Commentators such as Chris Matthews, Keith Olberman, Tom Brokaw, Tim Russert and others expressed surprise that Hillary instead of losing double digits to Barak Obama wins approx. 39% to 37%. Hillary says she has found her voice. I think as some have gathered by now that many women especially those over age 40 became afraid the chance for a woman President would be over for years if Hillary Clinton's chances in New Hampshire were not realized. I was also pulled in many directions. My first choice was Kucinich as his politics are closest to mine. I liked Edwards' focus on fighting the corporate interests and not being afraid of saying the word poor. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd often made a lot of sense. Clinton mentioned all the Dem candidates and praised them all for their efforts in the race. I can only hope the passions that fired these candidates and others spills out to Hillary for real. I am glad HIllary was given another crack at the race for President. She did not deserve to be crushed this early in the campaign. Her credentials are too good to throw out like an old bag of garbage, her roots in our consciousness too embedded to not recognize.
Obama still has a chance to best her and he may well do it again. He needs to focus on what he really believes because as of now their two positions are almost the same. Barak will continue to attack Hillary for being an insider but on some level no woman is ever an insider and no son of an American white woman (a rather Bohemian one at that) and a proud educated man from Kenya is either. Hillary has the baggage of her husband Bill. Some of that baggage is good and some we would like to forget. In addition to Hillary finding her voice, many Dems at least in New Hampshire decided the baggage should no longer be a weight for Hillary to have to carry anymore. Perhaps, the fact Hillary showed her true feelings when she was questioned in a cafe in New Hampshire, when she teared up thinking about the fact she was way behind Obama opened up a flood of feeling that women especially understood, some men too. There were those who said, it wasn't appropriate ever for someone running for the high office to cry. I guess the Dems in New Hampshire thought otherwise and so probably will the majority in the country- women.
What Hillary actually said through her near tears from what I remember was" I had opportunites. I love this country. I know what is going on, I see what is happening to people in this country. I want to change it." The implication was she wanted the chance to change it. Some analysts are saying race is probably a factor. These pundits are saying that people said they were for Obama but when it came to voting they changed their minds. Perhaps, for a few or some this was true but I think the overwhelming vote was based on the deep seated need for women to see a woman President in the White House and when presented with the two options felt getting a woman in the highest office was their first priority. The motivation was the woman thing not the race card in my opinion.
Quotes from victory speech in New Hampshire.
"I listened to you," she told the voters of New Hampshire, "and in the process, I found my own voice.
"Too many have been invisible for too long; you're not invisible to me. . . . There will be no more invisible Americans. . . .
"Now let's give the country the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me."
Sharon Raphael
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