Even with their best efforts, the former rivals didn't always appear entirely at ease.

At one point a handful of Obama supporters began chanting his name, countered by a chorus of "Hill-a-ry!" Obama tried to defuse the tension by wagging a finger, like an orchestral conductor, and joining in the shouting on the Clinton side.

As he has done in recent days, Obama appealed directly to skeptics - as recent polls shown up to a quarter of former Clintonites considering voting for McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee.

"We've made history together. ... We've shattered barriers that have stood since the founding of this nation," Obama said. "Women can do anything the boys can do and better. ... And do it in heels."

The pair were friendly to each other in public, whispering to one another and sharing private jokes in full view of 100 TV cameras.

They shared a two-hour bus ride from Manchester, pulling out their BlackBerries to compare features, swapped stories about weird foods they were served on overseas trips, and lamented the loss of their privacy, according to aides.

"Party Unity, My Ass" [Source]

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hugged, clutched hands and otherwise made nice Friday in a New Hampshire town called Unity. Advertisement

Putting his arm around his new supporter, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told the approving crowd: "She rocks. She rocks."

Only a few weeks ago, Obama might have said Clinton throws rocks. Big ones.

Now, he may have to decide whether the woman he brought to Unity -- the town where the candidates tied at 107 votes apiece at the start of the grueling presidential primary season -- is someone he wants to join him on what already is a historic ticket. His sky-blue tie starkly matched the color of Clinton's pantsuit.

Obama supporter Sally Belluscio could hardly believe her eyes after the 50-minute rally ended.

"I couldn't picture the two of them as running mates before today," said Belluscio, 65, of Acworth, N.H. "But now I'm wondering."

Belluscio's husband, David, chuckled about the strategically savvy move to shuttle thousands of people into a tiny town of 1,600 -- all because of a name.

"That was a clever little maneuver," he said of the Unity theme. "But that's what politicians do."

Supporters of both gathered in a large field behind an elementary school that was surrounded by portable toilets and metal detectors on one side and towering pine trees and news media satellite trucks on the other. Across the field was a red barn.

U2's song "Beautiful Day" blared in the background as Obama and Clinton took the stage. Obama's staff members estimated the crowd at between 5,000 and 6,000.

Clinton addressed the crowd first.

"Unity is not only a beautiful place, it's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?" Clinton said. "I know what we start here in this field of unity will end on the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office."

The crowd burst into laughter as Clinton acknowledged the months of tension between the two candidates.

"I was honored to be in this race with Barack and I am proud that we had a spirited dialogue," she said. "That was the nicest way I could think of phrasing it."

As the die-hard Clinton fans cheered, she spoke of the need for change, Obama's theme.

"If you like the direction the country is going, then vote for Sen. McCain, but if you think we need a new course, a new agenda, vote for Barack Obama," Clinton said, referring to presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. "To anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting, or voting for Sen. McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider."

Obama spoke next and thanked Clinton.

"For 16 months, Sen. Clinton and I have shared the stage as rivals," Obama said. "But today, I couldn't be happier and more honored that we're sharing it as allies in the effort to bring this country a new and better day."

Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, took the Obama endorsement a step further Friday -- both contributed the maximum $2,300 apiece to Obama's campaign. That followed Obama's disclosure that he and his wife, Michelle Obama, would give the same amount toward Clinton's campaign debt retirement.

Nancy Kogut, 57, of Falmouth, Mass., voted for Clinton in the primary but has high hopes for Obama.

"I just wanted to be a part of this event," Kogut said as the rally began. "This is history. This is exciting."

Not all Clinton supporters liked the unity idea.

"I'm just afraid he'll be like Jimmy Carter," said Kay Gould, a nurse from East Burke, Vt., recalling the one-term Democratic president. "I'm for Obama by default, because any Democrat will do."

Sharon Chang, a biomedical researcher from Hampton, N.H., wasn't buying the show.

"Party unity, my ass," she said. "Obama is an insult to every thinking person and especially every woman."

OMG! It Was Awful! [Source]

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton held their political bonding ceremony in the middle of a field since the tiny town where they did the deed had no buildings big enough to host such a momentous occasion.

The symbolism was obviously supposed to stretch way, way beyond mere unity. Think the signing of the Magna Carta. Or that baseball movie with Kevin Costner. If you concede it, they will come.

“Today I could not be happier and more honored and more moved,” said Obama, as Clinton stood next to him, nodding intently.

She looked very cheerful, considering that she was living out the nightmare that haunted her toward the end of the race — standing on the side of the stage and bobbing her head earnestly, while the guy made his speech.

Oh, the ironies. Hillary lost the nomination because many Democrats looked at her and saw a candidate who lacked a principled core, who was prepared to do almost anything to get elected president. They liked Barack better because he was a change agent.

Then just as she was engrossed in her multiple concessions, his campaign started using the same political shape-shifting that Obama had decried in the Clintons.

He attacked the Supreme Court’s anti-death-penalty ruling so that he wouldn’t look soft on sexual assailants the way that Michael Dukakis did.

He welcomed the court’s anti-gun-control ruling so that he wouldn’t lose the hunters’ vote like Al Gore. Public-campaign financing is for losers.

The Democrats could not care less. They want a winner, and most of them are prepared to forgive quite a lot of inconsistency in order to get one.

A liberal opponent of the Senate wiretapping bill virtually wept with joy when Barack deserted the cause and voted with the law-and-order folk.

“Do you want a president ...” began one of the speakers at Unity, preparing to run off a laundry list of things Obama would do.

“Yes!” the people interrupted.

Still, it’s worrisome. You’d like to think that after 17 months of angst over its presidential nomination, the Democrats would not wind up with the exact same candidate they started out with, except for a different gender and a higher quotient of panache.

In Unity, the two stars arrived a little late, to swelling music, giving us a chance to recall that throughout the primaries he was the candidate who made a dramatic entrance, while she was often the third person from the right in a lineup of pols onstage.

His powder-blue tie perfectly matched her pantsuit, a color-coordination we deeply hope was a coincidence.

Everybody watched them whispering in each other’s ear, the entwined arms. Do they really like each other?

I think I speak for most of the nation when I say that on the list of things that keep us up at night, it does not make the top 1,000. It is, in fact, right down there with the fate of the Clinton campaign debt.

The citizens of Unity — or at least the ones who weren’t home with their doors locked for the day — seemed pleased with their central role in modern political history.

The mayor bought a new pair of sneakers for the event, and expressed appreciation for this unanticipated “shot in the arm” for the local economy.

Unity not only has a cool name for coming-together purposes, its population had split right down the middle in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, giving 107 votes to Clinton and 107 to Obama.

Even the Unity residents who were too lazy to show up at the polls were crucial. If just one of them had gotten out of bed and shambled in to vote, the outcome might have been 108-107, and on Friday half the news media in the world would have been on its way to Friendly, W.Va.; Success, Mo.; or Smileyberg, Kan.

Or Celebration, Fla.; Ideal, Ga.; or Relief, Ky. We could keep this going forever, really.

The crowd here stood for hours under the hot sun, so useful for melding purposes. A few Hillary die-hards skulked around the edges.

“You have to give them space,” the Obama campaign’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, consoled a supporter who had been grievously offended by the ununified behavior of the holdouts.

Take a lesson from the residents of Unity, Hillary fans. Everybody has to do their part.

Sometimes it’s sleeping through Election Day so the final vote tally comes out even and your town gets to be on the evening news.

Sometimes it’s trying to figure out how to get through a killer presidential campaign without losing every single quality that made people want to vote for you in the first place.

And sometimes, it simply involves a lot of nodding.

tags: obama  clinton  unity  politics  expediency  

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