The Speech Of Her Life

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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Hillary Clinton made the speech of her life yesterday.

She showed a grace all too rare in modern politics, and she set the right example for the young people who worked so hard for her.

The Clintons have not had much practice at losing, and until yesterday that showed in a not-altogether-flattering way. But yesterday that changed.

Hillary Clinton offered no excuses. Instead, she said the race was over, that the time had come to unite behind her opponent for whom she said she would work her heart out.

She told her followers that she had not run to be the first woman president, but had been a woman running for President, and that the next time a woman runs it will no longer be so remarkable.

As the father of two daughters and three granddaughters, I believe she's right about that.

She lost this race, but she had advanced the cause of women everywhere.

In life, we lose more than we win, and sometimes it is losing - not winning - that brings out our best.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton showed us her best.

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Finally, we note the passing of the great sportscaster Jim McKay who died at his Maryland farm at the age of 86.

(AP Photo)

As host of ABC's "Wide World of Sports," he made the phrase "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" familiar around the world, and became a powerful influence on sports and sports coverage - and the first sportscaster to win an Emmy.

When terrorists broke into the 1972 Olympics and killed 11 Israeli athletes, McKay's boss Roone Arledge left him on the air to anchor the coverage rather than hand off the mike to someone from the news department because, Arledge said, "There is just a steadiness there."

He was a model for all of us, including his son, Sean McManus, who went on to become president of CBS News and Sports. Our thoughts are with his family.

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E-mail Face the Nation.
By Bob Schieffer

[fidgit2]

Anyone who is running for President has their ego playing the first role- Hillary is no exception. I too am a Hillary supporter who will still vote for Hillary in November as a write-in or will vote for McCain. I cannot vote for the slick talking Obama who has zero experience in anything. He is sadly an unknown who has support based on nothing substantive.

[jn122736]

It seems race is all Obama''''''''''''''''s supporters care about, even stooping low enough to falsely accuse the Clintons of racism! the Clintons, who have stood up for blacks and against racism for so many years! I will NEVER vote for Obama now, he and his foul minded supporters don''''''''t deserve my vote, or the votes and support of any of Hillary''''''''''''''''s supporters. Sorry Hillary, unless he chooses you for the other half of this ticket, I cannot support him even if you ask me to, can''''''''''''''''t do it.

Posted by HillaryNow at 07:09 PM : Jun 08, 2008

Why are so many of Hillary''''s supporters so hateful? I liked some things about each candidate, and I made my choice for Obama. I would be happy with either as president. But we need a Democrat, and we need a big Democratic majority in each house.
Obama is the one who kept to the high ground, in my view. Please help save America, and vote for him.
Posted by ge556 at 10:56 PM : Jun 09, 2008
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ge556;

Unfortunately there are too many people, like poster HillaryNow, whose personal biases mean more them than the good of their country and fellow Americans.

[navigateur-2009]

I''m sorry but playing the gender card does not show your qualification to be president. It makes you a phony. The clever thing is it works for so many dumb voters who think that "a woman should be president now" regardless of how lousy she is. She was incredibly cynical in this speech to play the gender card as MUCH as she did, and it is surprising that some people didn''t seem to see just how central it was to the speech. Just listen to the speech again to listen to how many times, and how often, she plays the gender card, obviously to try to get 50%, and maybe more, of the population behind her. It failed though, because my mother (who is a woman, funnily enough) hated the speech for this very reason. It was insulting. That is why Hillary supporters basically represent dumb America. She''s EXPOSED the fact that she basically wanted to be in the history books as the first woman president, which, as I''ve said, makes her a phony, because as a motivation in itself, it has nothing to do with caring about America, it''s just for your own ego and wanting to be branded as a hero. Why she would expose that in the speech is beyond me, because she kept it quite hidden throughout the campaign, although not totally. Again, on the whole, Hillary supporters=dumb America. I''m glad this phony is out of the race. I''m not sexist by the way: the next female candidate should be qualified to be so, not a phony like Hillary.

[ge556]

It seems race is all Obama''''''''s supporters care about, even stooping low enough to falsely accuse the Clintons of racism! the Clintons, who have stood up for blacks and against racism for so many years! I will NEVER vote for Obama now, he and his foul minded supporters don''''t deserve my vote, or the votes and support of any of Hillary''''''''s supporters. Sorry Hillary, unless he chooses you for the other half of this ticket, I cannot support him even if you ask me to, can''''''''t do it.

Posted by HillaryNow at 07:09 PM : Jun 08, 2008

Why are so many of Hillary''s supporters so hateful? I liked some things about each candidate, and I made my choice for Obama. I would be happy with either as president. But we need a Democrat, and we need a big Democratic majority in each house.
Obama is the one who kept to the high ground, in my view. Please help save America, and vote for him.

[ge556]

Starting at 8m 53 ses Schieffer asks Charlie Rangle if there are folks that will not vote for Sen Obama becaquse of his race. Yet he does not ask the question from the other end: Are there people who will vote for Senator Obama just because of his race? Either result is equally as racist.

RSB

Posted by RadfordB at 09:55 PM : Jun 09, 2008

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I don''t think so. I don''t think it''s nearly as racist to want the barrier to be broken for the first time, as it is to be afraid of the barrier being broken.
And when someone talks like RadfordB, I wonder whether racism is behind it. I can''t tell for sure, but why else make a big deal of people wanting a big barrier to be broken?

[radfordb-2009]

Starting at 8m 53 ses Schieffer asks Charlie Rangle if there are folks that will not vote for Sen Obama becaquse of his race. Yet he does not ask the question from the other end: Are there people who will vote for Senator Obama just because of his race? Either result is equally as racist.

RSB

[jon2012-2009]

This article by Bob Schieffer is completely false. Not once did she reason that "she had not run to be the first woman president, but had been a woman running for President". Why did you make this up as your summary of what she said? SHE PLAYED THE GENDER CARD THROUGHOUT THE SPEECH!

Posted by Navigateur at 04:42 AM : Jun 09, 2008

That she played the gender card is consistent with either statement about being a woman running for president or running to be the first woman president. That was her speech so she could say which nuance to play up.

[neobrian-2009]

Navigateur
IS a RE-CON BIGOT
YES,IT WAS " The Speech of Her LIFE,....Why Else Did I Say ''The EXACT Same thing ,A Long Time Before this article was printed !
Some people are Just " Harsh,Poor Examples of Human beings, Navigateur IS The Prime Example of a LOSER !

[navigateur-2009]

This article by Bob Schieffer is completely false. Not once did she reason that "she had not run to be the first woman president, but had been a woman running for President". Why did you make this up as your summary of what she said? SHE PLAYED THE GENDER CARD THROUGHOUT THE SPEECH! (Listen to the speech again!). 50% of people in America are women. That is not a glass ceiling in an electoral process!

The second thing is that she spend most of the speech trying to explain why she should have won (by, among other things, playing the gender card throughout), and very little time trying to persuade people about Obama. It''s wasn''t a strong speech LOOKING FORWARD and with a PURPOSE, it was MOSTLY LOOKING BACKWARDS and with regrets! It was one of the weakest speeches I have ever heard.

[irliberal]

Ugh, this Dem divide is stressing me out.

Posted by SamTheTVCat at 09:28 PM

Many of us are not divided. I''ve stated for over a year that I''d vote for Hillary or for Obama, whichever won the nomination. My preference was Hillary, but my mom didn''t raise no Dumb Democrat. Hillary and Obama have always had virtually identical platforms, regardless of what anyone else has said or whatever the media has stuck into your face. For me, they''re the same. I just think Hillary would have been poetic justice. But now I''m thinking that Obama might actually be the better choice in the long run. Doesn''t matter though, because Obama won the nom and that''s who I''m voting for. There are more Democrats like me than the kind who say "if Hillary doesn''t win I''m voting for McCain!" - or - equally ridiculous - "if Obama doesn''t win Im'' voting for McCain!". Such foolishness is either a republican trying to influence public opinion in order not to soil their own shorts, or people who are so nasty and ridiculous that they don''t deserve to be called Democrats.

I am united. Always have been. And I am not alone.