“America is already strong”, he declared to cheering delegates Wednesday night at the Democratic convention.
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A self-proclaimed policy wonk who prefers policy to pressing the flesh, Clinton follows an impressive line up that also included Vice President Joe Biden, Rev. Jesse Jackson, liberal favorite Senator Elizabeth Warren, former rival Senator Bernie Sanders.
Clinton on Thursday will be joined by her daughter Chelsea, who takes the stage before her mother to deliver what will be perhaps her most high-profile speech. Bill Clinton will be in a supporting role, and Barack and Michelle Obama will be headed into the sunset, writing their memoirs. “And in this election, I choose Hillary Clinton”, said Felicia Sanders.
“She needs to say I’m with him” quipped Gloria Borger an analyst on CNN when asked what Clinton should say tomorrow night. Regardless of internal party politics, her speech will undoubtedly reflect this inflection point in American history. But there is more: Both must grapple with an impatience embodied in Bernie Sanders’s campaign and a right-wing nationalism that disdains the quietly rational, socially tolerant, policy-oriented liberalism that animates their approach to governing.
New Jersey senator Cory Booker gave a rousing speech that jolted the convention crowd to its feet, declaring, ‘Even in times of crisis, we don’t abandon our values, we double-down on them.’ The speech got Donald Trump’s attention, and prompted a mocking tweet.
Soon after Panetta spoke, the Trump campaign released a statement criticizing the former defense secretary’s stance.
He also acknowledged that many Democrats remain wary of their party’s nominee.
Earlier, Trump’s campaign dismissed assaults by Democratic leaders at the Democratic National Convention as “empty rhetoric”.
Kaine said his son would “protect and defend the very North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies that Donald Trump now says he wants to abandon”. Trump suggested this would be a field day for the media.
These protesters are akin to the anti-war activists of the Vietnam era who cared more about defeating the hawks in the Democratic Party than about defeating the Republican Party, which ultimately proved at least equally hawkish, if not more so. They are in principle opposed to the status quo and want to change it. Yet as stewards of government, they are responsible for the status quo and are held accountable for its shortcomings. They are not dissuaded by the fact that Sanders did win almost two-dozen states.
Erica Smegielski’s mother, Dawn Hochsprung, was gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School where she worked as a principal.
Clinton’s lifelong record of accomplishments is extraordinary. Polls show this group is trending to Trump by roughly 2 to 1. The presidency of the U.S. is the most powerful office in the world. When the self-described “little old lady from Ohio” and Gold Star mom said “I wish every American could hug President Obama” she was speaking for a lot of people in that room.
“I’m a New Yorker and I know a con when I see one”, Bloomberg said of Trump. There was a big push to get people involved in politics on Wednesday. His speeches still appeal to regular folks quite directly, often with terms such as “malarkey” and a tendency to unbridled enthusiasm. “No one remembers the speech that John Kerry gave” in 2004, ‘but they do remember Barack Obama, ‘ said the aide.
Tim Kaine is mocking Donald Trump for being ignorant of “basic civics” and wrongly saying Kaine was a bad governor of New Jersey. I know Hillary. Hillary understands.
Bloomberg also cut through some fog when he called Clinton the “sane and competent” candidate for president this fall. No one missed the contrast implied.
Whichever candidate gets at least 270 of the 538 total electoral votes becomes the next president. He left the stage to a sudden and surprise standing ovation.
“We do know that there’s a slice, however narrow, of those persuadable voters that are still making up their minds”, Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon told reporters in Philadelphia as he previewed her remarks.
Sweeney rushed to the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001, digging for survivors.
Division aside, Thursday will be a historic night for Clinton. “They thought everything was fine”.
Even as a pessimistic attitude pervades the presidential campaign, Obama attempted to harness the optimism that propelled him into office eight years ago.
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“Still Our Toughest Champion” might make a kind of motto, if a person were running for something.
