How to Concede an Election

What did Hillary do on Tuesday night? Fortunately, she has an army of pundits to tell her what she should have done, but what did she actually do?

First of all, she won the South Dakota Primary by 10 points. Secondly, she knew, as Bill Clinton made clear earlier in the day, that this was the last day she would be campaigning for the presidency of the United States. This was the last opportunity she would have as an active candidate to speak to her supporters and offer congratulations to all those who had been part of the campaign for what they had accomplished together. This was her last opportunity to tell all of her supporters to go to Hillary Clinton.com

She took the opportunity to point out the history that was made by the Clinton Campaign, since clearly the media was not interested in acknowledging her achievements. There were plenty of people prepared to acknowledge the legitimate history making achievements of the Obama campaign. I myself have acknowledged these achievements in an earlier blog entry - "Vice President". She did not dwell on what she could have dwelt on - that there might be a weakness in the Obama campaign since he has lost to her in the majority of the primaries that have been held since Ohio. That seems especially pertinent since he lost this primary on the very night that every one knew he would gain the nomination for the presidency. She did say that she would work hard to ensure that the Democratic nominee for president be elected in the fall.

Finally, and most importantly, she spoke about an hour before Barack Obama spoke. She briefly savored her South Dakota victory, and touted her many accomplishments for herself, women and others in this historic campaign. Then she got off the stage and left the spotlight to Barack Obama and his victory. Yet the media begrudges her even this brief moment of satisfaction. I would feel a lot better if the main stream media simply came out and said we want Obama elected president and we will do everything possible to ensure that that happens. It wouldn't make it fair and balanced, but at least it would make it honest. It will be interesting to see how they handle the fall campaign when their choice will be in conflict with another media favorite - John McCain.