In the delicate situation in which the Democratic Party finds itself right now, the most important thing for all the supporters of its two leading candidates to do is simply "Be Gracious." Obama supporters need to acknowledge that Hillary Clinton just gave a beautifully gracious concession speech. They must also be willing to acknowledge that Hillary would have made a superb and powerful presidential nominee. Only if Obama supporters like myself can show such graciousness toward Hillary and her supporters, can we hope to receive like graciousness from them. And believe me, the country needs some graciousness right now.
In that spirit, I now acknowledge that I allowed my darker, more paranoid political shadow side too much leeway in my last post about the election. (History in the Unmaking, here.) Specifically, I have been proven wrong in castigating her for acting out of unbridled narcissism and a shameless sense of entitlement during these last two months of the campaign in general, and specifically in her nonconcession speech last Tuesday night, June 3. You can chalk up the somewhat intemperate accusations I made in that post to three things: 1) my passionate desire to see a Democrat win the Presidency; 2) my deep fear that the Republicans will divide, conquer and steal yet another election, as they have so many times in my lifetime; and 3) my own intemperance and tendency to get carried away by the passions of the moment. In my defense, my take on Hillary's June 3 nonconcession speech was quite similar to that of many other commentators, and was actually more temperate than some of the strident advocacy I've seen coming from Hillary supporters in the last several weeks.
But enough of that. Today, June 7, just four days later, Hillary gave a very gracious, moving and brave concession speech calling on her supporters to work for the election of Barack Obama. The graciousness of Hillary's speech is best indicated by her repeated use of Obama's own best lines, themes, and slogans -- as has already been noted on Talking Points Memo, here, and on HuffPo, here. Frankly, she didn't hit a false note. It was beautiful.
Many, many times during this campaign as I've watched the various candidates, I've been amazed at how difficult it was to decide whom to support. The final three -- Clinton, Edwards and Obama -- were all totally acceptable to me. I actually decided to go for Edwards based on his issue positions, until I got swept up by Obama mania. My criticism of Clinton, and the reasons I didn't support her, all boiled down to her vote on the Iraq War, her failure to acknowledge how grave a mistake that was, and my concerns about having an ex-President in the White House partnered to the elected President. All of these criticisms were surmountable, and I would have enthusiastically supported her had she become the nominee. As the campaign progressed, however, I became increasingly alarmed and ultimately angered by what I perceived as the divisive tactics she and her surrogates were using in their fight against Obama. This hardened me in my choice of Obama, and turned me against her.
However, it's time to move past all that. In her speech today, Hillary did the right thing, and much more. She made it clear just how much this campaign has transformed her. If she had run like this all along, fighting for every vote in the Iowa caucuses instead of running as the "inevitable" establishment candidate trying to out-macho the others in order to prove that a woman could be commander in chief, she might well have beaten Obama and become the nominee herself. (As well analyzed by Politico's David Kuhn here.) Although there are many strong arguments to make against selecting her as the Vice President nominee (see here), I am so concerned about bringing disaffected Hillary supporters on board that I would support such a decision if Obama ultimately makes it. Indeed, based on the speech she just gave, I'm now thinking that Hillary could be a very good choice for VP. At the very least, she should be offered a position of some significance. I still think she'd be great on the Supreme Court! Hang it . . . she'd be a great President.
In that spirit, I now acknowledge that I allowed my darker, more paranoid political shadow side too much leeway in my last post about the election. (History in the Unmaking, here.) Specifically, I have been proven wrong in castigating her for acting out of unbridled narcissism and a shameless sense of entitlement during these last two months of the campaign in general, and specifically in her nonconcession speech last Tuesday night, June 3. You can chalk up the somewhat intemperate accusations I made in that post to three things: 1) my passionate desire to see a Democrat win the Presidency; 2) my deep fear that the Republicans will divide, conquer and steal yet another election, as they have so many times in my lifetime; and 3) my own intemperance and tendency to get carried away by the passions of the moment. In my defense, my take on Hillary's June 3 nonconcession speech was quite similar to that of many other commentators, and was actually more temperate than some of the strident advocacy I've seen coming from Hillary supporters in the last several weeks.
But enough of that. Today, June 7, just four days later, Hillary gave a very gracious, moving and brave concession speech calling on her supporters to work for the election of Barack Obama. The graciousness of Hillary's speech is best indicated by her repeated use of Obama's own best lines, themes, and slogans -- as has already been noted on Talking Points Memo, here, and on HuffPo, here. Frankly, she didn't hit a false note. It was beautiful.
Many, many times during this campaign as I've watched the various candidates, I've been amazed at how difficult it was to decide whom to support. The final three -- Clinton, Edwards and Obama -- were all totally acceptable to me. I actually decided to go for Edwards based on his issue positions, until I got swept up by Obama mania. My criticism of Clinton, and the reasons I didn't support her, all boiled down to her vote on the Iraq War, her failure to acknowledge how grave a mistake that was, and my concerns about having an ex-President in the White House partnered to the elected President. All of these criticisms were surmountable, and I would have enthusiastically supported her had she become the nominee. As the campaign progressed, however, I became increasingly alarmed and ultimately angered by what I perceived as the divisive tactics she and her surrogates were using in their fight against Obama. This hardened me in my choice of Obama, and turned me against her.
However, it's time to move past all that. In her speech today, Hillary did the right thing, and much more. She made it clear just how much this campaign has transformed her. If she had run like this all along, fighting for every vote in the Iowa caucuses instead of running as the "inevitable" establishment candidate trying to out-macho the others in order to prove that a woman could be commander in chief, she might well have beaten Obama and become the nominee herself. (As well analyzed by Politico's David Kuhn here.) Although there are many strong arguments to make against selecting her as the Vice President nominee (see here), I am so concerned about bringing disaffected Hillary supporters on board that I would support such a decision if Obama ultimately makes it. Indeed, based on the speech she just gave, I'm now thinking that Hillary could be a very good choice for VP. At the very least, she should be offered a position of some significance. I still think she'd be great on the Supreme Court! Hang it . . . she'd be a great President.
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