Tonight, probably after the polls close in New Jersey and she reaches the majority of pledged delegates, Hillary Clinton will give a speech. It will be a victory speech, in which she claims the win of the Democratic nomination, making history as the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major party.
It will also be an acceptance speech. Not the official acceptance of the nomination—that will come at the convention. But it will be an acceptance speech all the same. Because this moment is about millions and millions of people accepting a woman as their potential president for the first time in the nation's history.
This moment is about all the people, the women and the men, the little girls and the little boys, who accepted Hillary Clinton by voting for her. Who accepted her by volunteering for her, by phone-banking, by knocking on doors, by fundraising and donating. Who accepted her by showing up at her campaign rallies, who clamored for her autograph and to get selfies with her, who cheered for her, who waved signs emblazoned with her name.
And this moment is about a nation who has communicated a new acceptance, in some measure, of women and girls. A nation that is on the path, for the first time, to being able to tell little girls that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up, and actually mean it.
This moment is the acceptance of an idea, a promise, a possibility. An opportunity that wasn't there before.
Hillary Clinton is more than a symbol, but symbols matter. And she is the bearer of a symbolism the weight of which is unfathomable. She is a symbol of the hopes and expectations and urgent desire of millions of women and girls.
She is the symbol of some piece of our acceptance. An imperfect, incomplete, hesitant, begrudging, inspiring piece of our acceptance.
That is a lot to carry. And she accepted that.
I am grateful to her, and I am ecstatic for her, and I am resolved to carry her forward, because she brings all of us with her.
Here we are. In this moment. I await her speech, tissues at hand.
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