Unifying Dems Is No Longer Hillary's Job -- It's Up to Delegates and Us

By Kathleen Reardon, Huffington Post. Posted August 27, 2008.

We were witnesses last night to exemplary grit and class. Hillary Clinton put the past behind her and threw her full support to Barack Obama.

After putting 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, as Michelle Obama reminded us in her impressive speech, and intentionally stomping into the dust the thin pink line women carefully walk in order to avoid derogatory labels, Hillary Clinton rose to the occasion. Her call to support Barack Obama was unequivocal.

America is at a crossroads where we can do what's best for the inordinately wealthy or we can do what's best for the rest of us. That's the choice. It affects all other issues whether healthcare, the economy, Iraq, social security, immigration, women and minority rights, or foreign policy -- to name only a few. Our choice boils down to putting people in the White House who, as former Republican U.S. Representative Jim Leach said Monday, "once emphasized individual rights" but have "gravitated in recent years toward regulating values" or a Party that lives by American values.

Hillary was great last night. If we follow her lead and do what is best for this country, despite residual bad feelings, divisiveness will dissipate to a vague memory. We'll be on the path to a better future -- what Dennis Kucinich aptly described as a "wake up" to what really matters.

Hillary has hit the unity ball into the other court. It is no longer up to her. She's voting for Barack Obama. If delegates strongly feel the need to vote for her, it is not because she didn't try to persuade them. The choice is theirs.

You don't have to like Hillary Clinton to respect what she did last night. She took a huge step forward for the Democratic Party. She did what is best for America. She's one hard act to follow and a bright beacon of possibility for women. From Seneca Falls to today, as Hillary noted in her speech, there have been steps forward and steps back. Last night was a marvelous step forward and I'm glad my fifteen-year-old daughter was watching.

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Kathleen Reardon is the author of It's All Politics: Winning in a World Where Hard Work and Talent Aren't Enough.

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