Hillary finally gave her long-demanded-by-the-Dems concession speech yesterday to a pretty raucous crowd of supporters, mostly female it seemed to my weary eyes.   Her small but stalwartly devoted family was there, Bill, Chelsea and Momma Rodham.  And, certainly, the basic rhetorical elements were there, so that most could easily conclude it was indeed a concession speech.

Word-for-word, point-by-point analysis isn’t really my forte, so I’ll leave that to others.  I prefer to give my overall impressions, mostly subjective and intuitive to be sure, but valuable in the eyes of many, anyhow.

The thing that struck me right between the eyes, while viewing Hillary’s delivery of this oh-so-historic speech, was it’s obvious dichotomy.

With one face, in one voice and in one boisterous cadence, Hillary delivered a speech to her own base of supporters in a style that actually seemed more of a repartee than a monologue.  During these portions of her speech, she paused for emphasis and responses, which were heartily forthcoming from her adoring audience.

While speaking of her victories and her personal encounters with supporters, especially American women, Hillary came across as downright authentic, which is a quality she seems to have discovered only in this 2008 campaign.  Authenticity is a quality that has been remarkably lacking in the Hillary Clinton of the past, during her tenures as First Lady of both Arkansas and America.  But she nailed it in this speech every time she spoke of her own accomplishments this campaign season.  Talking about herself, she was authentic.  Real.  Smiling.  Animated.  Sincere.

But every time she spoke of Barack Obama, whether of his primary campaign, his candidacy as an African-American, or her commitment to his election to the Presidency come November, Hillary’s other face came front and center as though the real Hillary suddenly donned a mask.  This dichotomy was unmistakable and unavoidable to even the most disinterested observer.

Her spiels about Obama were delivered so quickly at times that she gave the impression of a kid trying to run past a graveyard so as not to be cursed with early death.  She didn’t pause; she didn’t wait for response.  She delivered these parts of her speech as though auditioning for a part she really didn’t want, as though she were an actress set up with a reading against her own will.  Talking about Obama, her heart was clearly not in it.  She didn’t smile.  Didn’t slow down.  Didn’t encourage.  Didn’t emote.  Didn’t seem sincere.

Clearly, her most sincere delivery was centered upon two things, and two things only, and each carried with it a cleverly disguised discount.

She articulately called attention to the real fact that in only 3 elections of her entire voting history as a Boomer, Americans had actually elected a Democrat President, and that the man who had won 2 of those 3 elections was on the stage with her.  Bill Clinton was that man, and she proceeded to recount “their” accomplishments, with the perfectly-thrust finale that America needed to continue that record now for 8 more years.

Then came the discount.  Since she couldn’t be the nominee for the Democrats this time, she would work for Obama.  Too bad she was wearing her mask when she said it, or I feel quite certain all watchers would have seen an insincere smirk upon that wily Clinton face.

Hillary’s other most animated, genuine delivery was her line relating how she wasn’t going to be able after all to break through that “highest glass ceiling of them all,” the Presidency, but that thanks to primary voters, there were now “18,000,000 cracks in it.”

Then came the discount.  Too bad for all us women, but hey, let’s be happy that the African-American males are forging right ahead.  Hillary’s mask went right back in place when she tossed that bone out, and it was plain to me (and probably every woman in America) that she didn’t really mean that.

In fact, this part of the speech gave me the eerie feeling that it was codespeak for feminists to defiantly vote Republican this year or stay home.

So, is she really outta here…or not?

With all I know about Hillary and Bill Clinton, I would have to say that she will not be out until she draws her last breath.  She intends to be President, even if she must start her own political party to do it.  That might be this year, it might be 4 years from now, or it might be still in the planning stage until death takes her screaming from life’s stage.

But, mark my words, the word, “quit,” is not in Hillary Clinton’s vocabulary.

And should Obama be persuaded to make her his VP to salvage party unity, the first person he hires should be a food taster, and he needs to have a long list of ready taster replacements on hand, too