end of the primary: three candidates...true colors

wow, what an amazing night! a year ago i would never have imagined that i would be writing this post. so many of us worked so hard, and last night brought the democratic primary to an end, and also gave us a closer look at the 3 candidates who have fought to make it to this point (and things looked better from afar for some).

mccain: since his speech was the first of the night, i will lead off with him. one has to wonder what mccain's operatives were thinking by staging this speech of his tonight, during prime time. i imagine there was some intent to draw a contrast between him and obama, but i couldn't get past his monotone repetition of his lame phrase "that's not change we can believe in". a note to mccain's handlers: "PLEASE get mccain some training on the teleprompter and speaking skills, you are embarrassing the man." speaking of "true colors" and embarrassing, green was mccain's color, and since that is also afscme's color, i kept wondering what his set design people were thinking. the best review of his speech tonight comes from an online comment:

'Oh, Go with the Green Background. It’ll make you look like the cottage cheese in a lime jello salad.' Always a good look for an older gentlemen. The aesthetics of McCain’s speech, just mercifully completed before a slightly energized crowd of literally dozens, was awesome in how dreadful it was.

now i am reminded of what almost every obama staff person has been repeating for the last several months: "we just want this primary to be done so we can turn our sights on mccain". let that game begin!

clinton: oh hillary, what have you done? i went into the night with hope for you and bill. i didn't want to believe the cynics who said you would not concede and would make the night about you. i didn't want to believe that you were going to continue your divisive games. i wanted you to go out with honor. i wanted to remember the bill and hillary that i respected so much in my college years. i watched your speech from the obama office in portland, surrounded by a room full of very smart data analysts. we listened to your every word. what would you do? what would you do? we were all tense, the room was quiet. you were on the goal line, you kicked the ball for the goal posts and it started out looking like it was going to go in...and then...and then...it veered away from the posts...and you did not just say what i think you said...no, no...you really did, you really did. you dropped the [expletive deleted] ball. you turned what could have been a beautiful ending into the "sourest grapes ever" speech. you played the enabler with your die hard supporters, letting them chant "denver! denver!", and you plugged your website so you could pull in more donations to pay off debt, and bask in the "praise" from online comments. i didn't think i could get more disappointed in you than i already had been, but as gasps were heard around the room in the portland obama office, you proved the cynics right. hilary rosen, one of her strongest supporters, and a frequent author on huffingtonpost.com, demonstrated grace and honor with her post today:

She had an opportunity to soar and unite. She had a chance to surprise her party and the nation after the day-long denials about expecting any concession and send Obama off on the campaign trail of the general election with the best possible platform. I wrote before how she had a chance for her "Al Gore moment." And if she had done so, the whole country ALL would be talking today about how great she is and give her her due. Instead she left her supporters empty, Obama's angry, and party leaders trashing her. She said she was stepping back to think about her options. She is waiting to figure out how she would "use" her 18 million voters. But not my vote. I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama's campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat.

disappointed. saddened. what a pathetic end to the clintons' political career, with a missed goal in their final moment.

obama: what can i say? a beautiful end to an epic primary campaign. as his voice rang out, and the crowd cheered (including in the office), i was once again so thankful that obama was now the nominee. what a clear distinction between him, hillary and mccain--it had never been sharper for me. his praise of hillary was sincere and honorable, the contrasts that he drew with mccain where sharp and forceful. and the closing of his speech was heard around the world:

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

and now the next journey begins, to take back the white house...and our country--to make ourselves and the rest of the world proud.