February
2 Clinton's Vision

To chants of "Yes, she can!," a variation on her chief rival's campaign slogan, Hillary Clinton rallied thousands of supporters and a smattering of Hollywood celebrities at Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday.

In fact, what was marked about her speech was that it was much more visionary than past ones --- and perhaps even a bit Obama-like.

Clinton said, "What we have to do together is to seize this moment and give each and every one of us a role to play in the new America I see."

At one point, she asked the crowd, "Are you ready for change?" According to press accounts, Obama asked the same question in a Saturday afternoon speech in Minneapolis.

The crowd waited patiently for Clinton to come on stage, and listened to what seemed like an endless parade of elected officials who have endorsed her, broken up by a performance of a group of female mariachis. Hundreds who didn't get in waited outside, and Clinton addressed them afterward.

Clinton said that "we are going to put together a movement" to pass universal health care --- which gave her an opportunity to criticize Obama.

"My opponent will not commit to universal health care," she said. "I don't believe we should nominate any Democrat who will not stand here today, tomorrow or any day who will not explicitly support universal health insurance."

And in another veiled reference to Obama, she said, "There will be no guesswork. I'm not asking you to take a leap of faith. I'm asking you to hire me to do the hardest job in the entire world."

She also turned her attention to John McCain, the Republican front-runner. She pointed to his support of continued troop presence in Iraq and for saying that "he'd be perfectly happy to be there for a hundred years."

To the crowd, with a heavy presence of Latinos and women, Clinton cited the work of Cesar Chavez, as well as that of Robert Kennedy. She mentioned her support from Robert Kennedy Jr., Kerry Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, children of the late New York senator. Clinton and Obama have been touting their respective Kennedy family endorsements for the past week. Shortly before Clinton took to the state, the Obama campaign announced the endorsement of Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel, adding to a list that also includes Caroline Kennedy and Edward Kennedy.

Also with Clinton on stage were a handful of celebrities, including Magic Johnson, Bradley Whitford, Christine Lahti, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera. Some of the biggest applause from the audience came for Sally Field, who said that she has watched almost every debate and she has been "overwhelmed with how Hillary Clinton behaved" in the face of attacks "sometimes from every person on the stage."

Field told the crowd that she was impressed with "how she has used the attacks to give her strength."

Ferrera, the star of "Ugly Betty" who has been stumping for Clinton in California and Nevada, highlighted one factor she saw in Clinton's appeal to college-age voters.

"I don't need a president who is going to talk about making college affordable," she said, "I need a president who has spent the past eight years making college affordable."

Their speeches reflected the split in Hollywood between endorsements for Clinton and those for Obama.

Tamblyn, who starred in "Joan of Arcadia," called for a "16-year plan" --- eight years of Clinton followed by eight years of Obama.

Right now, she said, "We are going to need a chess player, not a checkers player...After that, I will be so excited to campaign for Barack Obama."

Lahti drew laughs when she referred to Clinton's resiliency in seeking the presidency and pursuing her agenda. "And she has the balls --- excuse me --- the ovaries, to do it."

Lahti was praiseworthy of Obama, telling the crowd, "I think he will make a great president someday, just not yet."

But she said, "When did he co-opt hope and how did he become the candidate of change and not Hillary?"

It's a good question.

Several of the surrogates who spoke in the two hours before Clinton arrived mentioned the fact that she graduated from law school but chose not to go to work for a corporate law firm, but the Children's Defense Fund. It's a familar theme. Obama surrogates also note that their candidate bypassed a lucrative corporate law career to be a community organizer.

Later on Saturday afternoon, Clinton appeared in an MTV/MySpace "closing arguments" forum that also included Barack Obama, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.