"Don't go there. Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward." -Hillary Clinton, 6/7/08
The Democratic primary has ended. Conclusively now. And I think that we're all exhaling a collective sigh of relief that the tension and the frustration and the divisiveness is over. I was initally a Clinton supporter and obviously switched to the Obama camp, but I held a tremendous amount of respect for this woman. I thought that she was honorable and intelligent, saavy and effective. I thought that she would make a great president. However, as the campaign continued, I thought that her tactics became more and more ruthless, she interpreted election laws as they suited her, she pandered. I thought that she was doing damage to the party and it was upsetting.
She conceded yesterday. And for the first time in months, I felt that she was doing something selfless for the good of the party, for the good of the nation. Her speech, that she wrote herself with the help of a senior speechwriter and her husband, was eloquent and honest and inspirational. She not only held out the olive branch to Barack Obama, she virtually handed it to him with a hug. She was graceful. And I'm not sure that we had seen this side of grace since she lost her frontrunner status.
I hope that those Clinton supporters who insist that they will be McCain supporters reconsider by November. I think that they will; they just sound silly supporting a candidate who doesn't represent their values rather than a candidate who lines up nearly identically to their beliefs. They would not be voting for the good of the country, but they would be voting based on a petty grudge. A good Democratic conscience wouldn't allow it.
I'm glad that she exited with a flair. She was an imposing candidate. She did good things for the Democratic party and great things for women in politics. She has broken down barriers and I admire her for that. I'll be happy to vote for her in 2016.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91282297
The Democratic primary has ended. Conclusively now. And I think that we're all exhaling a collective sigh of relief that the tension and the frustration and the divisiveness is over. I was initally a Clinton supporter and obviously switched to the Obama camp, but I held a tremendous amount of respect for this woman. I thought that she was honorable and intelligent, saavy and effective. I thought that she would make a great president. However, as the campaign continued, I thought that her tactics became more and more ruthless, she interpreted election laws as they suited her, she pandered. I thought that she was doing damage to the party and it was upsetting.
She conceded yesterday. And for the first time in months, I felt that she was doing something selfless for the good of the party, for the good of the nation. Her speech, that she wrote herself with the help of a senior speechwriter and her husband, was eloquent and honest and inspirational. She not only held out the olive branch to Barack Obama, she virtually handed it to him with a hug. She was graceful. And I'm not sure that we had seen this side of grace since she lost her frontrunner status.
I hope that those Clinton supporters who insist that they will be McCain supporters reconsider by November. I think that they will; they just sound silly supporting a candidate who doesn't represent their values rather than a candidate who lines up nearly identically to their beliefs. They would not be voting for the good of the country, but they would be voting based on a petty grudge. A good Democratic conscience wouldn't allow it.
I'm glad that she exited with a flair. She was an imposing candidate. She did good things for the Democratic party and great things for women in politics. She has broken down barriers and I admire her for that. I'll be happy to vote for her in 2016.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91282297
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