Hillary saying all the right things
Posted: Monday, August 25, 2008 3:28 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Democrats
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DENVER, Colo. -- Hillary Clinton said all the right things at a breakfast meeting of the New York delegation here.
She unequivocally said she is behind Barack Obama and urged her home-state delegation to wholeheartedly do the same.
She also made it a point to respond to the Republican National Committee using her own primary words against her in TV ads.
"Let me state what I think about those ads... I'm Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message," she said to big applause and a standing ovation at her home-state's delegation breakfast meeting.
"Make no mistake. We are united. We are united for change. Of course, we are Democrats, so it may take -- a while. We're not the fall-in line party. We are diverse...many voices, but make no mistake we are united."
She encouraged supporters to phone bank for Obama and do everything they can to make him "the next president of the United States."
She said she had a "clear purpose -- to come out of here ready to elect Barack Obama president of the United States."
She also said her supporters -- many of whom in attendance waved signs that read, "Hillary Made History" -- had "every reason to elect Barack." She then ticked off reasons after reason on the issues.
"We have so much work to do," she said. None of that will happen if John McCain is in the White House. We cannot afford for more years of George W. Bush's policies. And make no mistake, that's what you'll get with John McCain."
At a news conference after the event, when pressed if there was the potential to upstage Obama this week, she said, “There is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is Barack Obama's convention, as it should be. We are trying to bring everyone together with the same level of commitment that I feel.”
Asked what more she could do to help assure that Clinton voters would coalesce behind Obama, she said, “I don't know. … I'm doing everything I possibly can do… I think we have made a strong case.”
Pressed again on whether she was giving a full-hearted endorsement, and whether her supporters would be, she said, “It would have been the same way if Barack Obama had won, and we'd be fighting for the unity of our party.”
New York City Councilman John Liu, who is a Clinton pledged delegate defended Clinton and said those of her supporters who were holding out would eventually come around.
"For months, she's been dogged by questions of whether she's doing enough," Liu said. "What more can she possibly say? She's made it clear."
Clinton has said she will cast her vote on first ballot for Obama, and Liu said he will do that as well.
"We don't have top-down rule in this party," Liu said, adding that even though suggestions are made, not everyone seamlessly falls in line. Liu added that there were "two superstars" in the primary, but "Not we have one superstar nominee. ... People will realize that this election is a choice between Bush, part two or Barack Obama. There is no question in my mind, they will be for Barack Obama."
Clinton's case for Obama to Democrats centers on exactly that premise.
“Electing John McCain would be a mistake for our country,” she said. “Anyone who voted for me has so much more in common with Barack Obama.”
Asked if she wants to run again for president, as implied by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, she said, "I never said that."
She called losing to Obama "disappointing" and noted that she is "moved" when supporters show their "love" for her, to her, but she insists she's committed to doing everything she can to help Obama become president.
"I am working as hard as I can to elect Barack Obama," she said, adding that it would be one of the "worst outcomes I can personally imagine" if John McCain and the Republicans win the presidency again.
On the RNC ads, she said, "I said strongly I don't approve that message… my name or my words being used.” But “there's nothing I can do about it except speak out against it."
