WP, Eugene Robinson: Clinton's Grace Note

[DeepModem Mom]

Clinton's Grace Note
By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Hillary Rodham Clinton's speech Saturday conceding the Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama couldn't have been classier -- and couldn't have been more auspicious for the party's chances of capturing the White House in November. It might have taken her a few days, but she delivered. Big-time.

It's no secret that I've found plenty of fault with the way Clinton, her staff and her husband ran their campaign. But I can't find a thing wrong with the way she ended it, delivering a gracious and stirring address beneath the soaring, faux-marble columns of the National Building Museum. She chose one of Washington's grandest interior spaces for her valedictory, and her words lived up to the setting....

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In many ways, I thought that the most important part of the speech was the section in which she talked about being the first woman to have had a realistic chance of becoming president. It was easy, at times, to lose sight of just how historic Clinton's candidacy was. Her greatest success in the campaign came when she fully embraced her role as a pioneer who spoke for the aspirations of women, who ran as "a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of" and "a mother who worries about my daughter's future."

Then she spoke directly to the women who constituted her most devoted and reliable base of support: "When you hear people saying, or think to yourself, 'If only,' or, 'What if,' I say, please, don't go there. Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward."

She had done all she could do to leave her supporters no wiggle room -- to give them no permission to dwell on incidents of sexism, to create no space for reservations about Obama, to eliminate any excuse for sitting out the fall campaign. It's true that actions speak louder than words, so we'll see how Clinton makes good on her pledge to "work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next president." But I find it hard to imagine how Clinton's words could have been more definitive.

Her delivery was sensational, too. I thought back to the early primaries, when Clinton's stump speech was little more than a wonkish list of proposals. This time, she had total command of her material and her audience, total command of the moment. From now on, whenever an oratorical performance is described as Clintonesque, the adjective will refer not only to Bill, who stood nearby and beamed with pride, but also to Hillary....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/09/AR2008060902240.html?nav=most_emailed

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