SATURDAY evening Hillary Rodham Clinton gave one of the most anxiously awaited speeches of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Unfortunately for her, her concession speech, in which she announced that she was ending her campaign and giving her full support to her heretofore rival, Barack Obama, came across as one of her most effectively sincere speeches of the past 16 months. Gone was the smug projection of entitlement, the smarmy attacks on her opponent and the brassy punch lines that, in the end, were her undoing. In their place were what seemed to be sincere expressions of gratitude to her supporters, a touching homage to women's rights activists of the early 20th century and a genuinely felt plea to her supporters to coalesce behind the candidacy of Barack Obama and ensure his election to the presidency in November. It was an historic moment for America: the first female candidate for the presidency conceding her party's nomination to the first black man ever to enter the presidential race. Indeed, had she been conceding to anyone other than Obama, it would have been a tremendous disappointment to those who see themselves as citizens of a new America where race and gender take a back seat to ideas and leadership qualities. If those who see themselves as a part of this new America prevail, then Obama should be shoo-in in November. Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has already begun ad hominem attacks on Obama, amorphously attacking his “lack of experience” without once daring to mention any idea or program that he has proposed. It is exactly this type of politics into which America has descended that Obama voters are eager to see changed. The ignorant aphorisms that Bush and the neo-cons used to lull America into an unjust war and an economic disaster are exactly what prompted the mandate of a new America. It is now up to Clinton, however, to make certain that her supporters see themselves as a necessary part of this new identity. Those supporters who have vowed to vote for McCain rather than Obama are falling into the same trap as voters in previous elections. The platforms of the two Democratic opponents were virtually identical, so, in the end, the only difference between their potential presidencies likely would have been more in terms of style than substance. The differences between Obama and McCain, however, go far beyond style. McCain, though often referred to as a maverick, increasingly resembles Bush in an old man's clothing. Clinton and her supporters owe it to the world to make sure that Obama celebrate a victory come November. __
