Clinton Exits, But Her Time Begins
Her own voice. That's what we heard from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as she left her effort to run as the Democratic presidential nominee. Standing in the National Building Museum, surrounded by several thousand supporters and her family, Clinton didn't much end a campaign but define her role in the future of national politics. In our story as a nation, never before had a second-place finisher garnered as much support as she had in the the primary campaign and perhaps, never before had someone bowed out with the kind of fervent spirit and eloquence that Clinton did this afternoon. It was less of a concession speech than it was a stake in the ground declaring her true arrival as a force in American politics.
She was no longer the former first lady. She was not the surrogate who would return Bill Clinton to the White House. She became a power broker in her own right. Elanor Roosevelt, in the years that followed her husband's death, helped build the liberal base that would define Democratic politics in the 1960s. But Clinton went much further. In the 17 months since Clinton announced her candidacy on the Internet, she had shaped a new, formidable base of women, blue-collar workers, and Latinos who would follow her to the end of the world.
And now she's gone. At least for now. And people, as the late Mike Royko once wrote upon the death of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, are writing that the era of Hillary Clinton is over. Just like that. But she's left behind one of the most unique coalitions ever built in American politics and the coming months we will learn whether it will stay together and throw its support behind Obama, following her endorsement of the Illinois Senator today.
But we will also learn who she will be going forward. Will she, should she be offered it, form the second-tier of the Democratic party's dream ticket? Will she stomp relentlessly across the country for the Obama campaign? Will she stay in the her current position, becoming a Lyndon Johnson-like master of the Senate?
No matter what, this much is clear: The era of Bill Clinton and his Democratic Party has finally come to a close. Hillary's time has just begun.
Comments:
Posted 06/08/2008 01:50am with
I’ll buy the women block, its size undetermined. But the working class whites not so much. I worked for months canvassing in a rust belt state. At best those people are very soft on their attachment to Clinton.
Personally until I see otherwise I will assume her “power bloc” to be a smallish angry retro-feminist group thats been enlarged by media hyperbole. I do not want to diminish her accomplishments, but if feminist issues were important to her, they weren’t articulated in her communication. With the exception of some posts on her web site, there was nothing in her stump speeches.
And as to becoming a master of the senate? Seniority might be handy, a lot of it.
Posted 06/08/2008 05:30pm with
By Resigning With Honor, HRC Creates an Proud Historical Legacy for Herself and All Women
Her (failed) campaign has opened the door for qualified women to run as serious candidates for the office in the future. Despite her inexplicable, bold-faced lying during the campaign, she has managed to go where no (US) woman has gone before: A female candidate that was taken seriously by the electorate, regardless of party affiliation—-something no other woman in the history of the country has ever done.
She was able to accomplish this on the sparsest of resumes; she displayed both the emotional and physical fortitude that voters expect in a potential president; she certainly outdid her distinguished husband on the “grace under fire” front, never appearing peevish or overly sensitive to criticism, never getting red-faced pissed-off at questioners…just a few tears welling up in New Hampshire. Overall, a fantastic performance.
She had the bad fortune to run against a phenomenon: an African-American, good-looking, younger, JFKesque orator who could only be criticized—ironically enough—as “elitist.” Who the hell would ever have thought the first serious African-American prez candidate would have to refute charges of his elitism?
She did the best she could; and in doing so elevated all women.
She failed on the combination of her own flaws and Obama’s extraordinary talents.
She resigned with honor, like an International Grandmaster in Chess.
MyBlog: http://ProteanPerspectives.blogspot.com
Posted 06/11/2008 01:26am with
Flaws! I did not see any flaws In HRC, but rather a love for America and the citizens. I am very impressed by her gallant fight, but with the DNC against her, she had no choice but to do what Dean and Pelosi wanted her to do. I hope that as HRC supporters, we can rally behind JMcC and beat bho. He is the 3rd least qualified candidate that is running, but the far out does not care. His stand on any particular issue changes with the wind. One week, he makes statements, and the very next week he crawfishes (backs up and re-states his words) which is OK with the far outs and the media.