The Next Election

Hillary played it beautifully last night - she did everything she could for Barack. As a result, Barack suffers. This was the delightful situation in which she found herself.

...last night she hit all the right notes, delivering a speech remarkably free of any sense of defeat, self-pity or what-might-have-beens. She thanked the 18 million Americans who supported her in the primaries, but then all but commanded them to put aside their displeasure with the outcome and get behind the Illinois senator as he leads the party into battle.

She couldn't do anything overt to sabotage Barack, or she would have likewise sabotaged her own presidential future.

...unlike many past losing candidates in both parties – notably Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1976, Sen. Edward Kennedy in 1980, Sen. Gary Hart in 1984 – she performed last night in a way that will make it difficult for anyone to blame her if the nominee loses in the fall.

By being poised, professional and graceful, she highlighted Barack's beginner status, and ignited nostalgia in supporters who hadn't even been missing her. Professionalism and experience are awfully nice qualities for a leader to have when you're going into battle.

Clinton's target was that 53 percent of her supporters thus far resistant to Obama's appeal. In the speech, she challenged them to rise above personal pique and focus on the greater good that could be done by an Obama presidency.

No one knows how those voters will react. But Obama should know that the burden now shifts to him. If he wants these voters, he has to win them over. Clinton can't do it for him.

There lies the irony. Everyone was looking for Hillary to give a great, rousing endorsement of Barack, as if that would then deliver her supporters. But she can't control her supporters. The best she good do was not try to tear them away, to not overtly attempt to instigate a movement against him.

By doing her part to help Barack, she may, in fact, have hurt him still... reminding Democrats of just how silly it was to fall for Hope, and leaving viewers with the clear image of an experienced performer against which to compare Barack.

Last night, Hillary did what any smart politician would do. When given a forum, they're using it to benefit their next campaign. Think of last night as Hillary's announcement speech for 2012, when she will seek to unseat John McCain.

Unity?

My old WRKO producer Cooksey is at the convention, and is blogging. It's worth reading his assessment of party unity as he took the pulse of those leaving the Pepsi Center after Hillary's speech.

Today in Denver there was a march of well over a thousand Hillary supporters, who call themselves "18 million voices". They marched in protest of Hillary's loss and the Biden selection. (Read More)

Family Feud

One of the more remarkable polling details this summer is the fact that Clinton supporters are growing more resistant to the idea of voting for Barack. It was supposed to be going in the other direction. But the growing gap seems to be mirroring the attitude of the Clintons and Obamas themselves.

Politico reports that Bill Clinton is miffed at his assigned topic for his Wednesday night speech - he's supposed to talk about why Barack would be a better president than John McCain.

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas -- emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own record in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, the number of Hillary supporters who say they'll vote for McCain has gone up 11% according to the latest CNN poll.

This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms.

In June, 75% of Clinton Democrats said they'd vote for Barack. That number has dropped to 66%.

Some senior Democrats close to Obama, meanwhile, made clear in not-for-attribution comments that they were equally irked at the Clinton operation. Nearly three months after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the nomination contest, these Obama partisans complained, her team continues to act like she and Bill Clinton hold leverage.

What an incredible failure of leadership, on the part of Barack, not to have gotten this rift settled. Bad news for Barack, good news for America.