Hillary Clinton was not my choice for President of the United States. But she was the choice of nearly 18 million Americans. She won 19 primary contests during this campaign. Nineteen. No woman in American history has ever won so much as one. Heck, no woman has ever been amongst the contenders in a presidential primary contest.
Those 19 contest wins, and those 18 million people may not have been enough to push her over the top against her opponent, but they signal an historic moment that generations from now will read about as a turning point in our nation’s history. They set the stage for young women all over this country to aspire to goals they never imagined possible before. For that alone she will hold a rightful place as a pioneer who fought for equality – and won it.
You are a gracious woman Shayna. I appreciate your starting this thread. You and I have disagreed numerous over the last months but to take the example of our respective preferred candidates, I’m hoping we can put our differences aside and help get this country to a better place than it has been over the last years.
Here’s an excellent editorial from the Washington Post, with which I am largely in agreement.
What Hillary Clinton has achieved is nothing short of sensational. As per the article: “Clinton’s candidacy has brought unprecedented visibility to women’s leadership.” That benefits all of us.
I congratulate her on the historic feats she’s accomplished this election cycle. In a different year, with different opponents, and most of all different advisors, she very well could have been the Democratic candidate for president. I’m incredibly happy to have her on our side finally, working for the Democratic candidate.
I agree. She was never ever going to be my choice for President, but you have to admire what she did. Ex First Lady or not, she moved barriers aside permanently.
I was only able to listen to part of her speech today, but what I heard impressed me. If she works as hard for Obama as she did for her candidacy, it’s going to a long summer and fall for McCain.
We’ll probably continue to disagree on technical points from time to time, but I’m convinced our shared goals will unite us towards the same cause. There’s nothing more important in our nation right now. And Hillary certainly did her part in inspiring so many to care deeply enough to participate in this election. She is absolutely deserving of praise for that.
She said today that she didn’t break the last ceiling but she put 18 million cracks in it. I disagree. I think she did break the ceiling. She didn’t climb through, but the ceiling isn’t there any more. I think she made gender a non-issue. No one sees a woman as a novelty candidate anymore.
I’ll be interested to see how this shakes out. It was a gracious speech she gave today, and it must have stuck in her craw, and I am well on my way to liking her again. She’s one of the toughest Democrats we’ve got and I will follow her future career with great interest. What do you do with Hillary Clinton now (besides “whatever she wants to do”)?
She becomes (if she wants to) the next Ted Kennedy/Bob Byrd, i.e. an eminence grise in the Senate, an expert at the parliamentary process, and an elder statesperson in the Democratic Party (or, again if she wants to, she runs for governor of New York at some point in the future). The primary campaign roused a lot of animosity against her, but I, personally, and I know, other folks on the Obama side, find ourselves liking her again, now that she’s gotten behind the elected candidate. The Clintons ARE important to and within the party. That’s not going to change. Bill’s a former president and Hillary is a senator from a very big state that’s pretty consistently in the Democratic corner. They both still have a lot to offer the party and the nation.
Yeah, *now * that enough Democrats have pushed her into doing so. Sorry to rain on your parade, but one thing she was not, is a gracious loser.
Over the years I have observed a lot of very cool candidates for office concede with grace and style, even though I know how much it must have hurt to do so.
At Shayna’s invitation, I’d like to express my admiration of Hillary Clinton’s fortitude and to recognize once again what a great fighter she is. I have noted on more than one occasion that she is a good egg. (For northerners, that means she stands out from her peers.) I hope that Democrats as well as thinking Libertarians and Republicans will join together in the common goal of exercizing our right, as expressed by Thomas Jefferson, to establish a new government that we believe is most likely to effect our safety and happiness. We can do that by voting the bums who are in there out.
I think her speech today was very gracious, and, in any other year, I would have been happy to support her as president. It was a tough loss – the closest in decades – so I don’t begrudge the fact she found it hard to call it quits.