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Hillary Clinton did exactly what she needed to do. As a political science major, a patriotic American, and a strong follower of every event in this election, I studied this speech just like any other. Sen. Clinton is a great woman, a fantastic politician, and an eloquent speaker. This speech was just another in her arsenal against Republican candidate John McCain. And although she did not truly show why she loved Barack Obama, or why he would be a good president, it was a strategic speech that achieved everything that was necessary.

After the speech, I was yet again disappointed with the pundits at CNN. I kept hearing the word "generic", generic, generic. Yes, of course it was generic, what did you want? If she said that Sen. Obama would be an incredible president, or a better candidate than herself, it would show weakness. It would show insecurity in herself and ruin her chances if she decided to run again. And if there is one thing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has, it is security and confidence. Instead of saying that he would be a superior president, which she certainly does not believe, she made it more of a pro-Democratic speech. By backing the Democratic Party she is creating the unity that the party wanted while still remaining truthful. By asking her supporters to vote against John McCain, instead of for Barack Obama, she is standing behind the party and reuniting it under THAT goal. Her supporters do not want Barack Obama and many refuse to vote for him. But by making that vote sound anti-McCain instead of pro-Obama, it allows some people to rally against the Republicans even if they are still having a problem "healing the wound". By saying things like, "No way, no how, no McCain" (Part 1, 3:00), it achieves the goal of voting for a Democratic president which is the #1 priority of the party. The party does not really care at this point if their members want Obama; they simply care that they do not lose the Clinton voters. A pro-Democratic vote will not necessarily bring the party together in spirit, but it will in the polls. By being generic she stays sincere. If she was more specific people would know that she was lying and she would be open to even more criticism. It was a lose-lose situation, and she chose the best of two evils. Instead, she fired off missiles like, "This will not be easy, progress never is; but it will be impossible if we do not fight to put a Democrat back in office. We need to elect Barack Obama, because he understands" (Part 2,

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