Clinton’s speech, expected by almost all political experts and the media as her big opportunity to unite the party and build bridges with Obama, by now the official democratic nominee for the Presidential elections, ended up being nothing more than a defiant announcement that she remained the stronger candidate in the race with the most votes garnered in the primary .But did it give her the right to use the public platform to talk at length about her own acheivements and completely fail to even acknowledge that in some way, Obama himself had created history, by becoming the country’s first ever african –American nominee for president of the country? Clinton made no mention of the fact that Obama had clinched the nomination and that itself is likely to cost her heavily in terms of brownie points.
Grace and humility and generosity of heart is not something that is rehearsed,these are inherent traits and possibly traits that come from values taught as children. Clinton showed a terrible paucity of these with her failure to acknowledge the victory of her co-contestant with humility. The lady had it all wrong from word go, causing a media representative in one of the countless televised debates to call the Clintons narcissistic losers.
As for the man who created history by becoming the first ever African-American nominee for President of America, the man who showed the world that anything is possible on the wings of hope and a little faith in oneself and in the wisdom of the public, his speech was everything that his opponents should have had.
The man walked into a stadium in Minnesotta where over 10,000 people waited for hours to listen to him and began his speech by first acknowldging the accomplishment of his democratic rival. “This is not my day but hers”, he said to a crowd that went hysterical over the comment. “She has accomplished what no woman in this country has dreamt of and that is because of her commitment , her conviction and belief in the causes she has worked for”, he said. There is no greater weapon than humility.
The man who came out of the blue an year and a half back to stake his claim to a position that has till now been only the domain of this country’s rich and the connected, succeeded in just a few sentences, to convert what could have been a victory speech to one which showed his leadership abilities.Not many who witnessed the speech, telecast live on national television, could have missed the fact that the first time senator did not mention the fact even once that he was in someway setting out to rewrite the history of this country by attempting to be its first black President. But then, throughout his campaign he has never once used his race to get himself votes or sympathy or funds.
The Obama campaign has been based on his promise to bring about change and he has succeeded even before he has become the President. His speech changed the perception, no, the fact that selfishness and greed is what rules political life. In reaching out to Clinton, acknowledging her accomplishments and by expressing his hope that the party could benefit from their working together for the good of the nation, he has already changed the face of this election.