Hillary Clinton Concedes and Endorses Barack Obama

June 7, 2008

By Major Garrett

Standing before a throng of supporters with American flags as her backdrop, Hillary Clinton did something Saturday that 17 months ago seemed unthinkable - she conceded defeat.

The former first lady, who as recently as Tuesday declared herself the strongest candidate, gave former rival Barack Obama an unqualified endorsement and pivoted from her role as determined foe to absolute ally. She suspended her historic bid for the White House, settling the dust following a grueling 17-month campaign.

Clinton repeatedly called on her supporters to unite behind the Illinois senator, casting the general election as a critical opportunity to shift course after seven years with a Republican president. She acknowledged the hard-fought and sometimes-bitter Democratic primary battle, but assured her voters that Obama has proved himself to the country.

“I’ve had a front-row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit,” she said.

“We all know this has been a tough fight, but the Democratic Party is a family … we may have started on separate journeys but today our paths have merged, and we’re all heading toward the same destination.”

Clinton kicked off her concession by directly thanking supporters who poured their “heart and hopes” into her campaign.

“Well this isn’t exactly the party I’d planned, but I sure like the company,” Clinton said at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., her husband Bill and daughter Chelsea by her side.

Within minutes she announced that she was bowing out of the race.

“The way to continue our fight now … is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all that we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States,” she said to cheering supporters. “Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won, and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.”

She was under pressure to send a strong signal to the 18 million voters who supported her in the marathon 50-state primary that it’s time to unite behind the presumptive nominee.

Obama secured the 2,118 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday after primaries in South Dakota and Montana. He planned to spend the weekend at home in Chicago.

Clinton on Tuesday gave little indication she was ready to bow out of the race. She congratulated Obama for running an “extraordinary” race but did not acknowledge at the time his delegate majority.

But on Saturday she paused to urge the audience to appreciate the historic nature of the race itself, which pitted the first serious female candidate for president against the most viable black candidate.

“Together, Senator Obama and I achieved milestones,” she said.

She said that even though her campaign was not successful, she paved the way for a woman to some day win the White House.

“Though we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it,” she said. “The path will be a little easier next time.”

Clinton began the race as the undisputed front-runner in January 2007. But she saw her march to the nomination derailed a year later after being swamped by Obama in Iowa’s lead-off caucuses.

The last major candidate of the 2008 primary campaign to fall, Clinton persevered by staying defiant when her back was against the wall.

In the critical contests she had to win to stay in the race, she won. She had a strong showing in the March 4 primaries, and then pulled off a victory in Pennsylvania April 22. The victories were used to raise doubts about Obama’s chances against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, even as his delegate lead over Clinton stayed imposing.

Left on the table is whether Clinton will be considered as Obama’s vice presidential pick.

The two had a face-to-face meeting Thursday evening at the Washington home of a Senate colleague, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, where they discussed the campaign to come. They spoke alone for about an hour. Both were laughing when they finished.

Clinton was expected to campaign for Obama and to help with fundraising while seeking his assistance in retiring her $30 million campaign debt.

The New York senator has told colleagues she would be interested in joining Obama as his running mate.

Following the speech Saturday, she made her way through the crowd of supporters, shaking hands and signing autographs, telling one supporter, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back.’

Also unanswered is how passionately Clinton’s supporters will file in behind Obama. Clinton was met with ear-splitting cheers when he began her address, but the crowd response became progressively more tepid as she spoke about driving Obama to victory in November.

Polls show the general election race against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain is still tight. The latest national Gallup tracking poll shows Obama leading McCain by just 1 point.

Clinton spent much of Friday working on her concession speech with campaign manager Maggie Williams, media adviser Mandy Grunwald and strategist Mark Penn.

By suspending her campaign, Clinton would retain nominal control of her delegates and could continue to raise money to pay off campaign debts.

A party at her Washington home on Friday was intended as a way to thank and bid farewell to campaign staff.

Source: Fox News

Posted by Justin Thyme · Filed Under Hillary Clinton, News, Top Story

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One Response to “Hillary Clinton Concedes and Endorses Barack Obama”

Desparaged on June 8th, 2008 1:45 pm

Why did she find it necessary to bring “SEXISM” into this race when Golda Meier, Benazir Bhutto, Mrs. Ghandi, Janet Napolitano, Kathleen Sebelius, other political females NEVER used misogyny as an excuse for not WINNING? If you call “pulling out a chair for a female” sexism, then I suppose Obama is guilty. Why did she have to “LIE” about Bosnia sniper-fire, NAFTA, Family Leave Act, Irish Peace negotiations, and other issues? Why did she find it necessary to intimate with innuendo that “Obama is Muslim”, “elitist”, “out of touch” and other dishonest statements about him? Why did she find it necessary to “PANDER” to people about guns, religion, whiskey, beer, gas tax holiday? Why did she have to use “RACE-BAITING” with images of “scary Black men” or “hard-working White Americans” or permit Bill’s remarks about “J. Jackson in SC” in her campaign? Why did she intimate things that caused her supporters “HATE Obama and his supporters” when all he ever did was make us LOVE HIM for his inclusion of “we the people”, “change” and “transparency” offered in his governance of us? Why [in her speech yesterday] did she have to take 7 minutes to espouse her own accomplishments [again] by stating that she won 18M votes [another LIE]? Instead of using that time to ‘definitively’ tell her “female groupies” that she was speaking directly to them, why didn’t she tell them that NOW she especially “wanted/needed” them to get onboard the Obama campaign “welcome wagon” with her and together they would do all in their power to help him win this election? He never wanted HATE of any type to be in his campaign and urged all “races, sexes, ages, creeds, nationalities, and religions” to come aboard his campaign train. Had she NOT done these things, perhaps I could feel something for her, but instead I am completely void of feeling anything! Obama would like us [as his supporters] to send a thank you to her website, but I find it too difficult after all the dispicable things she had done in her campaign. He is a much better and more gracious person than I could ever hope to be! BTW, I am a 65 year-old Latino FEMALE!

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