With that backdrop, Democrats kicked off their convention inside the arena late Monday afternoon. “If that’s reaching out, it’s political thumbs put in the eyes of Bernie Sanders supporters”. They argue he’s one of the most popular former presidents, is among the party’s best fundraisers and is most effective messengers on her behalf.
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“By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next President of the United States”, he added, drawing applause.
In a particularly awkward moment, comedian Sarah Silverman told Sanders supporters chanting his name, “You’re being ridiculous”.
On Tuesday, Democrats will settle down to the business of officially making Clinton the first female presidential nominee from a major party. To clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, a candidate has to win 2,383 combined pledged delegates and superdelegates. Sanders’ supporters are bringing a lot of emotion to the convention hall with them, and their leader is having trouble containing it.
At times, the pro-Bernie rally could be mistaken for an anti-Hillary protest, with demonstrators chanting “lock her up” and holding signs that said “No Oligarchy”.
Sanders’ convention speech – delivered Monday in primetime – was created to address the distrust many Sanders supporters have of Clinton. “I’ll cross that bridge when it explodes”.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck time”, she said in a weekend interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes”. “In my heart, I believe he won every race”.
Tensions between Sanders delegates and Clinton supporters were palpable throughout the day, according to Shelia Smoot, a Clinton delegate from Birmingham, Alabama. But that’s a possibility that the most loyal Sanders fans are ready to accept.
Even he acknowledged that his vote in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania might help deliver the presidency to Trump.
While Sanders gave his full support to Clinton, there were some delegates at the convention who remained unsupportive.
“I stand here today as proof you can live a normal and empowered life with mental illness”, she said, before breaking into a performance of her song “Confident”. Thanks to judicious directing by the television pool, the crying, defiant Sanders supporters seemed to be energized at the beginning of the day, reproached by the middle, and crying, resigned (perhaps) to his defeat by the end.
“It’s not rainbows and unicorns”.
“We urge them to ignore those who question their father’s citizenship or faith”, she said, a clear reference to Mr Trump’s early demands to see President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, Mrs Obama said.
“If he’s not getting the nomination, how much can we get otherwise, in terms of the platform? But we don’t not fight for it”. Ted Cruz (R-TX) declined to endorse his rival; he refused to tell his own party, as Sanders did, that the other side was worse and so everyone had to pull together. We need to do what we did eight years ago and four years ago.
The Democratic Party is an unhappy family.
“While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths”, Mr Sanders continued. The Sanders crowd was fueled by recent revelations that emails by staffers under then-Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz leadership had tried to sabotage the Sanders campaign.
“We insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country”, the first lady said in a message that Democrats will hope resonates with fathers and mothers voting in November.
“If you talk to many of us Bernie supporters, we really still want to see Bernie as our nominee, and in the next couple of days and next couple of months we’re going to have to see what her actions are”.
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“We haven’t been treated fairly for an entire year”, said Carrie Gardner, a Sanders delegate from Westchester.
