Keeping Hope Alive

Hillary Clinton has released an email that says that at an event on Saturday she would "extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy."

She added: "I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise."

We'll analyze those two lines, but let's begin by noting what Hillary did not say:

• I lost.
• I'm withdrawing from the race and asking my delegates to support Obama.
• He won.
• He IS the nominee [or even the presumptive nominee] of the Dem party.

Back to those two lines quoted above. Hillary will "extend her congratulations." But she doesn't say . . . for what. She pointedly does not say "for having won the nomination."

And yes, Hillary said she she would also extend her "support for his candidacy." But that doesn't necessarily mean that in her mind, he is the Dem nominee.

Then there's [emphasis added] "I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise." But again, note that she doesn't say that he is the nominee. And "I intend to deliver" is in the future tense. So this little nugget of obfuscation could be argued to mean: "yeah, I'll support him if and when he's nominated at the convention—but that hasn't happened yet."

Yes, thinest of threads... but a thread nonetheless. The email is anything but a gracious concession letter congratulating Obama on having won, definitively withdrawing from the race, encouraging her delegates to support him and offering to immediately go to work on his campaign...

And the Michelle Obama video calling honkies "Whitey" has yet to air, and Rezko just went up the river... did that thread just got a little stronger?