Thursday, June 05, 2008

And More of This, Too

Looking for signs of hope after a bitter primary season? How about this story about Clinton supporters at the Obama rally Tuesday night:

Their presence at the event where Barack Obama declared victory shows that, at least in Minnesota, the political healing process already is beginning.

No one is making that healing easier than Obama. Last night, after he had finished the sort of speech that leaves his followers exhilarated and exhausted, Obama did not just leave the arena. Nor did he head to the nearest television camera or the nearest fat cat. More...

Instead, he went to a room where the Clinton supporters had been gathered and one by one, shook the hands of the 25 people, stopping to chat with each of them.

"Chris (Coleman) walked around the room with him,'' said Stevenson, "and introduced each one of us.''

It was really pretty extraordinary.

"He shook my hand and said, 'Thank you for being here; I'm sure it's not easy,' '' said Stevenson of her meeting with Obama. "I thanked him and said that everyone involved in his campaign had been so gracious. I didn't know what to say, so I mentioned that my daughter works for a federal health clinic. And he knew right away which program I was talking about. He said, 'Oh that's wonderful.' '
Still a lot of bitterness, not everybody's on board, not everybody will be, yadda yadda yadda. Still, it's encouraging to see Obama doing exactly what he should be doing. It's not all in his hands (or ours), but it's a start.