Hillary Clinton, A Winning Speech

Hillary Clinton's moving and brilliant speech today cemented an independent place for herself and feminists in general in the unfolding historical drama of the 2008 presidential election.

The speech, which situated her more firmly than ever in women's history, provided a powerful endorsement for Barack Obama while at the same time reinforcing her position as virtually his equal in the Democratic primary race.

Clinton essentially empowered her audience by implying they, more than anyone, could make the historic difference by electing an African-American president on the rising, tide of the women's vote. She assured them that the two candidacies had shattered all gender and racial barriers to democracy's highest office.

Hers was not the surrender pose traditionally expected of "losers" but a redefinition of what winning ultimately means. It suggested that she will be treated as a full partner in the process, and it was a victory speech for the power of social movements.

She bravely rejected the bitter destructiveness that gnaws within all campaigns that lose closely, and held the high ground.

Characterizing her decision as a "suspension", however, still left open the prospect of hard bargaining with Obama over a range of issues, but apparently in a greater atmosphere of unity.

One wonders if she would be the nominee if she had pursued the tone of today's speech more and the advice of her [male] advisors less. It took a year, and a string of campaign disasters, before she threw out Mark Penn, though still leaving in place a cast of male operatives like Lanny Davis who only blighted her image as an experienced, pragmatic representative of the Sixties student, antiwar and women's movements.

Her 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq War, which opened the door for Obama's candidacy, was advised as the way to prove that a woman could be commander-in-chief. So were her later comments about obliterating Iran. Her male advisers incessantly pressured the media to play up Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, race-baiting and red-baiting positions she never would have adopted in the late Sixties.

This wasn't a problem unique to Clinton alone, of course. If Bill Clinton had not promoted NAFTA and the WTO, there would have been no space for Ralph Nader to run in 2000. Had John Kerry followed his 1970 anti-war, anti-establishment instincts in 2004, he probably would have been president today. The Democratic Party consultant class has been counseling retreat from the Sixties ever since...the Sixties. It has been a risk for Obama's centrist campaign as well, although his 2002 antiwar stance and the unified enthusiasm of the black community position him firmly within a progressive history.

This basic identity confusion at the center of the Clinton strategy was the crucial reason, next to Obama's superlative campaign, for her narrow defeat. The irony is that her resurrection can now begin.

Comments

[kira181]

"The irony is that her resurrection can now begin."

Resurrection from what? Two politicians ran against each other in a very, very close race. One of them eked it out. The Obama campaign was no holier than the Clinton campaign. This narrative of Obama rising above the fray of political game-playing will only play to half of the people, as the record has shown.

A good start to winning in November is to move away from the Obama-in-the-pulpit-with-the-cross-behind-him-suffering-the-sins-of-Hillary vocabulary and dialogue. This is not only insulting but nauseating to an,obviously,large number of voters.

[Moose49]

She said and did the right thing. Good for her. And if she maintains the same tone from now through November, great for her. I don't care if it took a few extra days to reach this point, all's well that ends well.

[arthuride]

There was never a Garden of Eden (it is an allegory about Babylon along the Tigris Euphrates River) nor an Eve (which translates as the good earth) or Adam (masters of slaves)==and none of this fantasy has anything to do with politics. Politics is about reality, and unfortunately the USA is the most hated nation on this planet (I teach in Peru, born in Iowa, and was past chair of the Hardin Iowa Democratic Party) because of George W Bush. Obama is seen as unique since he is black, but his acolades are based on his inexperience and unknown factors. Hillary won the hearts of people with knowledge of American and international politics, as she is a known factor and her priorities are respected. The DNC destroyed itself by warring against this great leader, and the Democrats will never come together and will, at minimum lose the White House, and I suspect the Congressional House and Senate, and with that the Supreme Court.

[timm0]

Hey, thanks for the postcard from Peru!

The difference between most rabid supporters of hillary - like yourself - and even the most rabid of Obama supporters - is that the Obama supporters know that he is human and has improvements to make. You extremists believe that her highness is infallible and the only homo sapien capable of leading the nation, as if everyone else in the nation has Down Syndrome. Yet you have the audacity to decry Obama's skills, experience, character, and his supporters sanity.... amazing.

[arthuride]

Only an idiot would vote for McCain or Obama. With Hillary silenced, the thinking person can opt to vote for a qualified black woman: Cynthia McKinney for President (Green Party Candidate) who I now endorse as the Hardin Iowa County Democratic Chair. The DNC is no longer relevant, and the Obamacrats remind me of the SA of 1940 and are on par with McCain and his gaggle of goons.

[researcher]

"Her 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq War, which opened the door for Obama's candidacy, was advised as the way to prove that a woman could be commander-in-chief"

it appears she took the wrong advice.

america dodged a bullet by her not winning

refused to admit her mistakes

not good pres material

I suspect now she is lay in waiting for her june card

[marthlois]

What a very ignorant post!
I'll address your first point and last:
"her vote in 2002 was a way to prove that a woman could be commander-in-chief"????

Researcher, you need to do a bit more research. There were 77 senators who voted for the bill that got us into this war. I believe 23 against the bill. Now, just how many men were in that 77?
There were probably all of ten women senators at the time. Would you say then that approximately 67 of those male senators could not be commander in chief as well? By your standards, John McCain is most certainly not ready either. What a poor argument against HRC.

As for your last point.....June? What the hell is wrong with you?

[campgranata]

this woman, MRS Clinton is by every standard mediocre. If she were not married to a former president she would not even be in the senate let alone running for the presidency.

You did not comment on 'refuses to admit her mistakes" When she campaigned in western NY she promised jobs. now Niagara Falls which you know houses one of the world's wonders is in danger of losing its status as a city. when confronted recently about this broken promise. she said she did not deliver the jobs because Al Gore was not elected president. And in eight years has not been able to come up with an alternate plan. It is always someone else's fault. She has, as one pundit put it, she has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Her inability to develop alternative plans hurt her campaign for when she didn't have the nomination locked up on Super Tuesday she fell apart.
Now she is not quiting but suspending her campaign. this means, with control of her delegates, she can restart her campaign at any time so I believe that is the point about June and the convention.
People who do not trust her because she is a facile liar are not going to change their minds about her over one speech that she was forced to give. It is not what is wrong with Researcher but what is wrong with your candidate, MRS Clinton, and there is much wrong.

[mergina]

Yes it did my good man, yes it did.

[timm0]

I thought I just read that, basically, had HRC kept fewer penis-encumbered people in her campaign HQ, she'd have won.

That's fascinating.

It'd be more fascinating if there was some sort of proof that those hairy-knuckled clowns forced (!!!) her to make bad decisions (the good decisions were made by the women-folk?). That's not sexist, that's just mind-bendingly absurd. I don't believe for a second that these people told her what to do without her complete buy-in.

So stop it - Kerry is blamed for his campaign failure. Gore was blamed for not fighting long/hard enough for Florida. Clinton is responsible for her personnel and her successes/failures. So quit with the ridiculous innuendo.

[Valkyrie]

I agree. She was responsible for the direction of her campaign as a CEO should be held responsible for the performance of her company.

I also take issue with it being it being the fault of the surrounding "penises." Didn't I just read a report that said most of the divisive racial tactics were instigated by Maggie Williams? Whether true or not, Hillary was surrounded by more than penises advising her.

[gloryoski]

Well said. A lot of Tom's analysis makes sense, but I also think that he is going too far out of his way to be gracious, especially in the first paragraph. There is a very good argument to be made that Hillary is not a feminist in any meaningful sense but that she instead has exploited some "feminist-lite" tropes to her own personal advantage. In fact, even in these last few weeks when she has emphasized gender and her "first" status more, I certainly have never heard her identify herself as such. So it doesn't even have to be about one woman deciding that another woman doesn't have the right to self-identify as a feminist although given her tactics and her voting record I think even this would be somewhat justified in this case.
If Hillary has "cemented any place" for "feminists in general" with and in this campaign, it that place feels more like a the inside of a cement overcoat than a step on which to climb further up. The blame goes beyond Hillary because it is partially the fault of pervasive sexism that takes the actions and outlook of one "feminist" woman as indicative of all. Hillary's defeat was not primarily because of sexism and I can only hope that she has not helped it too much to defeat the rest of us.

[goldstategirl]

I was wondering about the Supreme Court justice notion today. She'd be wasted on VP and IMHO it's not the best strategy or working fit upon winning the Office. He needs Nunn, Webb, Hagel, someone like that to shore up the best win against GOP.

[Bobzmcishl]

Hillary did what she had to do which was to save face for a poor campaign run, and concede the obvious, that Obama out strategized her in the caucuses, and played her 50-50 in the regular primaries. They took Obama way too lightly - a dangerous thing to do in politics or business. Obama also ran a better fundraising effort than Hillary and attracted the young voters the Democratic party needs. Personally, I think it's better for the country to get a fresh start with Obama as president and put the Clinton Bush years behind us. We are in a new century now and Obama has the freshness this country needs. He will get us out of Iraq and probably call on Hillary to spearhead universal health care. The Democrats need to crush the Republican's this fall and remove all vestiges of the stink of Republicanism, which is rapidly sinking this country.

[MRb1000]

Her speech was all about Hillary!!!! Her problem was she use I so many times in her speeches it became a turn off for many people. It is not about you Hilary it is about the country!!

[DanoS]

While a good speech for her supporters and women, I would have been more impressed had this come on Tuesday rather than saying "I'm not sure what I will be doing next" and "go to my website let me hear what you think" (with only one option).... She was pressured to conceed rather than do it graciously. How could she not realize everyone, I mean everyone let her run out the clock knowing full well it has been over for weeks and weeks.

Also, looking back she had to attack Obama personally to get this far, while Obama did it without attacking her character what so ever. Thats one of many reasons he is the best nominee. She was strong, but I hope this humbles her.

[nton]

cant wait for Feinstein to release a tape of the conversation or maybe shell save it for her memoir

[nton]

bizarro world - the candidate who brags about 18M votes from acros the demographic spectrum yells sexism and the candidate that a lot of people were afraid to vote for because of his race is called a racist. I just dont get it.

[THEhillbilly]

Just wondering...it's likely that we'll be learning about more of grandiloquent, done-nothing rookie senator Obama's criminal or otherwise unsavory assocations. If the next one or the one after that, etc., is fatal to his candidacy or if the party finally says "enough of this shit," will the democrats be obliged to draft Clinton's wife, or will they be free to select a more palatable (i.e., electable) candidate?

[DanoS]

I'm so tired of every speculating the would of, could of, should game. Would he have creamed her if the bitter comments weren't blown out proportion? What happened, happened.

She lost. He won. Maybe Obama was just the better, smarter, more resonating, more honest, more gracious, more personable candidate.

[SiberianRat]

Yikes!!

[Steve1976]

it won't be Clinton's wife but rather Obama's wife who wil be taking center stage. It'll happen around the middle of October.

[UNCLEJOE]

Five days later Hillary 'SUSPENDS' her campaign. Doesn't Suspend mean 'TEMPORARY', to delay continuing an action. Wouldn't the word 'ENDing' be the appropriate word.

And what was the Hillary Obama meeting about the night before her 'SUSPENSION' speech? Was there any editing and compromises in the original speech? And what were the concession Obama had to agree to before she was willing to give him a 'TEMPORAY' endorsement?

If If Obama's price for Temporay Hillary's endorsement was the VP or a Cabinet post for Hillary, the price was much too high!

No matter who the Democratic nominee is in November, we will win by a landslide, given the devastation that the Republican blank check support for the Bush dictatorship has brought our nation to.

Hillary could add 20% to Obama's by her verball support, but her vicious innuendoes and blatant statements negating Obama's experience, feeding the racist emotions and lauding McCain's Commander-in-Chief abilities over Obama's more than discouraged and cancelled out that 20% support her 'Temporary' speech might have encouraged.

Hillary is a memory of the last nasty 16 months of Swift-boating, 'dirty tricks and lies employed in her strategy to get Bıil back into the White House.

If Obama takes Hillary as his VP, Hillary will be one heart beat away the Presidency, it would be like voting for McCain. We need a staunch anti-war, anti AFTRA, VP; that's what I'm voting for, and Hilary ain't that person.

[garcohsf]

It is even more important to be gracious an classy in victory as in defeat. Edwards "suspended" his campaign, as did Romney. Sen Clinton gave a wonderful speech, pledging her support to Sen Obama and urging her supporters to do the same. There is no reason to insult her any more.

Let's unite and get our country back.

[SiberianRat]

I agree!!

[goldstategirl]

Suspend simply means her delegates will be able to go on historical records with votes for her, mainly.

[punkingale]

And she can continue to raise money to pay off her debt.

[campgranata]

mainly? I believe it means she can restart her campaign but I want to be wrong, where did you get your information?

[GemNY]

She gave an awesome speech. I feel like she did a good job at honoring what it is that we are all seeking (democrats) and a great reminder that to further the issues we hold dear to us is to support Obama and replace the machine in the White House that strips all people - men and women of their fundamental rights.

[DanoS]

While many won't argue it was a good speech, there wasn't one criticism towards McCain on the day the GOP list all the negative thing HRC said about Obama during the primary. Hun?

I don't know, sure the critical endorsement was there, but why say at this point "she always said she ran because she believed she was the best candidate". Hun? Does she still feel that way? What about saying Obama was the best candidate seeing he won fair and square.

One last punch in the gut , perhaps a missed opportunity by Clinton or maybe I've become jadded by Clinton's lack of grace? As the Obama campaign said about the speech " it was generous", that it was and I think generous was carefully and acurately used rather than gracious.