Hillary Convinces The Voters

Comments by Hillary Clinton from several presidential debates:


- but it has been an honor, because it has been a campaign that is history making.
You know, obviously I am thrilled to be running, to be the first woman president, which I think would be a sea change in our country and around the world ... you know, enormous hope and, you know, a real challenge to the way things have been done, and who gets to do them, and what the rules are. So I feel that either one of us will make history. (Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, 2/26/08)

- And, you know, no matter what happens in this contest -- and I am honored, I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored. (University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 2/21/08)

- You know, this campaign is obviously an incredible opportunity for so many people to become involved, to be part of making history. You have got a son of the South. You've got an African-American. You have a woman. What better way to celebrate the legacy of Dr. King than to look at this stage right here tonight? (Palace Theatre, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1/21/08)

- You know, several of us would never have had a chance to stand here and run for president -- a Latino, an African-American, a woman -- if it hadn't been for the progress of America over my lifetime. And I am thrilled to be running to be the first woman president.... And it has been my goal over the course of my lifetime to be part of this great movement of progress that includes all of us, but has particularly been significant to me as a woman. (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, 11/15/07)

- I am proud to be running as a woman.... And when I'm inaugurated, I think it's going to send a great message to a lot of little girls and boys around the world. You know what is great about this is look at this stage and look at the diversity you have here in the Democratic Party. (Adler Theatre, Davenport, Iowa, 9/20/07)

- Well, when I was growing up I didn't think I would run for president, but I could not be standing here without the women's movement, without generations of women who broke down barriers, the civil rights movement that gave women and people of color the feeling that they were really part of the American dream. (Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, 8/19/07 as a special edition of ABC's "This Week")


.... and from the campaign trail, as reported by washingtonpost.com, of Mrs. Clinton's appearance at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina on 1/13/08:

"I am so proud of my party, I am so proud of my country and I am so proud of Senator Barack Obama." She added later in the speech, "I am standing here, Senator Obama stands before you, as a result of the generations of men and women who protested and picketed."

Diversity. Breaking down barriers. An historic election. Proud of Barack Obama.

Given a choice in this "historic election" between nominating a black man, the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, father from Kenya; and nominating a woman, the wife of a former president, the Democratic electorate (narrowly) appears to have chosen the former.

Diversity. Breaking down barriers. An historic election. Proud of Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton has won her argument. And lost the nomination.