A few more events like this one and we’ll all feel better
by: Steve Benen
It’s possible that Minnesotans are just nicer and more gracious than folks in other parts of the country, but the MinnPost had an interesting report on the Obama rally at the Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday, and the kind of treatment Hillary Clinton’s supporters found when they got there.
Specifically, the head of Clinton ’s Minnesota campaign attended the Obama event, as did a few Clinton-supporting superdelegates, Minnesota ’s Secretary of State, Minneapolis City Council President, and the mayor of St. Paul , all of whom also backed Clinton . Some were reluctant to go, but showed up in the interests of “political healing.”
And they were pleasantly surprised. In fact, both Barack and Michelle Obama met privately with 25 prominent Clinton supporters after the speech.
“He shook my hand and said, ‘Thank you for being here; I’m sure it’s not easy,’ ” said Stevenson of her meeting with Obama. “I thanked him and said that everyone involved in his campaign had been so gracious. I didn’t know what to say, so I mentioned that my daughter works for a federal health clinic. And he knew right away which program I was talking about. He said, ‘Oh that’s wonderful.’ ”
[DFL activist Jackie Stevenson], a feminist and Clinton supporter, had to admit this: “He’s very impressive.”
The report added that Stevenson had arrived at the event with another Clinton backer, and “as they were taken to their seats, people kept stopping to hug them and thank them for being there…. All of the other Clinton supporters received similar treatment.”
The St. Paul mayor added, “I think especially for women of my mother’s generation, it’s going to be very hard. They had waited so long for this (a woman in the White House). But I’ve spoken with a number of women like that in the last day. I think they’ll come around. You don’t spend your life fighting for women’s rights and then vote for Sen. McCain.”
