The Speech- no. 6

Not for the first time, Hillary Clinton today equated her struggle with women's suffrage with the civil rights movement, in this case abolitionism. In her concession speech, she argued

Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes.

Think of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot soldiers who marched, protested, and risked their lives to bring about the end of segregation and Jim Crow.

Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote and, because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could go to school together.

Because of them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard-fought campaign for the Democratic nomination.

I'm not sure I understand why "the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery" resulted in Hillary Clinton growing "up and taking for granted that women could vote." But the tortured explanation did allow her to suggest that Barack Obama's victory was hers, also, which allowed her simultaneously to save face, imply that she is partly, indirectly responsible for a black person standing on the precipice of election to the highest office of the land, and claim a kind of kinship with Obama supporters. My explanation may be a stretch but Clinton's reasoning otherwise defies logic.