Hillary Clinton addresses the shooting in Charleston, and demonstrates why she will likely be the next President of the United States.

Here are a few excerpts from this sometimes emotional response that I thought were well worth sharing:

"Like many of you I was so overcome. How to turn grief, confusion, into purpose and action. But that's what we have to do."

"Why do we still allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate? You can't watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that as President Obama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction."

"I know that gun ownership is part of the fabric of a lot of law abiding communities. But I also know that we can have common sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable, while respecting responsible gun owners.”

"What I hope with all of my heart is that we work together to make this debate less polarized, less inflamed by ideology, more informed by evidence."

"It makes no sense that bipartisan legislation fails in Congress despite overwhelming public support. It makes no sense that we could not come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list. That doesn’t make sense and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about.”

"The President is right the politics on this issue have been poisoned. But we can't give up. The stakes are too high, the costs are too dear, and I am not, or will not be afraid to keep fighting for common-sense reforms and along with you achieve those on behalf of all those who have lost because of this senseless gun violence in our country."

Hillary then changed her focus to race:

"Once again racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence. It’s tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today’s America bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished."

"I know this is a difficult topic to talk about. I know that so many of us hoped that by electing our first black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history. I know that there are truths that we don't like to say out loud, or discuss with out children. But we have to. That's the only way that we can possibly move forward together."

Hillary goes on to list the stunning inequities faced by black people in America today, and then said this:

"More than half a century after Dr. King marched, and Rosa Parks sat and John Lewis bled, after the civil rights act and the voting rights act and so much else, how can any of these things be true? But they are. And our problem is not all kooks and Klansmen. It’s also the cruel joke that goes unchallenged. It’s the offhand comment about not wanting those people in the neighborhood. Let’s be honest, for a lot of well meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear." 

I have to tell you that for the first time since Hillary Clinton declared her candidacy for President, I am really inspired. 

And the fact that she is embracing President Obama's statements about guns and racism, just makes her all the more attractive as a candidate.

Right now I am seriously psyched for the first debates between Hillary and whatever poor schlub emerges after the GOP clown car careens off a cliff, leaving a trail of broken and bleeding clowns in its wake.