Sanderistas booed candidates, including stalwart progressives like U.S. Sens. Al Franken – standing next to Silverman – joked, “Listen to what you did”.
Advertisement
Nomination sealed, the Clinton campaign planned to turn to a Day 2 program dubbed “Fights of Her Life”, highlighting her advocacy for children, health care and September 11 recovery efforts, the campaign said.
“That’s just not who we are and should not be tolerated”, said Miner. Someone in the room banged on a loud drum. Selecting Tim Kaine sends the opposite message, continue to accept the status quo and lower your expectations for real change or a future we can believe in.
Still, between the thousands of antagonistic Bernie-or-Bust protests and rallies filling the streets of Philadelphia and the angry Sanders delegates inside its convention hall, the day underscored the challenge faced by Clinton as she heads into the fall, a deeply unpopular candidate facing off against another deeply unpopular candidate, with poll numbers showing the two to be neck and neck.
The group had timed the dump for the days before the convention, and many Sanders backers hoped they might reverse their man’s decision to concede the nomination and endorse Clinton.
There are no shortage of social ills to address: that, as one Princeton academic study found, the United States resembles an oligarchy more than a democracy; that wages have been stagnating or falling for many years, fuelling resentment that Trump feeds on; a racist judicial system; an inefficient private healthcare system; extortionate university fees; a younger generation facing a future of insecurity; the likelihood of further disastrous military interventions in the coming years; and so on. Sanders had demanded earlier in the day that Wasserman Schultz resign. And when Bernie Sanders reached the podium, the applause lasted for six minutes.
“This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and is offering real solutions”.
For those steeped in Democratic politics, that was a reminder that, in some ways, Democratic goals have been constant even if the policies have moved left: Those were the exact words used daily by Bill Clinton in his first presidential campaign, 24 years ago.
As the convention began, the DNC released a statement apologizing to Sanders and his supporters “for the inexcusable remarks made over email”.
“Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays”, Sanders wrote in an email to his own delegates. Not only will they want to avoid being pinned down to “unrealistic” proposals, but they’ll also want to show “moderate Republicans” and major corporations why they’re the “safe” choice in November.
Recently leaked emails showed party officials working to undermine Sanders’ campaign during the primaries. His supporters spent much of Monday protesting his treatment by the party, even booing Clinton’s name. They eventually calmed down, thanks in part to a ME delegate’s impromptu speech and Sanders’ texts to followers Monday evening, urging them not to disrupt the convention floor.
For the record, her time on stage proved to be the least-interrupted interval in a night of remarkable rudeness toward speakers on the podium and toward the name of Hillary Clinton. He promised to fight to keep the TPP off the Senate floor.
That included Sanders’ former spokeswoman, Symone Sanders. But the primetime speakers including first lady Michelle Obama managed to bring some unity to the proceedings.
The relatively obscure septuagenarian self-described socialist senator from Vermont was expected to attract derisory support: he ended up running the US’s most formidable political machine uncomfortably close.
Those who are not “Ready for Hillary” include some of Sanders’ most loyal activists and surrogates, many of whom are taking a more adversarial approach to Clinton’s candidacy.
All of the energy and angst of the hard-fought primary battle between Clinton and Sanders will culminate in the roll call of the states. Arizona voters waited 3 to 4 hours to vote-in pro-Sanders precincts.
Advertisement
Larry Cohen, the head of the Communications Workers of America, added that “it’s about how politicians walk, not just how they talk”.
