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Clinton calls for Democratic unity
Senator Hillary Clinton addresses the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, August 26, 2008. |
Hillary Clinton delivered a ringing call for Democratic Party unity on Tuesday, promising to work for Barack Obama and challenging her supporters to bury their grudges and rally behind his White House bid.
“Whether you voted for me or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose,” said Clinton in a speech Democrats hope will end a lingering party rift left over from their bitter nominating fight.
Clinton, a New York senator, praised Obama and said Democrats could not sit on the sidelines and watch Republican presidential candidate John McCain take the White House and “squander the promise of our country.”
“No way, no how, no McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president,” Clinton told a roaring crowd waving a sea of white “Hillary” signs.
Clinton used her highly anticipated turn in the spotlight to say Democrats must unite to help the first-term Illinois senator beat McCain in the November 4 election. A Democrat is needed in the White House to turn around the struggling U.S. economy, she said.
“When Barack Obama is in the White House, he’ll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time,” Clinton said.
Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, watched from the balcony. At one point his eyes welled with tears and he mouthed the words “I love you.”
Obama watched the speech on television in Billings, Montana, as he makes his way to Denver to accept the nomination on Thursday night. “That was a strong speech,” he said. “I thought she was outstanding.”
He called Hillary and Bill Clinton afterward to congratulate them on the speech and tell them he was grateful for their support, Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said.
Clinton also offered plenty of criticism of McCain, an Arizona senator who she called “my colleague and my friend.”
“But we don’t need four more years of the last eight years,” she said, linking McCain to the policies of Republican President George W. Bush.
“John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn’t think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it’s okay when women don’t earn equal pay for equal work,” Clinton said.
“With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.”
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Clinton would not convince undecided voters that Obama was ready to be commander in chief.
“Millions of Hillary Clinton supporters and millions of Americans remain concerned about whether Barack Obama is ready to be president,” Bounds said.
The second day of the convention focused on economic themes, with speakers praising Obama’s plans to aid lower- and middle-class voters suffering in a faltering U.S. economy, which polls show is the top issue in the final months of Bush’s term.
The convention’s keynote speaker, filling the role that shot Obama to political fame at the Democratic convention in Boston in 2004, was former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.
NO STATUS QUO
“At this critical moment in our history, we have one shot to get it right, and the status quo just won’t cut it,” said Warner, a moderate who is favored to win his race for the U.S. Senate in Virginia this year.
Some of Tuesday’s other speakers cranked up the criticism of McCain at the urging of Democrats who wanted a tougher approach. The first night of the convention focused on presenting a softer, more personal side of Obama.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer brought the crowd to its feet with a dynamic condemnation of McCain’s energy policies and a reference to his seven homes.
“We simply can’t drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain’s backyards, including the ones he can’t even remember,” he said.
But the drama around Clinton and the lingering anger of her supporters after their bruising nominating fight dominated the evening and meant her speech was watched closely for her level of enthusiasm.
Clinton said Obama stood for many of the same things she ran for president to accomplish, including health care coverage for 47 million uninsured Americans, an improved education system and fiscal sanity in Washington.
She also praised Obama’s choice of running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, and said “they will be a great team for our country.”
Obama, 47, had tried to ease the tension by giving Clinton and her husband major roles at the convention. Bill Clinton will address the Democrats on Wednesday.
Clinton, 60, is expected to free her delegates to back Obama on Wednesday. She will be formally nominated although a roll call vote by states could be cut short and Obama nominated by acclamation under a deal being negotiated by the two camps.
A daily Gallup tracking poll on Tuesday gave McCain a 2-point national edge over Obama, 46 percent to 44 percent, within the margin of error but his first lead since Obama clinched the Democratic nomination in June.
Republicans say Obama is too inexperienced to take on the presidency and they sought to play up the Democratic divisions, releasing a new ad that repeated Hillary Clinton’s criticisms of Obama during the primaries. It ended with an announcer saying, “Hillary’s right.” Subscribe=>
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