Hillary Clinton's exit

Hillary Clinton's exit was as generous and gracious as Barack Obama and his supporters could have hoped for. There were no sour grapes, no damning with faint praise. She gave her supporters all the reasons to support the Democratic ticket, whether or not she is on it.

If Clinton was gracious, some of her supporters, interviewed on NPR, were less so. (Were reporters looking for disgruntled Clinton people? Do dogs search for bones?)

I heard interviews with a couple of Clinton supporters, one who said that she would have to think about whom she was voting for in November, and another who said she would not vote for Obama--she might write-in Clinton or, perhaps, vote for McCain. And I thought how nice it must be not to have to worry about someone who might be killed in Iraq because John McCain is determined on "victory." Or about millions of people who would get health insurance under Obama but will be denied it if John McCain is elected. Or about the women who will not be paid equally with men under a Republican administration.

For its last six weeks or so, the Clinton campaign was kept afloat by sexism--the supporters (most, but not all of them women) who thought she should be President because she is a woman. (Would they support Libby Dole or Kay Bailey Hutchison?) Some analysts suggested that the approach she took in yesterday's speech was dictated by a cool appreciation of what she had to do to assure her political future. Maybe. But she also knew which of the remaining candidates would come closest--much the closest--to carrying out her program for the country, so whether it was a case of pragmatism, idealism or cold calculation, she pointed her supporters toward Obama. I hope that they will take the final message of her campaign to heart.