Hillary Clinton's Speech

Hillary Clinton delivered a near-perfect speech last night. 

Then the pundits jumped in.

I switched between CNN and Fox last night and, had I not been paying attention, I would have thought they were analyzing two different speeches. Fox News was talking about all the things Clinton did not say; CNN was talking about all the things she did say. The result: Fox News "analysts" universally determined that the speech was good for her, but bad for Obama. CNN, on the other hand, said she did exactly what she needed to do.

Who was right? Well, Fox News was loaded with right wing blowhards like Bill "Always Wrong" Krystal. CNN was loaded with a bunch of old party Democratic Hillary Clinton ass-kissers like James "Jackass" Carville. Obviously different perspectives were in play.

 The Fox pundits were panning the speech because it did not contain language stating that Clinton believed Obama had the experience to be commander-in-chief. The CNN pundits liked the speech because it drove home the point that, if you really believe in the causes Hillary Clinton represents, then you must support Barak Obama because he will bear that torch for you.

When analyzing the success or failure of a speech, you need to know who the audience for the speech is. The right wingers mistakenly believed they were the audience for her speech. The audience for that speech was people who backed Hillary Clinton during the primary and were considering voting for McCain or not voting at all because Clinton lost a primary in which they feel (rightfully) that the media engaged in overtly sexist behavior and (wrongly) that the process was unfair to Hillary.

In the context of her target audience, her speech was magnificent. She believes the same things they believe about the media and the process. Right or wrong, nothing anyone is going to do will fix those issues. But she can remind them of why they wanted her to be President in the first place. And the truth is, if you care about 

• a woman's right to control her own body...
  
• the ability for everyone to have access to basic healthcare...
• the need for America to engage in diplomacy before war...
• the need for America to become a nation to be admired, not feared...

Then you cannot allow John McCain to be elected President, as he stands for the opposite of Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama on all these things. And she made that very clear in her speech tonight.

There will be plenty of time for Hillary to point out what a good Command in Chief Obama will make to the wider public during the campaign.