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Political Dispatch from the Distant Past: Two Weeks Ago

Filed under: The Squib Report Tagged: Barack Obama, Hendrik Hertzberg, Hillary Clinton, politics, TV

I know that, more than a week now since Hillary Clinton threw her support behind Barack Obama, it may seem odd to draw attention to her speech of four days earlier, but Hendrik Hertzberg's expansive thoughts on the subject on his blog are required reading for anyone looking for a final wrapup of that crazy, long primary.

The animus directed toward Clinton that night had as much to do with expectations as anything else; if the networks had been primed to say, "This night is about Hillary and her supporters; the concessions come later" before the fact, there would have been no outcry at all. In that sense, that night's mismatch of expectation and outcome stands as a microcosm of her campaign.

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You know my philosophy—past news is the best news! It's so much more interesting for me to read analysis of what's already happened, after it's been filtered through time, multiple perspectives and accounts, and the cushion of immediate context, than what's happening right this second. Although there's a place for the former, I grant you.

EmdashesJune 17, 2008

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Emdashes, founded December 2004, is a place where keen and dedicated readers of The New Yorker, past and present, can find related news and commentary: about people, subjects, and ideas within the magazine, and events and conversations outside its pages. Learn more about us and our contributors.

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