The Speech

Well...even I have to say, as hard on Hillary as I have been, she said what she needed to say tonight. Highlights:

I am honored to be here tonight. A proud mother. A proud Democrat. A proud American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.

Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines.

This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win.

I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.

And you haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.

No way. No how. No McCain.

Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.

I'm hoping what she had to say got through to her supporters like these.

The last place Kathy Archuleta could have ever imagined she'd spend the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, was at a happy hour sponsored by the Republican Party.

But the 54-year-old Democrat joined several other Hillary Clinton supporters, along with volunteers and officials from John McCain's campaign, at a Happy Hour for Hillary.

The event, sponsored by the Republican National Committee and approved by the McCain campaign, was a chance for McCain and Clinton supporters to come together for one cause: their opposition to Barack Obama's candidacy.

These are the folks that both Hillary and Obama have to reach. These are the folks that do not understand what McSame in the White house will mean.

Archuleta, who hails from Denver, has been a registered Democrat all her life -- until now.

"I'm a registered Republican ... for the first time in my voting life," Archuleta said. "No Obama for me. I'm voting for John McCain."

"He reminds me of what the Jimmy Carter era was like. ... If they think Jimmy Carter had it bad, just wait if Obama gets into the White House. That will be bad news in so many ways," she added.

Obama's relative lack of experience in national politics -- long seen as his Achilles heel -- was something that Clinton supporters, Republicans and independents attending the happy hour rallied behind.

"His lack of experience has been demonstrated so painfully every time he opens his mouth just about. ... You cannot have good judgment without experience; that's how you get it," said 58-year-old Marnie Delano of New York.

These are the people Hillary had to reach tonight. Here's what she had to say:

Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years.

Those are the reasons I ran for President. Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama. And those are the reasons you should too.

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

Here, Hillary is telling her supporters what I've been trying to say all along. Whoever is in charge the next four years is going to be facing some ruthless problems. It's bigger than Barack Obama being the first black president or Hillary being the first woman President or even McCain (and yes I use his proper name to make a point) being the oldest elected President. All of that is nothing next to the point we're going to need a real President, not another Bush, in the White House. There is some brutally scary stuff out there folks. The bad times, the REALLY bad times, are going to be upon us very soon. Things aren't ever going to be the same, we can't go back, only forward.

Your choice going forward is between McCain and Obama. Think very carefully why you are voting, and why you are voting for one of them. A vote out of anger is still one vote. A vote out of months of weighing the pros and cons is still one vote. too, but you owe it to yourself and your country to vote. Whatever you do, at least do that. Vote FOR something, not against someone.

I plan to vote for Barack Obama, even though my vote in the state of Kentucky will not help him here. Kentucky will be carried by John McCain almost certainly, he's likely to win the Bluegrass State by the largest margin McCain will get in his column in 2008. But I can say I voted FOR Obama when I honestly believed the country needed somebody like him.

Don't vote against Obama. Don't vote against McCain. Vote FOR something. You owe it to yourself. The politics of Against have ruled this country for far too long.

Hillary said what she needed to say. I'm hoping now that everyone will do what they need to do.

Will you?