Hillary Clinton made a moving endorsement of Barack Obama this morning, repeatedly calling on her supporters to work hard to make sure he was the next president of the United States.

To those of you who say to others, or to yourself. “What if, or if only” I say to you, don’t go there! Every moment spent looking back keeps us from moving forward. We have to work to together… and I will work my heart out to make sure Barack Obama is our next president and I hope and pray that all of you will join me in that effort…

She did a good job pointing out the incredible history that would allow a woman and an African American be the ones to battle it out in this set of primaries, that the sting of her loss for supporters should be overwhelmed by pride in what has happened.

Several times during the speech I could hear pockets of boos. They diminished in intensity each time they burst out, and were far outweighed by enthusiastic response to her calls to take back the White House and to build on the legacy that had put herself and Obama in such a position.

“Our lives, our freedom, our happiness, are best enjoyed, best protected and best advanced when we do work together. That is what we will do now, as we join forces with Sen. Obama and his campaign. We will make history together as we write the next chapter in America’s story.”

She spoke strongly and repeatedly of the necessity of health care for all. While some might interpret her words as further push against Obama’s non-mandatory plan, but I read it simply as an urgency and a focus and a willingness to work on the issue, to carry it forward under the new congress and administration. She made no mention of any position on the ticket or in an Obama cabinet. She will already have a sense of how she can best leverage the new, national power she has accrued and make her own response to such suggestions based on her sense of where she can have the biggest effect. Would Secretary of Health and Human Services have such transformative power? Or would she be better off staying in the Senate? We’ll know her decision soon enough.

I personally would have wished for the same energy and determination expressed for the global warming and energy fight which increasingly are giving us less room to move, but she isn’t alone in giving these issues the head-nod and turning to more familiar turf.

The most critical thing of course is not one speech, however strong. It will be how the battle goes forth. The first thing she can do is have a come to Jesus meeting with her so called supporters who have launched “The National Coalition of ex-Hillary Supporters for John McCain.” She might have a word or ten with SusanUnPC and Larry Johnson, who have turned their Bush Wrath on Obama. It’s good to see that Gloria Steinem has turned the corner and will be volunteering for Obama, and celebrates what Clinton has done, not what she has lost.

Obama thanks her, with praise.

The Washinton Post live feed isn’t available yet to posting but I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Ah! MSNBC has provided the video.

With a few comments by Justin Gardiner that show we were listening to the same speech.

Other comments from Greg Sargent at TalkingPointsMemo.

Dave Neiwert at FireDogLake

HuffingtonPost has a generous sampling of the speech.

Kevin Drum

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