Echoing another dramatic moment, Hillary Clinton came not to praise Barack Obama, only to support him.
Or maybe she was channeling consigliere Tom Hagen, who in "The Godfather" famously said of a Mafia family feud: "This is business, not personal."
Whatever her muse, Clinton Saturday gave one of the most honest speeches she has ever given and perhaps the most honest we have heard in this political marathon.
She didn't pretend to like or admire Obama. She didn't pretend she believes he would be a great President. She didn't say he was right on the issues. She never said he'd be a good commander in chief or would keep America safe.
She made it clear she still reserves those views for herself. And that she'll be baaaacccck.
But she had a job to do yesterday and she did it. Her task was to acknowledge Obama as the party nominee, say repeatedly she was supporting him and would do everything she could to help him win.
She did all that with more sincerity than a coerced prisoner of war would have mustered, but with far less passion and rhetorical gusto than a true believer would have brought to the occasion.
She made it clear, sometimes painfully so, that she was endorsing Obama only because he's a Democrat. It's business.
Last night one of the local news stations ran about 10 minutes of Hillary's speech without edits or interruption. The replay confirmed what I thought I heard as I listened to parts of the speech on the radio yesterday. One thing most politicians are good at is recognizing applause lines and making the appropriate pauses for effect. Hillary pretty much plowed through the text, rode right over the applause lines, and clearly wanted to get that thing done as quickly as possible so she could move on to the adoration phase after the conclusion of the speech. She did not endorse Obama with anything resembling emotional appeal, but did what she had to do to appease the party gods.
As a NASCAR fan, the Dem race kind of reminded me of some of the drivers from Dover last weekend who wrecked 10 miles into the 400 mile race. The crews patched up their cars as best they could and sent them back out onto the track to motor around in everyone's way the rest of the day. They could maintain the minimum speed necessary to stay on the track, but had no chance of winning. They were out there to gain whatever driver and owner points they could get. It's a competitive driver's worst nightmare.
It became clear way back in March that Hillary couldn't win because the math just wouldn't work for her, but she motored on, getting in Obama and the party's way on every lap (or primary). Unlike NASCAR, she probably won't be rewarded for staying in the race.
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