Hillary had a watershed moment - voters - America - had a watershed moment. She proved all of the pundits wrong. America was expected to fall in line behind Obama, starting at New Hampshire. New Hampshire just gave a big "f*ck you!" to the old rules. The candidate who has changed America the most during the presidential race is Hillary Clinton.
Maybe it was the "tears," maybe the honest to god truth that Obama wouldn't be a contender at all if he were female, maybe her strong debate performance, or the way she was suddenly tagged "status quo" (it's one thing to not think someone is the "change" candidate - it's quite another to go around mudslinging like that), maybe it was the Tweety Effect, maybe it's how she started taking a lot of questions. Perhaps it was the perfect storm, growing underneath the radar of the idiotic media, which has been strongly biased toward Obama long before he won Iowa. I'm not really sure.
But then, it might have been... Hillary. Just Hillary.
I think that in the last week, she really opened up. We've seen glimpses of her wry humor before, and her grace under fire... but somehow, when it seemed that the whole world was against her, this last week - she opened up even more. She was serious and strong, but she also showed everyone how much she cares. And on top of it all, she never once let them get her down.
She was greeting supporters in Nashua, New Hampshire and got to the end of the line when she tried to greet supporters of former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., who were chanting and creaming, "The status quo has got to go! The status quo has got to go!"
Clinton extended her arm to shake a man's hand and he refused to shake the former first lady's hand. So Clinton patted him on the shoulder and moved on.
story here
That isn't all. Chris Matthews actually pinched Hillary on the cheek. If you don't understand how incredibly sexist... intimidating - infantalizing - this is... where have you been this century? In return, she hugs him, and calls him "baby" (in a good-natured voice), then swats him on the shoulder and moves on to bigger and better things. You know, if Obama weren't already the second coming of Christ, I'd think that Hillary were the one really vying for the job - turning the other cheek. This may sound really unusual, but I think she actually felt sorry for Chris Matthews for a moment... which is far more sympathy than he'll ever extend to her. This week, Obama is "likeable enough" ...and Hillary is VERY GODDAMN LIKEABLE.
You know what? I think this victory was about more than a primary, more than politics. Sure, next week, we'll be fighting for Nevada, and may the best candidate win. But this week I'm not just talking about New Hampshire... Hillary won far more than that state. We won a lot more than New Hampshire.