A night of history and mystery

Barack Obama hoped to savor the moment last night -- but neither Hillary Clinton nor John McCain was having any of it.

The Illinois senator has plenty to celebrate, certainly. Although we've grown accustomed to thinking of him as the Democratic frontrunner over the last few months, pull back to a longer perspective, and his clinching the party's presidential nomination stands as a monumental upset.

Only last fall, many Democrats and pundits, swayed by Clinton's large lead in the polls, considered her the all-but-inevitable nominee -- a notion her campaign did its best to reinforce.

But over long, hard months, Obama slowly convinced Democrats that he was a candidate worth taking a chance on, despite his relative lack of national experience and worries that residual racism might keep him from winning the national election.

What this newcomer to the national scene has accomplished since the turn of the year is extraordinary. And so, on this final night of the primary season, his cause aided by a flood of superdelegates, Obama claimed a nomination he has defied odds and expectations to win.

After offering a long and generous tribute to Clinton, as well as kind words for her husband, he tried to pull the party he now leads together.

"Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America," he said.

Not so fast, might as well have been the message from Clinton, who stepped on Obama's day not once but twice.

She started by signaling to supporters on a conference call that she was interested in the vice presidency.

But her bigger gambit was a speech that left as many questions as it answered.

There was no comparison, certainly, in terms of graciousness and conciliation.

Although Clinton congratulated Obama and his supporters "on the extraordinary race they have run" and "for all that they have accomplished," she couldn't bring herself to acknowledge that he has now become the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee.

Rather than ceding the race, she tried to seize the spotlight.

Suggesting she would be the strongest candidate in November, she also said she had won the swing states the Democrats need to win the general election.

All that done, she intensified the focus on herself.

"You know, I understand that a lot of people are asking, 'What does Hillary want? What does she want,"' she said. I think it's safe to say this actually wasn't the matter uppermost on people's minds on this historic evening, but let us continue.

Beyond repeating her policy goals, that was a question Clinton chose not to answer. Instead, she said she would be making no decisions that night. But she made it clear she was keeping her options open and her powder dry.

She then asked her supporters to weigh in with their thoughts on her website -- a move that seems designed to create pressure on Obama to choose her as vice president.

The most plausible way to read her speech is this: Clinton believes her primary showing and her popularity with women and working-class voters has given her the leverage to negotiate for the VP spot from a position of strength.

That, however, puts Obama in a difficult spot. Anything that lends itself to the interpretation that she has forced his hand will make him look weak, which is why Clinton's approach could backfire.

Now to McCain. Speaking first in the evening line-up, the Republican presumptive nominee offered a handsome compliment to Clinton for the campaign she has run -- and slyly helped nurse the sense of grievance her supporters feel toward the media.

McCain's other obvious goals were to dispute the notion that he is running for George W. Bush's third term and to reclaim his role as an independent-minded reformer. Further, he engaged in a tug of war over the change mantle, attempting to redefine Obama as a throwback to tired statist thinking in domestic matters and as naive and irresolute in foreign affairs.

Countering in his own speech with a sharp critique of McCain's approach on Iraq, the economy, and healthcare, Obama signaled that he's eager to pivot toward the general election and fully engage that debate.

But as he does, he'll also have to deal with a Democratic rival who has made it apparent that though the primary season is officially over, she's not yet willing to rally round the presumptive nominee. And who, there's now reason to suspect, may not emerge as a true team player unless she's made co-captain.

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.