Bernie Sanders said he is “proud to stand with” Hillary Clinton, while Michelle Obama said Clinton has “the guts and grace” to be president, as Democrats strove to appear unified at their national convention in the face of a political firestorm over hacked emails.
Advertisement
As history is being made, hostility is being heard, too.
Fudge was lecturing delegates throughout the hall who had broken into boisterous chants of “Bernie” that interrupted her first speech as chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention. First lady Michelle Obama followed with an intensely personal address that positioned Clinton and Trump at opposite ends of nearly every spectrum. The Democratic senator from MA went on after First Lady Michelle Obama delivered an electrifying and well-received speech.
Warren called Clinton “one of the smartest, toughest, most tenacious people on this planet”, contrasting her decades-long record of public service with Trump, whom she described as “a man who has never sacrificed anything for anyone”. “She will be just like Obama”. Without naming him, she warned that the White House couldn’t be in the hands of someone with “a thin skin or a tendency to lash out” or someone who tells voters the country can be great again.
“Hillary Clinton sees me”.
Sen. Sanders’ popularity with young and progressive Democrats prompted Mrs. Clinton to shift to the left on some issues, and the party’s platform reflects its most progressive stances ever on the minimum wage, health care, college costs, the death penalty, anti-climate-change measures and marijuana legalization. Some of his supporters were in tears. He also described a proposal he said he and Clinton had recently agreed on which would allow the majority of students in the United States to go to college tuition-free.
“I think every delegate should follow Senator Sanders’ request”, Adams said.
Their frustration was on display a day after Democratic party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down at the end of the convention.
“On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and honest apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email”, the DNC officials stated. “Civil disobedience is the cornerstone of Democratic values”, said Gabriel McArthur, a Sanders delegate from suburban Denver.
“Here’s the guy that gets arrested protesting segregated housing, and he’s telling us not to do a protest?” she asked. “Election days come and go, but the struggle of the people to create a government that represents all of us and not just the one percent … that struggle continues”. “We have to get that across somehow”.
“I don’t think he’s hurting her”, says Brendan Daly, a former spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, was drowned out by chants of “Stop TPP” – a reference to the vast trans Pacific trade pact that Sanders opposes and that Clinton backed while secretary of state. That’s what she did on Obama’s behalf in 2008 to indicate their rivalry was truly over.
Clinton promised an uplifting counterpoint to Trump’s dark portrayal of the state of the nation, but the fallout from some 19,000 leaked Democratic National Committee emails threatened to complicate those plans. The hackers took at least a year’s worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Advertisement
Later in the evening, President Bill Clinton, the first of two former presidents to address the convention, will make the case for his wife’s election. It was a phone call with President Obama that led Wasserman Schultz to realize how toxic she had become in the party and ultimately pushed her decision to resign.
