Hillary Clinton, whose 2016 presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr. sent to the sidelines, brought many of the 2020 primaries by telling friends that their long allied and running time was the only candidate that could defeat President Trump, according to people close to both.
But she also saw Kamala Harris as a possible successor of sorts, a next-generation leader with the toughness to build on Mrs. Clinton’s legacy.
That Mrs. Clinton is, by all accounts, insured by the Biden-Harris ticket. But her return to the center stage at the convention on Wednesday night, four years after she became the first woman to win the nomination of a major party, is bittersweet.
If things turned out differently, Mrs. Clinton would prepare her second acceptance speech. Instead, over the last few days, she has recently put forward a speech aimed at making a case for Mr Biden and Ms. Harris.
It is a familiar position for the former Secretary of State. For decades, she spoke on behalf of her husband, Bill, then to help choose Barack Obama. Over her many years at the center of the Democratic Party, she campaigned for hundreds of federal, state and local candidates.
Yet this moment is uniquely emotional for Ms. Clinton and the tens of millions who proposed her in 2016 after a majority vote of nearly three million, but a loss in Electoral College. It is both a reminder of a job that some allies still maintained was unfairly taken by Mrs. Clinton and the wave of feminist activism caused by her loss.
The former Secretary of State intends to acknowledge that sentiment, related to how, in the days after her defeat, she was confronted several times by desperate Democrats who presented her with all her “willa, cana, shoulda” scenarios, said a person familiar with her comments.
Mrs Clinton, who will speak out against the familiar background of her chaplain in Chappaqua, sees her return to the spotlight as an opportunity to seize the powerful feminist movement that grew out of her loss and Mr Trump out of power. to remove.
The last time Mrs. Clinton addressed a Democratic convention was July 26, 2016, in the hockey arena of Philadelphia. They accepted the nomination in a white pantsuit, a nod to the informal uniform of the women’s movement. It was a highlight of their campaign, say former employees, justifying decades of cruel work, brutal attacks and controversy.
“I remember seeing that roll call and knowing with master breath that there would be something that would take this moment away from her and was as elated as it was not,” recalled Amanda Litman, a political strategist who worked to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. “It was the most festive it ever felt.”
She added, “It is also positive evidence that a very good convention has no relevance to the outcome of the election.”
But there were danger signs, even then.
Mrs Clinton’s speech was preceded by a strange moment, when Bernie Sanders’ supporters began to shake as she approached the stage, soon to be drowned out by shouts of “Hillary!”
The scars of 2016 have not healed completely, especially when it comes to the FBI’s investigation into their email accounts, publicly opened by FBI Director James Comey, just 11 days before the election.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton posted a short video clip of herself flashes disgustingly in response to a tweet from Mr. Comey reads: “# 19th change is an important anniversary, but the mood is not enough. We need more women in the office. VP and Governor of Virginia are good next steps. ”
Mrs Clinton’s return to the Convention will be honored by her many millions of supporters. But there will also be hecklers – probably led by Mr. Trump, who has tried, without much success, to find another film that evokes similar vitriol among conservatives as the former First Lady.
Ms. Clinton remains a divisive figure among parts of her party, accused by some of the defeat of the Democrats and considered by others to be a victim of a misogynistic political system.
They try not to be defined by their enemies – right or left. Mrs Clinton’s speech will be as focused on Mr Biden and Mrs Harris’ praise as Mr Trump’s funeral, people close to her said; of her is expected to record a powerful testimony with Mrs. Harris as the first woman of color on the presidential card of a major party.
She will also discuss what she sees as a connecting thread among Mr Biden, Mrs Harris and herself – her strong mothers. Mrs. Clinton has criticized Mr. Biden never forgot to comfort her about the death of her mother, Dorothy, in 2011 at the age of 92.
Mrs Clinton returned that benefit and reached out to Mr Biden after his son Beau learned he had terminal brain cancer in 2013.
After considering a third presidency in early 2019, Ms. Clinton offered private support to Mr Biden without his support, and called on the former vice president on several occasions to give advice and encouragement, two Democrats said close to the situation.
“Hillary Clinton really loves Joe Biden, and always has,” said Thomas R. Nides, a Biden supporter who served as Secretary of State for Mrs. Clinton from 2011 to 2013. “This is a real issue, not politics. They really love him as a human being, and the feeling is mutual. ”
The two know each other very well at times, a little too well.
Mrs Clinton’s staff sought to use their sympathy for Mr Biden in their bid to overcome their initial reluctance to accept Mr Obama’s offer to become Secretary of State in late 2008.
One top Clinton adviser told her to call Mr Biden, then the president-elect, to wish him a happy birthday. It was a setup. They had arranged for him to pressure them to say yes.
“No,” she said. “I know today’s birthday is not real.”
During Mr Obama’s first term, Mr Biden and Mrs Clinton held a regular breakfast meeting every two weeks at the Vice President’s office at the Naval Observatory. But the relationship was tested in the second term when it became clear to Mr Biden that the president saw Mrs. Clinton as his rightful successor.
Mr. Biden was privately furious, and two of his top assistants, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, drafted a memo describing his strengths as a candidate, claiming that Mrs. Clinton’s negative perceptions made her a deeply vulnerable candidate.
The death of Beau Biden in mid-2015 effectively ended Mr Biden’s aspirations that cycle. But he has often denied that he could have beaten Mr. Trump.
He fiercely campaigned for Mrs. Clinton, but the bitter experience of pushing to the bottom helped his fire turn around, Aides said.
Mrs. Clinton is also not afraid to look in the rearview mirror. When a fan recently tweeted that she would never forget the time “Rihanna, the singer and songwriter,” wearing a Hillary T-shirt, Mrs. Clinton replied, “Neither do I. “
However, she seems to be taking the reversal of roles on strike because she is questioning Mr. Biden supports. She shares his pragmatic brand of liberalism and has said she’s glad Mr Sanders dropped out of the race this year without much fuss – in stark contrast to the months of sniping between the Clinton and Sanders camps four years ago.
She is worried that Mr Trump will not be defeated if he is beaten, and she gave the alarm to her allies that he would try to block voting by mail, weeks before the current battle over the Postal Service went public, according to a former adviser who communicates with them regularly.
More than anything, Ms. Clinton embraces the role of a gender trailblazer who has defined her career, an updated version of the never-ending message she delivered in the most admired address she has ever delivered, the “glass ceiling” speech that means their departure from the democratic primary 2008.
During her last campaign, Mrs. Clinton hopes to ride to the office in support of such a feminist uprising. The fact that the movement she hopes to spark grew out of her defeat marks another twist in a career full of her.
During the Trump era, women mobilized behind the Democratic Party, volunteered, donated legs and ran for office in record numbers. The support of leading women in 2018 helped Democrats gain control of the House in 2018, flip state legislators and encourage Mr. Biden to run for office.
Mrs. Clinton still has a loyal constituency of female supporters. As late as the fall of 2019, Ms. Clinton considered a third bid for the presidency because no real front-runner appeared in the primary race.
While casting herself as a champion of women in politics, she decided to distinguish herself as even more subtle to signal a possible female heiress among the diverse group of women running for president.
When Mrs. Clinton said it, she was controversial. A critique of Mr. Sanders during the launch of a documentary about her agitated fears that she’s relinquishing dominance within the party. And her suggestion that Russian troops represent Hawaii’s representative Tulsi Gabbard to become a third-party spoiler helped Ms. Gabbard extend her time in the national spotlight.
But much of Mrs. Clinton’s long career sees Wednesday night’s speech as an opportunity for her to pass on her legacy to someone else – not to Mr. Biden but to Mrs. Harris.
‘She passed the torch on to the Kamala Harris generation. That’s what makes it really exciting, ”said Ms Litman, now executive director of Run for Something, which encourages young Democrats to seek political office. “It’s not just for Kamala Harris, but for a whole generation of women who come after, that can do this because Hillary Clinton went first.”
