In Denver Clinton Paid Homage To Herself (and endorsed Obama)

Joe Bell

In Denver, at the Democratic National Convention, Senator Hillary Clinton did what she had to do, barely. She endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president but mentioned his name merely 13 times. Yes, she urged Democrats to unite and she declared, “Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president.” But Clinton offered no glowing praise about how his campaign forced her to sharpen her focus and challenged her to reach higher. She said nothing about his character nor did she mention the experiences he has had that have prepared him to lead the nation. Those are the type of things one expects from someone in Senator Clinton’s position.

But Clinton did not offer such observations. Instead, she focused her remarks on herself. When Senator Obama was mentioned it was an afterthought.

Line after line of the beginning of Clinton's speech was a chronicle of her campaign. “You have taught me so much,” she told the crowd. Then she spoke of a young Marine that “I will always remember” and of a young boy whose mother worked for minimum wage.

As Senator Obama no doubt waited for his former rival to say something about him, Senator Clinton said, “I will always be grateful to everyone in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the territories … To my supporters, to my champions, to my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits … from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

At this point the Democrats’ presidential candidate was almost certainly thinking, “Well, she thanked her followers. I’m sure she’ll get around to me now.”

Not so fast. Clinton would first rattle off the reasons why she ran for president: “I ran for president to renew the promise of America, to rebuild the middle class …To promote a clean energy economy … to create a health care system that is universal … to create a world class education system …To restore America’s standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq…”

So vast was the laundry list that one expected at any moment she would pause, look straight into the camera and declare in no uncertain terms, “And those are the reasons I’m still running for president right now.”

As a postscript to her inventory, Clinton said, by the way, that’s why Obama was running as well. She said, “…those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president.”

Then the New York senator turned to Obama for a few moments. She said America needs him because he understands the nation can’t “compete in a global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators” and because he’ll address the issue of global warming and because he knows “government must be about ‘we the people’ not ‘we the favored few.’”

The vague accolades hung like cobwebs from a dusty ceiling. Clinton said she supported Obama because “he’ll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America and meet the global challenges of our times.”

When she said she couldn’t wait to watch Obama “sign into law a health care plan that covers every single American” it was not so much praise for the party’s candidate but an affirmation that she was right all along about health care, and she was right more than a decade before Obama. If he becomes president and signs such a law he will be following in Senator Clinton’s footsteps.

At this point perhaps Obama’s supporters were thinking that Clinton was positioning herself to deliver a slam bang ending where she would unleash a verbal flood about their candidate’s exemplary qualifications for the Oval Office. It never came.

Instead Clinton launched into a history lesson about how, in 1848, a “group of courageous women, and a few brave men, gathered in Seneca Falls, New York … to participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history.”

The message was unmistakable: She made the real history during the previous primary campaign cycle. Her candidacy began more than a century ago and she was the end product of the sacrifices and hard work of many women who struggled before her. Then Senator Barack Obama rained on their parade.

Yes, Clinton endorsed Obama for president. She had to because if he should lose she wants to ensure the loss will not be traced to her failure to try and unite the party behind his effort. That’s important because, if Senator John McCain wins, Clinton will again seek the White House and wants to be able to go to her party as a team player.

But although she threw her words behind the nominee, she did not include her heart and soul. The speech was about Hillary and the possibilities that were lost. When she mentioned Obama at all she said things that could have been said about any Democrat from Senator Harry Reid to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Congressman Steny Hoyer. Senator Clinton said nothing that was unique to Obama and his qualifications.

Senator Hillary Clinton did her job in Denver. She will likely be on the campaign trail and may even find a few specifics to offer in praise of her party’s nominee. But at Obama’s convention Hillary talked about Hillary. One cannot help but think she wants to see Obama fail so she will not have to consider the possibility of waiting eight years before she can again seek the presidency.

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Joseph Bell has hosted a radio talk show and is a former editorial writer/columnist for several Connecticut newspapers. A former liberal Democrat, Bell has not been on the conservative side of the aisle for very long. He voted for Clinton/Gore in 1992. Abandoning the convictions that he had held and defended through adolescence and into adulthood was not easy. Sincere soul-searching and a commitment to distinguish fact from fiction compelled him to accept that liberal ideology was bankrupt.

jbellopedresponse@hotmail.com