While the focus of the speech will be Clinton, Obama is expected to also touch on the rifts this election cycle has exposed, particularly those driven by the rhetoric of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his surrogates.
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Michelle Obama: “I am you tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton”.
Ninety-nine IN delegates are at the convention.
“It’s just sad”, says Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, a Democratic strategist turned Donald Trump supporter who says his party “has abandoned” culturally conservative white men like himself. Will they be able to sustain the momentum of the Sanders candidacy? They’ve actually seemed to bring more failures. Democrats may take control of the Senate, but Clinton would have to develop better relationships with Republicans than Obama has managed in order to break the stalemate. Green Party presumptive presidential nominee Jill Stein was also at the event and addressed the crowd, which could be heard chanting, “Jill not Hill”. And so last night, when he ably (though at times long-windedly) moved to the side and explained to the world why his wife was equipped to be the next president of the United States, lots of Democrats breathed a sigh of relief.
“There’s going to be a “Dem-exit” – a mass de-registration from the Democratic Party, and a huge push to go Green”, Seay said, when asked what is next for the movement. “She became, as she often said, our family’s designated worrier-born with an extra responsibility gene”.
However, the Pew Research Center recently found that 90% of Sanders most enthusiastic voters plan to cast ballots for Clinton in November.
But Trump launched a pre-emptive attack at an incendiary press conference, contemptuously putting down Obama as a “disaster” and making a provocative call for Russian Federation to hack Clinton’s email.
The Green Party is capitalizing on the disaffection among those in the Sanders ranks. “I represent more trees than people”, he said. He talked at great length about their relationship, but omitted the key fact about it that everyone knows: that he has been unfaithful to her. He could have said, just once, that Hillary had put up with him more than he deserved.
In one moment, we were reminded of America the handsome, how far we’ve come since slavery, from our founding when women were denied the vote, to now, when a woman is nominated for president. “It’s really becoming exponential”.
Some of his supporters, albeit reluctantly, are falling in line behind Clinton.
“The rest of the revolution will continue to follow Bernie’s lead.”
Three Sanders delegates from Oklahoma mingled behind the stage, eager to detail their plans to channel the energy and organization of the Sanders effort into installing progressives on school boards and other local offices.
Folksy, Impeached President Endorses Scandal-Plagued, Disliked WifeClinton painted a portrait of a technocratic workhorse (committees! task forces!) who genuinely cares about people, and has channeled those sentiments into a lifetime of tireless public service.
Suzanne Bloomfield, a 56-year-old stylist, downplayed the idea that Sanders supporters would flee the Democratic Party.
Despite the swirl of distractions, Democrats appeared to be finding unity as they formally sealed the deal behind Clinton on Tuesday night. “I don’t think they’re necessarily leaving”. They’re just leaving Hillary.
“Believe me!” he said mockingly, as the audience boomed back, “No!”
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Bloomfield cited Sanders’ plans to campaign for like-minded candidates throughout the fall, and form a group to support progressive causes and politicians across the country. “But what we are doing now is transforming our movement, which has millions of people in it, in a different direction”. “I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and can not be boiled down to 140 characters”, she said. Cory Booker’s speech as an example of a candidate on the rise.
