Few Democrats doubted that Hillary Clinton was experienced enough to take that 3 a.m. phone call in the White House. Few thought she wasn't tough enough to be president. But some did think that her last name, a reminder of past troubles, weighed heavily on her. Some thought that her cool and methodical mastery of the issues rarely allowed a glimpse of her personal passion and the historic nature of her quest.

On Saturday, speaking to supporters at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., Hillary Clinton found her voice. It was the proud, strong and authentic voice of someone freed of the need to stick to the message and the talking points. It was a splendid, heartfelt outpouring of the soul that showed that Barack Obama, her rival for many months, does not have the monopoly on stirring oratory.

This graceful moment would have better come last Tuesday night when the primary season finished and a prime-time audience awaited. Instead, it came on a Saturday afternoon when many sweltering Americans were in the thick of their weekend activities.

Many who saw only the first speech missed its moving postscript -- and that's a shame. The first, in which she was introduced as the next president of the United States, was an exercise in unreality. The second put what seemed to be overweening political ambition into the sympathetic, redeeming context of the struggle to become the nation's first woman president.

Of course, to her many supporters, her quest was always about creating a defining breakthrough for women. But in seeking to frame her as a candidate of all the people, her campaign sometimes got bogged down in policy details that did not convey the over-arching excitement of the historic moment. The result was that Sen. Obama was fire and she was ice.

Not so in her final bow of this presidential season. Her concession speech resonated with the historic victory she had won -- not in finishing first in delegates, but in gaining respect as a formidable candidate who also happened to be a woman. It's a victory that belongs to her and all who will follow her. "Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it," she said.

With conviction and good heart, Hillary Clinton conceded the race to Sen. Obama as the Democrats' best hope in 2008 -- and, in particular, the best hope now for women. In embracing reality, she has done what she had to do with uncommon style. It is now up to her 18 million supporters to show the same magnanimity.