I think it's hard to spin the reaction of the former Clinton supporters as anything but a success for Obama. They made their stand and got their voices heard in the roll call and had their hero point the way when Hillary gave her speech. The degree of support shown for Clinton as opposed to Obama in these instances was *supposed* to happen. It's part of the pageantry of the event and, most importantly, it's a catharsis.
Hillary supporters got a final opportunity to show their devotion, mourn their loss, and leach out their animosity. With the convention concluded, Hillary and Bill out of the limelight, and Obama anointed as the party's standard bearer the PUMA attitude will diminish and disappear.
And if that won't work, watching a week of what the alternative to Obama is should whip even the most unreconstructed Clintonite into line.
I hope you're right, but I have a feeling that many of the hardcore PUMAs are opposing Obama not out of love for Hillary, but for reasons of age and race: either they feel he's too young to be president or they simply don't like the idea of a black man in the white house. Why else would so many feminist women support a candidate who promises to appoint strict constructionists to the supreme court?
