Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hillary's great moment

Hillary Clinton's speech today at the Democratic Convention was very well done and brilliantly delivered. Hillary was eloquent, forceful and on message. As expected, she urged her supporters to rally behind Obama. She was effective in delivering this message, insisting that supporters focus on democratic ideals and goals rather than on her person.

Of course, she needed to do this. If Obama loses in November, Democrats will be devastated, and if there are even the slightest Clinton fingerprints on the Obama loss she will be held in contempt by her own party. That's why she had to be forceful and convincing tonight.

Most of the media seems to endorse the speech and agree that Hillary delivered what was expected of her. However, some say that she could have done more to personalize her endorsement of Obama. She spoke of him in somewhat generic terms and didn't distance herself from the remarks she made during the primary season, where she said he wasn't experienced enough to be commander-in-chief. John McCain is now running ads reminding voters of how Hillary described Obama merely 4 months ago.

There's a simple reason why Hillary did not withdraw or distance herself from those earlier remarks. And that is, she still believes what she said then. Clearly, she ran for President believing she was the more experienced and ready of the Democratic contenders. She did not think Obama is ready for prime time, and she probably does not think so now, 4 months later. That's why she kept her speech in generic terms, preferring to endorse a generic democrat and focus her attacks on McCain as a "surrogate" and extension of Bush. (By the way, her remark on Bush / McCain in the twin cities was politically brilliant).

Democrats chose Obama's eloquence over Hillary's experience, and now we will see whether voters will buy the Obama package. The Democratic convention so far has gone a long way to re-introduce Obama to the American public as a devoted family man, father and passionate change agent. There is probably no doubt in anyone's mind that Obama is a caring and loving father and a charismatic and talented politician. But he's no post partisan change agent, having the most inflexible liberal voting record of anyone in the senate. The discrepancy between what Obama says and what he has actually done in his rather short political life is profound. The uneasy feeling and lingering questions surrounding him will remain with the American public and I doubt any amount of repackaging can remove them.

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