What a speech!

Hillary Clinton gave the speech of her career last night. She talked about her quest for the presidency and all the people she met along the way. How she wanted to help those people. I wondered how she was going to pivot to tell her supporters it was time to help elect Barack Obama president. And then this passage:

I want you -- I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me, or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him?

Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids?

Were you in it for that young boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage?

Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

We need leaders once again who can tap into that special blend of American confidence and optimism that has enabled generations before us to meet our toughest challenges, leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit, there are no limits to what is possible in America.

Wow! Could Clinton have made it any planer about who she was supporting and why. She challenged her supporters. She challenged them on the issues they care about. She challenged them to see if the person was more important than the issues together they’d been fighting for. Clinton answered that very clearly:

And even in the darkest moments, that is what Americans have done. We have found the faith to keep going.

I have seen it. I have seen it in our teachers and our firefighters, our police officers, our nurses, our small-business owners, and our union workers. I’ve seen it in the men and women of our military.

In America, you always keep going. We’re Americans. We’re not big on quitting.

And, remember, before we can keep going, we’ve got to get going by electing Barack Obama the next president of the United States.

I don’t think it could be said any better.