Tonight, Hillary Clinton did a great job paying homage to her foremothers and to what was a historic candidacy–her own, if she did say so herself. She also did a decent job contrasting McCain and Republicans with Democrats, like her. But, as observed by the Fox News panel, among others, her praise of Barack Obama was generic and formulaic. Virtually everything she said about Obama she could have said about anyone who was the Democratic nominee. She didn’t praise him personally, said nothing about his character, told no stories about how she’d come to know and admire him, and said nothing about his biography. During two speeches to her supporters prior to tonight’s remarks, Clinton was similarly silent on Barack Obama’s character and experience. But Obama fans can be happy that at least tonight Clinton didn’t jab their candidate like she did earlier today: “If the president is not exactly on our side, call the first lady–and with Michelle Obama we’re going to have somebody who answers that phone!” And presumably, unlike her husband, she’ll actually stay around for Obama’s acceptance speech.
