I think that she actually struck the right cord in the speech, especially the first portion. She certainly has provided her party the sound that they need.1
Indeed, speaking of sound bites,2 one wonders how many times one will hear the following over the next couple of days:
No way, no how, no McCain.
Her supporters would have to be utterly out of touch to not hear the obvious message she was delivering.
I say this as no booster of the junior Senator from New York, but from an active observer of our political process. The first several paragraphs of her speech were spot-on perfect for what needed to be done tonight. The middle portion was a forgettable list of policy goals, but by the time she got to that list, her mission was accomplished (if I may deploy that phrase in this context…). And it took here quite a while to mention President Clinton (longer than many might have predicted). She did a good job of mixing in attacks on McCain as well along with mixing in the women’s rights issues in the end.
I am quite impressed by the whole thing. (Indeed, the more it sinks in, the more impressed I am). The Obama camp could not have asked for more.
CNN’s wrap-up of the speech here.
The NYT’s is here.
Sphere: Related Content- As such, the work appears to have paid off. [↩]
- We can’t forget Taylor’s Iron Law, after all. [↩]
August 27th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Barack Obama is getting great leverage, thanks to added support from Hillary and now Chelsea. The speech was really great…
August 27th, 2008 at 8:14 am
It seems the effort the Republicans put into playing up the conflict between Hillary and Obama may well have backfired. All they did was increase the audience for Hillary’s speech and she hit McCain hard.
August 27th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I agree that the speech did what it could; but I’m rather dubious of the notion that many people who voted for her in the primaries would really turn to McCain by November, regardless of what Hillary said in this single speech, and regardless of what some of those folks claim right now. By November the lines would have been drawn not in sand but in concrete, and the polarized nature of our electorate shown its true colors.
I don’t think that in the big picture this or any other single speech made by anyone on either side is going to do a whole lot in terms of changing minds, and still think this will be a much closer race than many think it will be.
These dog-and-pony show conventions are anachronistic and irrelevant, other than being spectacle TV.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:44 am
[...] her past comments (the “proud” one being the most prominent). Tuesday’s speech by Hillary Clinton was a massively important step towards unifying and energizing the [...]