So I promised a quick post about Hillary's speech, and I have to say that as I've spent the past few days digesting the convention I have become even more emphatic with my praise for her speech and poise at the convention. Beyond knowing that she spent 18 months in the hardest fought primary campaign in the modern era and that she has been now vilified by both the left and the right, she spoke with such passion and such grace that I couldn't help but beam with happiness throughout the speech: both for supporting her historic candidacy itself, but also for the unity our party has going forward to elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden in November.
I was at Union Station for Hillary's speech, watching the MSNBC coverage. It was, for the most part, mediocre. Pat Buchanan is a blowhard, Chris Matthews was off his game (and a little angry) and Norah O'Donnell sounds like she has never ever read a book about politics, let alone has covered it on the national stage for half a decade. The one bright shining light was Rachel Maddow, who deservedly has been given her own primetime show on the network and is my favorite political journalist not named Tim Russert (R.I.P). Her analysis of each speech, particularly Mark Warner's subpar keynote address, was spot-on. Watch her show. And read her backstory, because she's led a pretty amazing life for a 34 year old.
Back to the speeches though. The night started with the best quote of the convention, from PA Senator Bob Casey:
"John McCain likes to say he's a maverick. But he's voted with President Bush over 90 percent of the time. I'm sorry. That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick".
Now, I'm no Bob Casey fan, but he won me over with his passionate defense of Obama last night. Mark Warner, on the other hand, spoke as though we weren't Democrats, feverishly defending a post-partisan America that simply doesn't (and never should) exist. Ugh. I was a huge Warner fan coming into this campaign. I came away underwhelmed.
That didn't last long though, because as soon as Hillary took the podium I was enthralled. Some of you probably don't know my backstory on Hillary Clinton: I used to hate her. Up through early last year, even, I railed against her running for the presidency and hoped she would stay in the Senate, away from the limelight. Watching the debates and the campaign unfold, though, I realized that my hatred for her was just a re-hashing of rightwing talking points: that she's a bitch, that she's too liberal, that she's this-and-that. Well, come June 2007 I was on the bandwagon, and by March of this year I had donated, phone banked, campaigned, caucused, and met Hillary Clinton, and was elected as a delegate for Hillary by my peers at CC (there weren't many of us, but we were passionate!).
As she spoke, I was reminded of every reason I had for supporting Hillary for president. She has been knocked around by Republicans for 20 years and refused to back down. She fights back, and when she throws a punch it sticks to those she's aiming for. Within a minute of her speech, I knew what the next 9 weeks of the campaign would be like:
No way, No how, No McCain! Barack Obama is my candidate for President.
Hillary is the type of Democrat who takes a stand; rather than being anti-Republican, she is pro-Democrat. She spoke wonderfully about universal health care, about women's and gay rights, about ending the war, and finally about Barack and Michelle Obama. She only used the word "I" four times. This was a rallying cry to all Democrats, and she didn't let the symbolism of speaking on the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage go to waste:
My mother was born before women had the right to vote. This year, my daughter was able to vote for her mother for President of the United States. We've come a long way...this campaign you all put 18 million cracks in the highest glass ceiling in the United States.
When her speech ended, the crowd around me (mostly Obama supporters, rather than Hillary voters) erupted. I heard one man next to me say "if there is a Democrat out there who doesn't respect and admire Hillary Clinton right now, they haven't been paying attention."
I left Union Station later that night, knowing that that speech would stay with me for the rest of my life, as the culmination of a hard fought campaign that left this country better off than it was when it began.
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