I thought Hillary's speech tonight was amazing. It was well delivered, sincere, and left no doubt what is at stake in this election. This was not the Hillary Clinton I could not stand during the primary. This was a Hillary Clinton that would have been the best choice for Vice President (had it not been for what went on during the primary). This was even a Hillary Clinton I myself would have voted for in the primary (again, had it not been for everything else).
And I think it was effective. I don't see how any former Clinton supporter who watched this could not vote for Obama. It would be an insult to her candidacy.
But a few minutes later, I remembered one important thing that I wish Hillary would say and she has yet to say. I don't know whether I can blame her for not including this in tonight's great speech. But I can't help but wonder why it has not come up yet.
Clinton still has not said Obama is ready to lead. She has not taken back anything she said during the primary. She has not said she was wrong.
John McCain responded to Clinton's speech tonight by saying:
“Nowhere tonight did she alter that assessment. Nowhere tonight did she say that Barack Obama is ready to lead.”
Unfortunately, I think he may be right this time. Sure, he would criticize the speech no matter what she said. But I think this is one important thing that must be said. Clinton convinced her supporters during the primary that Obama was not ready to lead. She convinced them that he is a hollow suit, that he can't deliever on the promises he makes.
Tonight, Clinton spoke about how bad a choice McCain was. And I think she successfully made the case for why her voters cannot support McCain. She spoke about the causes she fought for and how we cannot let her down by supporting John McCain. And then, she basically said, we must support Obama because we cannot put McCain in the White House. And logically speaking, that should be all she needs to say. We know that in elections we have a choice between two candidates. And if Americans all thought that way, then this would be enough. As long as they vote for Obama, right?
Unfortunately, a lot of Americans don't just think that way. They still need to be convinced to vote for Obama, not just vote for McCain. They think that they have a third option, a third party candidate or not voting. They don't think about how one of the two will end up in the White House.
So the case for Obama must be made and I wish Clinton would do that by admitting she was wrong. As far as Clinton went in convincing her voters to support Obama, it seems to me there's still a ways to go.
This is not just her task to deliver her voters. It is still Obama's job to convince people to vote for him. But if Clinton really, really wants Obama to win, I hope she will follow up this amazing speech by admitting she was wrong about his readiness to lead.
Note: I'm sure there will be people taking issue with this. I really do want to move on and I want unity, but I'm just being honest. Perhaps I'm asking too much, but this would really be awesome.
UPDATE: To respond to what everyone has commented, I think she did do part of what she needed to do. But while she spoke a lot about what is at stake, what did she do to convince her voters specifically about the concerns they have about him. They think he's inexperienced, they don't think he's ready to lead, they are nervous about him. I think these people need her to say basically: I trust him as a person. I trust in his ability to lead.
Maybe Bill will do that, maybe he won't. But I think that was an important missing aspect. It allowed people like that woman on the floor of the convention to say, "I can't vote for McCain, but I still don't know about Barack Obama. I might stay home."