And Now, Her Greatness

There is something about politicians -- particularly Democrats, I think -- that makes them rise to their best when they're making concession speeches.

All the way back to Michael Dukakis, I remember thinking as I heard him concede, "Well if you'd been that person during the campaign, you might have won!" When Al Gore conceded to George Bush at the end of the 2000 debacle, he showed at last the deep passion that had been so obscured by his wooden delivery on the campaign trail. And Hillary Clinton finally broke through on Saturday; she showed at the last some humility and authenticity, the absence of which had made so many of us unable to support her in her campaign against Obama. She lost the election, but it looks like she won her soul back. And with that, I think she restarted her career.

There is a psychological principle that people hear you on the level that you're speaking from. If it's all in your head, then someone hear you with their head. But if it's coming from your heart, then someone will hear you with their heart. And that's not just metaphor; it's brain functioning. Throughout her campaign, with almost every word she uttered, Hillary Clinton spoke to us from that smart head of hers. And like everyone, she was fated to crash into a wall with that. No matter how smart we are, we don't break through to our greatness until our mind has been humbled. There is a higher intelligence than the intellect, and that is the ceiling Hillary was not able to break through. She depended on intellect, force of will, external alliances, and political strategizing -- while Obama subsumed all those things under what Mahatma Gandhi called soul force.

Until Saturday, that is. The loss of this campaign seems to have taken Hillary Clinton to her knees, and who among us cannot appreciate the pain of that. But it is everyone's destiny to finally get there, not as an end to anything but our own outsized egos, and the beginning of the process of finding our true selves.

I did not support Hillary Clinton in her race for the White House, but as she gave her speech on Saturday, I found myself spontaneously getting up from my seat, giving her a standing ovation in the middle of my hotel room and applauding her loudly as she spoke. What ended for her is small compared to what finally has begun for her. She has always been good -- and now, at last, I have a feeling that she might become great.

Finally, she spoke from her heart. And my heart heard.

Comments

[purplestategal]

Come on. Surely, Obama supporters can find it in our hearts to be gracious at this point.... Granted it was a bitter primary fight, but it's over now. Really. It's time for Clinton supporters to move on and it's way past time for Obama supporters to move on.

[athenasword]

Reading the comments, I don't believe that people heard what was being said in this post. It isn't that "smart" or "intellect" is a bad thing. The point is that there needs to be a balance of intellect, heart and soul. Winners are often the ones who achieve that magical balance. At a deep level, we all respond when someone speaks with vision and with authenticity and with an inner strength that does not come with force. We didn't always get that from Hillary.

I believe that Obama did speak (and will continue to speak) to our heart, our intellect and our soul. He embodies that "soul force" that Mahatma Gandhi spoke of.

Thank you Marianne.

[TRYKER]

You're a very sweet person, Marianne, so you see things in a sweet way.
However, I don't think that Hillary has revealed any greatness. It remains to be seen IF she will become great someday, but she has to overcome a great deal in order to do that.
If, at this time, she is truly contemplating a run in 2012, how can she be counted on to support Obama in the 4 yrs of his first administration? Just the opposite, she will be with Lie-berman undercutting the "democrat" progress and sabotaging this and his 2nd term.

[phipho]

Tryker,

you're a very stupid person so you see things in a stupid way. Most people who aren't ardent Hillary haters are willing to admit that her speech on Saturday was gracious and that it helped to begin to unify the Democratic party. If you were a Obama backer you would want that. Try taking deep breaths and sounding the words out. Other stupid people such as yourself have told me that it eases the migraines.

[senseinai]

when you speak long after the 'gracious' moment has passed, you aren't displaying grace.

who knows who wrote the speech, but we do know that she had to be forced by the democratic heavyweights, lead by rangel, to speak it.

she may not be in person the ugly ego most of us think we have experienced of her publicly, but where there is that much smoke...

[siri2k]

I always thought that to be true, TRYKER, however, now I wonder. And the reason is this. SURELY she has seen or heard how very relieved the majority of democratic voters are at her FINALLY getting OUT OF OBAMA'S WAY, i.e. retreating. She has GOT to know that if she does so much as ONE thing that even appears to be sabotaging him, her already going down in flames career will explode in one huge and final fireball. She's too ambitious to allow that to happen. In the interest of HER, which is all she was ever interested in to begin with, she'll tow the line and fall into place and be a good little Democratic backer to our new President. And she will do so during BOTH of his terms. It's always been ALL ABOUT "hil" to both Clintons (except of course that part of their road show that was and will remain ALL ABOUT BILL).

The sheer magnitude of her ego won't allow her to do what surely in her gut she knows she can and absolutely wants to, and that is sabotage in any way possible anything and everything Obama touches.

That inevitability attitude is certainly alive and well within her. But I think she'll STFU and get behind Obama, still and forever convinced that she fooled MOST of the people all of the time from her hubby's first campaign to eternity.

[PinkoCommie]

Your heart heard a different speech than my ears. The bare minimum of endorsement to maintain her career, while still undermining Obama. 18 million votes (her code for more than Obama)...3 Democrats in 50 years (so you better not pick Obama)...me, me, me, I, I, I...all at her own rally (not Obama's), and still no picture of the two of them with raised hands. This speech made it clear to me that she STILL thinks the primary isn't over till the convention, and she's still running to the extent that she can. I've gone from having a high opinion of her at the start to firmly believing she lacks the maturity to hold any office and places her own interests above ours. Keep your eye on her.

[JonathanDS2U]

Yeah, and Bush could read Putin's soul. Being, or rather, sounding magnanimous has always been a golden opportunity for a politician to win credibility, not that different from a farmer knowing about harvest time.

Because you fail to show any amount of cynicism whatsoever, you increase the burden upon people like me to sound extra cynical, just to maintain the proper balance. Who has been passing out all the rose-colored glasses to look at Hillary with? I fail to find her style of expressing popular platitudes particularly inspiring.

[jazzman]

Words, no matter how passionately spoken, must be followed with action. It was a great speech. It seemed to come from her soul but did she mean it? We will know from her actions over the next several months. If she follows up her speech by being a passionate advocate for Obama and the Democratic platform and issues concerning America, she will come out of this as a giant who will be out, for good, from under the shadow of Bill and the exotic Clinton saga. That will be good for America and very good for her.

[athenasword]

I agree... her speech needs to be followed up with whole-hearted action. I will judge the greatness of her speech by her actions in support of Obama and a Nov. win.

[frustratedinohio]

It's too bad, Marianne, that you, like so many others, don't find "smart" in a candidate a reason to vote for a person. Because of that we are going to have over a decade of people who can speak from their hearts, but unfortuantely that's all they have. They, meaning Bush and Obama don't have the brains and the experience like Gore and Hillary to solve our monumental problems and manage this country. Why don't you and the people like you just vote for the best looking person or the person you would like to have a beer with. Same thing at the end of the day.

[jazzman]

Actually Obama does have brains and so does Hillary. Hillary graduated near the top of her class at Yale but so did Obama and he was the editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review as well. Both are really smark cookies. Conversely, McCain graduated 5th from the bottom of his class at the Air Force academy and Bush was somewhere in the bottom 21st percentile. Incidentially, both McCain and Bush were legacy admissions, meaning their parents got them in not their grades. (If it was a black person they would call it Affirmative Action.) Obama and Hillary got in through straight application.

I don't mind if your 'bitter' about Hillary's loss but please dont' just launch an ignorant ad hominem attack on Obama. He's now the Democratic nominee for the Presidency and the best hope for this country and he's smart enough to handle the job as well.

[athenasword]

As I said above, it isn't that "smart" is bad. What's needed is a balance between smart and heart. To win, they must reach us on many levels... our intellect, heart and soul.

[IndependentAllways]

I agree with you and felt it as you did more or less. But again this shows that wether we hear
with our hearts or with our minds all depends on our own level of compassion for one another.

[conniedogs]

Ms Williamson, yes Hil gave a good speech but what else was she going to do, tell her supporters not to support Sen O. People are hailing her for one speech after months of very nasty personal attacks against Sen O. One dozen of roses does not excuse a cheating spouse's behavior.

[jojojo]

Well, she gave a good speech, for sure. Heartfelt? Maybe. Necessary for any political future, more likely.

She has a lot of fence-mending before she can be called in any way great. She indulged in nasty politics of innuendo and smear regarding race, religion and, yes, gender.

I voted for her twice for the senate, but would be leery now of voting for her for anything.

[Jandie]

Hillary's speech would of been "greatness" had she delivered it on Tuesday, when Obama reached the delegates he needed. It is not greatness when it is forced upon you and it is the only thing that you can do to save your reputation - with Hillary Clinton it is and always will be "what can I do for me."

[Pippen]

Jandie your comment indicates your ignorance of the electoral process for the Democratic National Committee. The accurate assessment would be the DNC Chair and committee together with the Superdelegates CHOOSE the candidate. i.e. (it's not a DEFACTO numbers count of pledged dels). And the second point is that NO OTHER CANDIDATE IN THE HISTORY OF AMERCIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS HAS EVER OFFERED A CONCESSION SPEECH IN LESS THAN 4 MONTHS. Hope you heard that. Hillary conducted hers in 4 days.

Of course if you were knowledgeable of the actual process and not just spamming crap you hear on tv you'd know those facts.

[LordMoon]

The other is always a mystery to us.

Whether the other is our friend, our lover, or our political leader. It is dificult to seperate our own projections from what we see in them. There is a great distance between any other person and ourself.

It takes a very long time to really know who someone is.

This is also true of ourselves. It may take a life time to really understand who we are.

To define someone on the basis of a few sentences, a few speaches, is always a gamble, maybe we will be right, but often we are wrong.

Does Ms. Clinton really know who she is? She's been under the shadow of Bill Clinton so long, it's understandable, if for her finding herself was the most important result of her campaign.

And in that respect, her camaign, was a success.

[customgreen]

While I would agree that she gave a good speech I would not put it in the great catagory. Remember Hillary was forced into that position, she did not come to it by her own conclusion. Her arm had to be twisted and twisted very hard by the powers that be to get her to step aside for the good of the party.
I think she is a force in American politics and she certainly will be a greater force if Obama wins the general election. He will need her strength in whatever position they agree upon (no V.P for way to many reasons). Her star will rise and stay up like the Kenedey's, and others. The only problem that she has, always comes back to the "I" instead of "we" part of her makeup. It always comes first in her mind that I can fix your problems, or when I get to Washington I will get things done. Wether or not Obama truely believes his own speeches he does take the right path in them. We are going to change, I can't do it alone it has to be us, so on and so forth. In America we always like to be an important part of the process. We want to feel like we have a say and that we are partners in our own destiny.

[Soothsayer08]

True very true

[SethBLiNK]

It's not just democrats.

I remember Bob Dole running a particularly unispired campaign against Bill Clinton in '96. Within one week after election day, he appeared on Saturday Night Live and other places, seeming to be a humorous guy, very comfortable in his own skin. I remember thinking that this Dole would have been a formidable opponent. I remember also thinking maybe he didn't want to win.

I also recall that Dole was seen previously as an across the aisle conciliatory and a moderate Republican, but as often happens, he moved to the right during the election to molify the party base.

I think something similar happened with Hillary, as she sought to win at all costs, even when it meant misquoting Barack, painting him as elitist, allowing her surrogates to paint him as sexist and playing the race card in ways that may not have jibed with her own true feelings.

It's hard work pretending to be something your not, especially when it means voting for a war you don't completely believe in, and continuing to defend the vote (though not the war) in an effort to look strong.

I want to think that the gracious magnanimous Hillary we saw on Saturday was the real Hillary, and that by giving voice finally to her true self, she achieved a certain inner peace that projected itself in the speech.

[conniedogs]

Well said Seth, but only time will tell.

[FirstShirt]

That's because democrats have more archives of concession speechs.