Hillary’s speech was State-of-the-Union-esque in its loosely organized grab bag of proposals meant to play to “the coalition of the ascendant,” while Elizabeth Warren-style anti-corporate populism was a constant theme. It was the speech you would expect given what we know about her electoral strategy of trying to replicate the Obama coalition, although in prose, not the (supposed) poetry of 2008 hope-and-change Obama. The delivery was pedestrian, and it was shrewd of her not to even try to be soaring, because that’s not a rhetorical style she is capable of. The passages about her mother felt randomly added on, although as far as I can tell they have generated favorable coverage, and there is no way she is going to be able to portray herself as a uniter. The best part was the ending with a couple of snappy lines (e.g., she’s been called a lot of things but quitter isn’t one of them). If she’s wins the presidency, it obviously won’t be on the strength of her oratory.