions for them----why don't you just read the Constitution, the supreme law of the land?---why don't you just make even the slightest attempt to understand its intent, instead of being so busy concocting legislation to amend the laws of physics, if that will get you a vote? Why don't you just protect the rights of the individual instead sponsoring 500 page bills protecting the special interest groups that got you elected? Why don't you quit running deficits that support a banking class that prints our money ex nihilo and drives us inexorably into bankruptcy and social chaos? At the height of the Vietnam War, graffiti on the wall of the men's bathroom in St. Paul, above the hand dryer: "Push button for 30 second speech by LBJ." I want to thank that unknown writer for exposing succinctly the essential nature of the politician.

[auntiecairo]

Much as people would like to blame the media for the outcome of elections on any given day not that many people watch cable news shows like Keith Olbermann, CNN, etc. (I think a million viewers is considered alot for one of those shows). I think there's equal opportunity bias on all fronts in the media because they are always looking for an angle (remember when Hillary winning, like Big Brown, was a foregone conclusion). What I find most interesting is that Senator Clinton never addressed the sexism charge in her campaign, leaving that to surrogates - I guess because she didn't want to appear to be a feminist to conservative votes she was hoping to get. I've seen the question posted many times why she didn't make a groundbreaking speech on sexism or racism like Obama did? Again I think a sign of the mismanagement of her campaign and desire to make her electable instead of risking taking a stance on a controversial issue. Until another woman runs it will be hard to tell if the negative reporting on Hillary is because she's a woman - or because she's a Clinton. Either way the Democratic party has taken the country in a new, more diverse direction - and hopefully the Republicans will stand up and take notice that it's no longer a middle aged rich white man's world.

[geese1920]

OK, so it was a great speech, inspiring. But to say Hillary Clinton has cemented her place in history does not take into consideration the despicable campaign she ran for the last three months. I applaud her for her words about rallying her troops and going out to enthusiastically campaign for Obama. But remember, this is the same woman who compared her democratic colleague to Ken Starr, Karl Rove and George W. Bush. She ran a republican style campaign against her fellow democrat, which is inexcusable. And in so doing, threatened to divide the party right up until a few days before her speech on Saturday. And it took her own top advisers intervening with congressional members and senators loyal to Senator Clinton to bring her campaign to an end. I am completely in favor of healing the party and I welcome Senator Clinton's endorsement of Senator Obama. But Saturday's speech was only the first step in cementing her place in history. She still has a long way to go.

[navalvet]

Sen. Clinton connected to many Americans in a way that Sen. Obama has not managed to do. On paper, the numbers show a sharply divided Democratic party. This division may be evidence that both candidates were extremely similar in their policies but differed in appeal, among the Democratic constituencies. The good news is that on all the issues, from the ecomony and to Iraq, , Sen. McCain is estranged from the needs and outlook of ordinary Americans. It beggars reason for Sen. McCain to portray himself as an agent of change, after his years of supporting a president, held in such low esteem. Sen. Clinton has certianly taken a constructive step in moving her supporters to stay with the Deomcratic party.

[davenav]

I agree. I, for one, was not ready to move on on Tuesday night. It was too soon and no amount of baiting by Barack's surrogates was going to change my mind. Not after all the conflating and twisting of facts and raping of history ('the Clinton/Bush war' for example, pure piffle!)

Now, I'm ready to move on, but again not because I'm being pushed by Barack's ever-miffed surrogates, but because an appropriate amount of time to get used to backing a candidate I still have doubts about.

[KillTheMessenger]

Maybe Hillary Clinton connects to the boring people and Obama to the interesting ones? There is nothing about her speech that could wake me up. But when Obama speaks I am listening. They are not saying the same things, by the way. Hillary Clinton sees her function to correct mistakes of the past, Barack Obama wants to shape the future. It could not be any more different.

[MissKaren]

One of the reasons Obama is avoiding sexism is that he is married to a powerful woman who first met him in a situation where she was mentoring him and not vice versa. She was in the position of power and handling it beautifully. He was also raised by women who were free-spirits and he was raised well by them. Michelle Obama is a high-powered hospital administrator, a lawyer with very impressive credentials and, from what I see, a superb role model for her two daughters. I would love to see her hold a day job when he gets into the White House that is totally independent of government, maybe running a hospital in DC or the suburbs, making her own money and standing up for women's rights to have independent careers. I realize that wives cannot work for agencies that the President affects but I wonder if an ethics panel can examine the issues and possibilities.

Mrs. Clinton has earned herself a long rest. They are said to have booked a month on Martha's Vineyard. She needs it. She has poured her heart out and she needs to replenish herself. She can be on the stump a few days a week and then return to the Vineyard for the rest of the time. She needs pampering, ten hours of sleep a night, massages and time to become a wife and mother again. She deserves it.

[KillTheMessenger]

In order to be a wife, you need a husband. Bill Clinton does not provide that. I don't know what he provides, for sure it is not the function of a trustworthy person who will give his life for his family.

[StillAmused]

The answer to the predictable, unprincipled GOP smear merchants with their (giggle!) adolescent stockpile of primary clips of Hillary criticizing Obama?

Winning teams scrimmage before big games, and there are inevitably some injuries. Winning boxers from the same stable spar before the big fights, and some hard blows are landed.

Losing teams sit back and titter about the scrimmage injuries of their opponents. Losing fighters skip the gym and poke fun at the hard punches thrown by their opponent's sparring partners.

Then... it's game time.

[Marcee]

Terrific response. Submit to the DNC immediately.

[StillAmused]

Ms. Rosen... are you listening?

[HamletsMill]

As a former Division IA college football player, well said!

It is an ancient coaching meme that I often have wondered may or may not be true - later in life now I think it is - "If you do not play at 100% on a field of play, you will get hurt. Carry out your blocks to the whistle sounds or risk injury."

Yep. "Game Time" has it's own rules of the Cosmos.

I love it when a team is out coached by the sly foxes on the other side!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb2ntCDZz0w

It is time for Obama to bring his A Game to the GE.

Obama - Webb '08 - '12

[Pepper14]

There is nothing unprincipled about the GOP using Hillary's words against Obama this is politics.
Dems are out there everyday using Bush against McCain which I am sure you think is just fine. Hillary knew when she said these things that they could be used aganist him.

[MaryanneAZ]

HRC really believed that she would win the nomination and that her words against him and dissing him would not matter. Now she is going to have to eat those words and that's going to be a tough meal. How embarrassing is it that the first ad has already been run with her spouting off how she and McNut are ready on day one to be President by passing her imaginary experience threshold, and Obama had a speech in 2002. Ick. That is also why she will never be his VP choice. Yes WE Can!!!

[StillAmused]

It probably escaped you, traveling as fast and low as you do, that Clinton's early digs at Obama were her OPINIONS (shared by some) and subjective characterizations, intended to portray herself as more qualified.

Comparisons of McCain and Bush are, on the other hand, based entirely on McCain's POLICY positions -- which virtually mirror Bush's -- and his 95-percent support of Junior in the Senate.

Ask an adult to explain the difference. It'll lighten your emotional burden.

[justobserve]

Please, are 17 millions who voted hillary are all women?

[pocee]

Conversely, when I look around at Obama event like the two I attended yesterday, there are always more women than men. The first, a voter registration drive that attracted over 100 attendees was organized by committee of six people, four women (women all mothers and grandmothers) and two men. The second event, managed by a retired couple and attended my the leadership of our local grassroots movement, also predominately women.

[thankulord13]

Shut Up! and it was about 18 million...

[Pepper14]

There is know way Hillary has 18 million supporters now. Majority have already switched to Obama according to polls only about 25% are still whinning.

[WFV]

I am a feminist, caucasian female in my mid-40s, living in the dead center of Pennsylvania.

I have never supported any candidate but Barack Obama in this race, and am offended by the insinuation that all people like me support Hillary. Her supporters would have turned me off if I ever had been in her camp - I believe in playing fair, playing by the rules that are set, and I don't believe in false justification when things aren't going well. Bring it all, or don't bring it at all.

[StillIRise]

No. Certainly no more than the 17+ million who voted for Senator Obama are all black!

[ChicagoBlackRainbowWomen]

No kidding... it is as if 13 percent of the population suddenly exploded into 50 percent overnight.­..smdh....