NASHUA – The energy is at a 10 here during Obama’s concession speech, but you can tell that if he’d won, it would go up to 11.
His message is what you’d expect: pride for what’s been achieved, despite falling short of victory. “No one would have imagined we would accomplish what we did tonight in New Hampshire,” he says. A chant builds: “We want change!”
He congratulates Hillary on her victory, but still works a slight dig in there: America wants politicians “who can disagree without being disagreeable,” he says. And then a reference to her claim that Obama raises “false hopes”: “There has never been anything false about wanting hope.”
Here in the press filing room, the sound is gone from the feed broadcasting Hillary’s victory speech. “Sound!” people are yelling. The muting almost feels deliberate. What better move than to keep a roomful of reporters from watching the speech? Finally, they turn it up.
