Sherry Chandler » Clinton’s speech
Clinton’s speech
Here is the full text of Hillary Clinton’s speech today, in which she thanked her supporters and endorsed Barack Obama.
It was an excellent speech that made it amply clear why so many people have voted for her this year.
Some clips are floating around but they only pull out the endorsement. I think you need to watch or read the whole thing, not the sound bite.
It was more than just a necessary endorsement of Barack Obama, though it contained that. It was a statement of principle. It was a concession, but there was not much of defeat in it.
To describe it, I yield to one more eloquent than I, Big Tent Democrat:
Hillary Clinton did something that is very difficult in my opinion, she made a great speech out of a concession endorsement speech. Why?
Because she conceded nothing on the issues nor in any way discounted what she and her supporters accomplished. And then she endorsed him, but the endorsement was not the standard stump endorsement. It was an intelligent, rational, respectful argument to her supporters for why she was endorsing Barack Obama. she would speak to the issues and punctuate her line with “and that is why we must elect Barack Obama President.”
She then recognized the historic nature of this election. As I wrote last Tuesday night, while a dream was realized when the Democratic Party nominated an African American as our Presidential candidate, a dream was thwarted also, that of a woman nominee. Hillary Clinton honored BOTH moments in this speech.
It was one of the best speeches I have ever seen.
I watched it on CSPAN, which I hear will re-run it later today.
Thanks to JimT:
Read also Rebecca Traister: Hillary’s Final Curtain
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6 Comments
1. JimT replies at 7th June 2008, 6:54 pm :
Here’s the YouTube link, Sherry. I think it’s her full speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ivSseLmD3w
2. koshembos replies at 7th June 2008, 10:44 pm :
It should be abadontly clear that the DNC and Obama are openly and fully against Hillary and the old Democratic coalition. No matter how great Hillary’s speech was, the DNC and Obama are against blue collar workers staying Democrats, don’t care much for health care and even social security is not safe anymore.
Endorsement is nice, but Obama victory in November means the end of the progressive movement.
3. sherry replies at 8th June 2008, 10:24 am :
Thanks, JimT. The length of the video looks about right. I really do think everybody should listen to the whole thing. If the headlines in this morning’s NYTimes is any indication, the media is still harping on how she has failed. I think she was wise to emphasize how she, and her supporters, have succeeded, especially if the goal is to get a Democrat elected. Hillary supporters have reason to be angry, but she has done her part, eloquently, and now the ball is in Obama’s court.
4. sherry replies at 8th June 2008, 10:40 am :
Hillary is still a player, Koshembos. The best efforts of the media, print, broadcast, and internet, could not make her into the craven bitch of their imagination, tucking tail and slinking away. Last I saw she was standing tall and smiling.
There are worse thing in life than not being President of the United States.
It’s possible that Hillary discovered some stuff about herself and her country. People learn from defeat and failure.
Maybe the people learned something too. A lost battle is not a lost war. Let’s don’t nail the coffin lid down on liberalism* yet.
__________
*I’m old. I’m not a Progressive. I’m a Liberal.
5. Max replies at 9th June 2008, 7:12 am :
Please explain what a liberal is!
6. sherry replies at 9th June 2008, 8:13 am :
Oh, geez, Max. It’s Monday morning. Why don’t you ask me an easy question.
Though I think I may possibly detect a note of sarcasm?
In my mind, a liberal was the same thing as a Democrat, the opposite (more or less) of a conservative. And it was so until certain folk decided that the right had so demonized the word, associated it too much with socialism, if not downright communism, that we had to call ourselves something else. So they decided we’d all be progressives now.
But I’m old and stubborn and I can’t see that these neo-progressives have done the Democratic party much good, so I think I’ll just keep on being a liberal.
Interesting you should ask this question because I’m reading a book about Eugene V. Debs, the most famous American Socialist, and have just been reminded that the original Progressive Party, otherwise known as the Bullmoose Party, was formed by Teddy Roosevelt for the 1912 election. The purpose was to offer some of the reforms the Socialists were demanding without the rejection of Capitalism the Socialists advocated.
(We studied this stuff in school but teachers can take the life out of anything. [Sorry Georgia.] The 1912 election was a doozy.)
My old American Heritage Dictionary says the adjective liberal means “having, expressing, or following social or political views or policies that favor nonrevolutionary progress and reform” (that’s vague enough) or “having, expressing, or following views or policies that favor the freedom of individuals to act or express themselves in a manner of their own choosing.” It comes from the Latin word liber, which means “free” and looks a lot like another Latin word liber which means “book.” So, having always been a bookworm, maybe I confused the two.
Small p progressive means “promoting or favoring political reform, liberal.”
So it’s a distinction without a difference.
Progressive is the adjectival form of progress, a concept I’m not sure I believe in. Progress comes from the Latin word progressus, meaning “to go forward.” I am becoming more and more convinced that what we actually do is go round and round in circles, a fact we can’t hide by changing our labels.
Actually, I consider myself a political moderate but American politics have shifted so far to the right since I formalized my ethics system that I am now defined as a raging Socialist, fit only to vote for Dennis Kucinich.
Which I have done.
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