Howard Wolfson was one of the most visible public faces of Hillary Clinton's primary campaign, and one of the most annoying ones to folks like me who were solid Obama supporters. Which makes his commentary in today's Washington Post all the more notable. He went into the Democratic convention an Obama skeptic; but by the time he left Denver Obama had won him over. Oli wrote a diary today about Wolfson that quickly fell off the list. But I think Wolfson's words are important enough to share, so I'll try to take a crack at it from a different angle.
First off, Wolfson gives an insiders' view of life in the bunker of a political campaign, in this case Hillary's campaign. He notes that for him and his campaign co-workers, Obama was "something we understood only in the abstract -- data in polls, faces at a televised rally."
Most of us never heard him speak in person. At work 14 hours a day in the war room, we focused on his perceived faults and deficiencies. Our time was spent sharpening and advancing arguments. Skepticism was critical to our efforts. Insulated from Obamamania, I met few Obama supporters and distanced myself from the ones I knew. I lived this way for 18 months.
After the campaign ended, Wolfson says he felt like Rip Van Winkle. With fresh eyes, he suddenly woke up and noticed all this support for Obama that he hadn't seen before, or hadn't allowed himself to see.
There was the neighbor in an Obama T-shirt getting the morning paper. Every parked car on the street bore an Obama bumper sticker. Had they been there along, or did they pop up overnight?
One thing I found particularly interesting is Wolfson's description of how he felt heading into the DNC convention:
Many of us arrived in Denver reluctantly, feeling like uninvited guests at someone else's party. What the media described as division felt more like defeat.
The sting of defeat after a hard-fought loss. How easy is that for all of us to relate to? It just goes to show that the "division" meme repeated endlessly by the media was never really the correct word to use to describe what was going on with most Hillary supporters following the primary. They had no intention of dividing the party; they were just bummed they lost and it took time to get over it.
Another word we heard thrown around a lot in relation to the Dem convention was "cathartic." In reading Wolfson's commentary, it seems that the convention was truly a cathartic experience for him, in the best possible way. He says that the speeches by Michelle Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton all helped to melt away his feelings of defeat.
Their speeches struck the right tones of unity, softening hearts made hard by months of fighting and appealing to our common values as Democrats and Americans.
Then came Thursday night at Invesco Field. During the campaign, we scoffed at events like this, mostly because we were not capable of producing them. A cross section of voters waited for hours to enter the stadium and take their seats. As one friend put it, it looked more like an American convention than the convention of any particular political party.
Clinton delegates greeted one another with tears and hugs and were greeted in turn by Obama delegates. Several Obama supporters took my hand to thank me for what the Clintons had said that week, urging that they stay involved in the campaign. Every so often, I would simply look around me, amazed at the significance not just of the day but of the entire campaign.
Wolfson felt that Obama had raised a very high bar for himself with his convention speech. He viewed Obama's task as explaining what change meant and how it would be accomplished "while weaving his own biography into the fabric of America's" and contrasting himself from John McCain.
No one in recent history had attempted this kind of a political conversation with 75,000 people. Barack Obama pulled it off.
For 18 months, I listened to Obama on television, sometimes intently, often just barely -- background noise to a running series of conference calls and meetings and e-mails.
In person, my attention undivided, I saw something of what so many others had seen for so long.
Wolfson seems sincere to me in describing his struggles in coming to grips with the end of Hillary's campaign and to understand the appeal of Obama. I'm sure there are many other people who supported Hillary during the primary who share some of his perspectives on all of this. One of the goals of the convention was to help bring the entire Democratic party together to defeat John McCain this fall. If Wolfson's personal experience is any indication, the convention was certainly successful in that goal.