The Speech- no. 3

In her concession speech delivered to supporters today in Washington, D.C., Senator Hillary Clinton gave a (almost unavoidable) nod to young people and veterans, "the childhood friends, the New Yorkers and Arkansans." Then she more than gestured:

And to all of those women in their 80s and their 90s … born before women could vote, who cast their votes for our campaign. I’ve told you before about Florence Stein of South Dakota who was 88 years old and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot.

She passed away soon after and, under state law, her ballot didn’t count, but her daughter later told a reporter, “My dad’s an ornery, old cowboy, and he didn’t like it when he heard mom’s vote wouldn’t be counted. I don’t think he had voted in 20 years, but he voted in place of my mom.”

And isn't that what Mrs. Clinton's campaign became? Starting as an attempt to "make history" for women, it ended as a vehicle for middle-aged and elderly women to realize their dreams of a better America as young women joined young men in flocking to Barack Obama. Although I didn't see that coming, it probably was predictable: young people of both sexes inspired by a "change we've been waiting for" campaign, too young in some instances to appreciate the welcome change that another Clinton, after twelve years of Repub occupation (eight of which Barack Obama celebrated), had brought to the White House.