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So, people are criticizing/mocking Hillary Clinton for speaking in a faux-Southern accent during a speech over the weekend in Selma, Alabama. What most pundits fail to mention is that she was quoting from someone else’s writing. In effect, she was speaking “in character.” And maybe she could have used a little help from a dialect coach, but the effort was sincere—and seemingly well received by the people actually in attendance.

Personally, I’m the last person to find fault with Mrs. Clinton, slipping as I frequently do into a British accent. Mostly I do this when watching PBS in the privacy of my own home, but occasionally I forget myself in the company of strangers. One time, we were staying at a bed and breakfast and half our fellow guests hailed from across the pond (why they were vacationing in Michigan, only their travel agent can tell). According to my husband, I turned into some sort of cross between Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna, who having married Brits, sound to the manor born. I dispute his version of events—too bad the major media wasn’t there to record my every word.