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Analysis: Clinton does her part for Obama, party

BY ELIZABETH MOORE | elizabeth.moore@newsday.com

August 31, 2008

DENVER - Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the Mile High City last week viewed by many as the bitter also-ran, a lurking threat to steal Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's limelight and spoil his big week.

She left as The Good Sport, a supremely talented party stalwart who has put the good of Democrats and her country ahead of her own ambitions - at least for now.

The Clinton brand, tarnished this year by charges of race-card playing and sore-loser politics, is outdated - or so went the story line of some of Obama's staunchest supporters.

But the image of Clinton huddled shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow New York delegates at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday as she called for Obama's unanimous nomination uncorked palpable relief in the arena, a mood that turned to something approaching rapture hours later as her husband, former President Bill Clinton, spoke on Obama's behalf.

"What she said and what Bill Clinton said sealed it," Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Aurelia Greene (D-Bronx) reflected the next day as she waited for Obama's acceptance speech. "It makes me believe they are 100 percent on board."

Agreed Hempstead Town Board member Dorothy Goosby, "Everything is fine now. Hillary understands that it's bigger than her."

If anything, some Democrats may have left Denver this week with a nagging sense that they might have missed their best shot of success in November when Obama passed her over for the vice-presidential slot - a lament that resurfaced in some quarters Friday after John McCain named Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

"Hillary has solidified her position as the most powerful woman in the history of American politics," believes Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi.

A week ago today, Clinton was making the pitch for Obama to farm workers in Fresno, Calif., while hundreds of her disappointed supporters were gathering at the site of the convention to protest her treatment in the primaries by the media and her own party. An unknowable number of these supporters have vowed to vote for McCain in the general election.

But if they were looking for some signal of sympathy from Clinton, some cue to make a stink in her name, it never came. Instead, their heroine pounded away on the elect-Obama theme. At an Emily's List gala Tuesday, she praised him and his wife, Michelle, without a hint of irony under a banner reading, "When women vote, women win."

And in her nationally televised address that night, Clinton spelled out her endorsement of Obama by the 23rd word - in marked contrast to the famous "Dream Shall Never Die" speech, with which Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy conceded the nomination to President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Kennedy's speech, fabled for its soaring rhetoric on the party's ideals, tossed in a single, grudging reference to the party's nominee toward the end, almost as an afterthought: "I congratulate President Carter on his victory here."

But Clinton's message was emphatic, direct and specific: "No way, no how, no McCain," she told her audience right upfront. "Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president."

Where does all this leave the Clintons? Janice Tinsley-Colbert, Babylon's former town clerk, says she's heard from some African-American friends who do not believe Clinton went far enough in her speech to atone for the hard feelings stirred in the primary. Republicans noted she didn't say much to reassure voters about Obama's experience, which polls show is a primary reason many of her voters don't support him - though Bill Clinton hit that theme in his speech the next night.

And Hillary Clinton's speeches to delegates and her own supporters leave open the prospect she can still make another try for the presidency.

But others interviewed said they couldn't ask more of the Clintons than what they delivered this week.

"Many people recognize that never has more been expected from a losing contender that was demanded of Hillary Clinton in Denver, and she met and exceeded the expectations," said Judith Hope, former chairwoman of the state Democratic Party and longtime Clinton supporter.

If Obama wins the election, Clinton will have secured her standing as one of the Senate's key leaders, said Assembly Ways and Means chairman Denny Farrell (D-Manhattan).

And if he doesn't, says Long Island Rep. Gary Ackerman, "she's positioned herself for the next time around. ... If Obama doesn't win, she's the next Democratic candidate."

Of course, Obama voters will be watching closely to see how hard Clinton works for him this fall, said his Long Island campaign chairman, Suffolk County Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor).

"I have no doubt that Barack is going to win. If Barack doesn't win, and Hillary didn't make that 150 percent effort in support of him, she probably would be blamed," he said.