Former Pres. Clinton: Obama ready
NEAL P. GOSWAMI
Staff Writer
DENVER, Colo. – Democrats worried that former President Bill Clinton wouldn’t stand fully behind Barack Obama can rest easy.
Clinton delivered a rousing speech Wednesday supporting Obama, the Democratic nominee for president. Thousands of delegates cheered wildly as the former president sung Obama’s praises and asked supporters of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, to vote for Obama.
“Last night Hillary told us she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack Obama. That makes two of us,” Clinton said. “Actually, that makes 18 million of us.”
Hillary Clinton received more than 18 million votes in a bruising primary battle with Obama, but ended up short of the necessary number of delegates after the final primary in June. Many of her supporters refuse to back down, however, and are now threatening to vote for Obama’s new rival, Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Clinton acknowledged the tough, hard-fought campaign between his wife and Obama Wednesday, joking the “campaign created so much heat it increased global warming.” But he, like his wife just one night earlier, urged her supporters to vote for Obama.
“I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November,” he said, as the room full of thousands of delegates exploded with cheers.
Both Clintons have been criticized previously for failing to say that Obama was ready to assume the presidency. But on Wednesday, Clinton made his opinion known.
“Barack Obama is ready to lead American,” Clinton said. “Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States of America.”
After pledging his full support to Obama, Clinton launched into lengthy list of ways the Bush administration, and McCain, according to Clinton, have weakened America’s security. America is in trouble on two fronts, he said, with a weakened economy at home, and weakened leadership in the world.
By failing to focus on new energy sources and continuing to rely on foreign oil, engaging in the war in Iraq and stretching the military too thin, and failing to use diplomacy, the Republican policies have weakened America’s security, Clinton said.
After eight years as president, and endless work around the world since, Clinton said he was sure Obama should be the next president.
“The job of the next president is to rebuild the American Dream and restore America’s leadership in the world,” he said. “Barack Obama is the man for this job.”