Tonight is huge. Hillary's speech is more important than Mark Warner's, more important than Bill's, more important than Joe Biden's. I think the whole PUMA story has been largely media driven and that Hillary has been more supportive of the Obama campaign than she's been given credit for. Nonetheless, the impression a lot of people have is that she's not 100% behind Obama. Tonight is her chance to put an end to that storyline. Tonight she has a chance to make clear to all 18 million people who voted for her in the primaries that they should vote for Obama because she and Obama agree on all the important issues and they both disagree with John McCain.
I think it should be pretty easy for her to do it. NBC First Read wrote earlier today, "She may not be able to find her Goldilocks moment and strike a 'just right' balance tonight of both advancing her own political future and proving that she really does want Obama to win... The good news for her, the expectations are very low in this sense. No one expects her to be able to pull this off convincingly." Bullshit! Why are the expectations low? How hard is it for her to come out and basically give a more inspired version of what Nancy Pelosi said yesterday. Hillary Clinton can give herself a pat on the back and congratulate all her supporters for advancing the issues they care so much about. Issues like universal health care, saving the environment, guaranteeing a woman's right to choose, restoring the responsible economic policies of the Clinton administration, and ending the war in Iraq in a careful manner. And then she can run through each of those issues and say Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong. Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong. Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong. Simple and effective.
"I got into politics because of the causes and issues I cared about" - Hillary Clinton
Tonight, she has the chance to prove it.
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