Washington, USA : June 8, 2008 - International Reporter Summary (IRS)/NYT – The campaign for the White House came to an end on Saturday. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton had brought her campaign to an end . She used her wisdom and retained her popularity and high image in the eyes of her millions of fans by giving a rousing farewell to thousands of supporters an emotional manner.

It was a great boost for women and she acknowledged that her campaign was a milestone for women and that won the hearts of millions of women and raised her respect in their hearts of hearts. 

She unequivocal called for her voters to get behind Senator Barack Obama, which was of course appreciated by the people and that was the real sportswoman spirit. 
For 28 minutes, standing alone on a stage in the historic National Building Museum, Mrs. Clinton spoke not only about the importance of electing Mr. Obama, but also about the extent to which her campaign was a milestone for women. She urged women who had supported her — who had turned out at her headquarters, flocked to her rallies and poured into the polls to vote for her — not to take the wrong lesson from her loss.

“You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the president of the United States,” she said. “To those who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all of the way, especially the young people who put so much into this campaign, it would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours.”

At that point the cheers, mostly from women, swelled so loud that Mrs. Clinton’s remaining words could not be heard.

Mrs. Clinton first mentioned Mr. Obama seven minutes into her speech. But when she did, she swept away any doubt — created by her speech on Tuesday night, when he claimed the nomination — that she was ready to concede or that she had any hesitancy about endorsing him or his qualifications to be president.

“The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand, is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States,” Mrs. Clinton said, her voice echoing across the stone walls of the building where she and President Bill Clinton danced at inaugural balls in 1993 and 1997. “Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.”

It was a dramatic — and at times theatrical — end to a candidacy that transfixed the country. Many of her supporters watched, some weeping, turning out to witness and appreciate the history of this latest turn in the Clintons’ story. If it was a clearly personal moment for Mrs. Clinton, it was a political one as well, as she tried to marshal her large following on Mr. Obama’s behalf.

“I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I have served in the Senate with him for four years. I have been in this campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I’ve had a front-row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit.”

“I want to take all our energy and all our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president of the United States,” said Mrs. Clinton, who, as she noted in the speech, drew more than 18 million votes that she can now steer toward him.

Most in the crowd roared their approval when Mrs. Clinton mentioned Mr. Obama’s name, though there were boos and jeers from the third-level balcony that hung over the hall. Some of her supporters tried to drown out those boos by clapping louder.
Throughout the campaign, Mrs. Clinton steered away from presenting her candidacy in historic terms or in the context of feminism. But not on Saturday. The theme was emphasized almost from the start of the speech to the gripping parting tableau, when she raised the hands of her daughter, Chelsea, and her mother, Dorothy Rodham.

“Now, think how much progress we’ve already made,” she said. “When we first started, people everywhere asked the same questions. Could a woman really serve as commander in chief? Well, I think we answered that one. Could an African-American really be our president? And Senator Obama has answered that one.”
Mrs. Clinton was as relaxed and expansive as she had been at any point on the campaign trail. In talking about all the reasons she thought Democrats should rally around Mr. Obama, she lapsed into a rushed preacher’s cadence, ending each refrain with “and that’s why we need to elect Barack Obama our president.”
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