This was followed by Alicia Keys’ moving rendition of her feminist anthem, “Superwoman”, a video montage of all the nation’s presidents, ending with breaking glass and a live shot of Hillary Clinton, smiling in NY – symbolizing her breaking of a glass ceiling into which she, so far, has put only dents.
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But after lingering for perhaps bit too long on the mechanics of their early intimacy, the former president seemed to hit his formidable stride, touting his wife as a champion for kids, immigrants, women, and poor people, and revealing himself to be a surprisingly effective surrogate for the new Democratic nominee. He traced their more than 40-year political and personal partnership in deep detail. She acknowledged that such an event is unlikely. Casting her experience as an attribute, he added, “She’s been worth every single year she’s put into making people’s lives better”.
For a man more accustomed to delivering policy-packed stem-winders, Clinton’s heartfelt address underscored the historic night for Democrats, and the nation. Tim Kaine, whom Clinton named as her vice presidential running mate over the weekend.
She will take on Donald Trump, who won the Republican nomination a week ago. Clinton prevailed on Tuesday night with 2,842 votes to 1,865 for Sanders.
From Slate: If, during the nomination by acclamation of Hillary Clinton, the cheers throughout the Wells Fargo Center seemed more unanimous than the makeup of the delegations would seem to reflect, part of that may have been because numerous most hardcore Berners were leaving the room.
Sanders tried to urge his delegates to see the larger picture, defeating Trump, who he called “a bully and a demagogue”.
In 2012, another former president came to Obama’s aid with an effective speech at the Democratic convention in Charlotte.
President Barack Obama painted an optimistic picture of America’s future in a speech aimed at giving full-hearted support to Hillary Clinton to help her defeat Republican rival Donald Trump and become the first woman elected United States president.
“That’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end”, he said. He said that Hillary Clinton had a plan to defeat ISIS and Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations, and that “we can not afford someone who believes America should withdraw from the world, threatens our worldwide treaties, and violates our moral principles”.
Protests and disruptions by Sanders supporters are expected to continue all week. In North Carolina, he told a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that, “our politicians have totally failed you”. A spokesman says the use of the rest of the rooms, though, are out of their hands, but will ask the hotel to reserve a space for the Sanders delegate’s to meet beginning on Tuesday.
More than a few commentators noted that, while these salutes were formulaic in a sense, all included human anecdotes – concrete and specific examples of just how Clinton had helped and how she had maintained consistent contact over the years.
President Clinton spoke after three hours of testimonials from lawmakers, advocates, celebrities and citizens who argued otherwise. But Trump’s apocalyptic view, he said, was a wild and unsafe invention, “a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world”. “She has the courage to lead the fight for commonsense gun legislation”.
Cheryl Brown, from California, said the way some Sanders delegates were behaving was exacerbating tensions between the two campaigns. Public polls consistently show that a majority of Americans don’t believe she is honest and trustworthy. Should she win on Election Day, her husband will step into a singular role in American history: first gentleman. Republicans cast the meeting as a sign that the Clintons play by different rules, while Democrats bemoaned that at the very least, it left that impression. “It convinced me that we’ve got to advance opportunity for everyone”.
“And if there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say I may become the first woman President”.
Sanders took the floor in a bid to unify the party, drawing deafening cheers and a chorus of “ayes” when he called for Clinton to be “selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States”.
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After weathering a stormy opening day, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating convention tacked slowly but steadily back on course Tuesday, as Hillary Clinton made history by becoming the first woman to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.
