Hillary Clinton accomplished exactly what she set out to do on Saturday.

In a midday speech to a packed hall of supporters in Washington, D.C., Sen. Clinton exited the presidential race graciously, then pivoted to make a forceful case to her supporters in favor of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who is now the presumed Democratic nominee for president.

The big question going forward is how quickly the wounds from a hard-fought, contentious race will heal.

Judith Connelly, a strong Clinton supporter who lives in Norfolk, said Saturday she is prepared to support Obama in the November election, and had praise for Clinton's concession speech.

"I think Hillary always does very, very well," she said. Connelly's disappointment at the outcome of the race was directed elsewhere - at the press.

"I hope that the media, like yourselves, aren't going to be nasty to her and ridicule her, as you've all done for the last 17 months," Connelly told a reporter just before hanging up the phone.

Connelly is not alone. Across the country, many Clinton supporters don't think the former first lady got a fair shake in her historic bid for the White House - and Clinton, who won a landslide victory in Massachusetts' Democratic primary last February, spoke to them directly in her speech.

"Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been," Clinton said near the end of her 28-minute address.

That message resonated with Amanda Nelson, a 23-year-old Attleboro resident who voted for Clinton in the primary.

"A lot of us can get behind Obama - they have very similar standpoints on many issues," Nelson said. "Now it's time to get behind the party, and to say, this is a time that we all need to get together."

Nelson also said it's important to recognize that Clinton broke a barrier by becoming the first woman to be the front-runner for a major party's presidential nomination.

"I admire her for all that she's done - as a candidate, as a woman, as a politician," she said. "I think both her and Barack Obama have ignited a passion in young people - and not just young people, but people all over the country that are all of a sudden really just getting into it."

Clinton hit a similar theme in her speech Saturday.

"When we first started, people everywhere asked the same questions: Could a woman really serve as commander-in-chief? Well, I think we answered that one," she said. "Could an African-American really be our president? And Senator Obama has answered that one.

"Together," she declared, "Sen. Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more perfect union."

TED NESI can be reached at 508-236-333 or at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com.