Hillary lines up with Obama
Sen. Hillary Clinton had a tall task Tuesday night – trying to convince millions of her supporters to throw their weight behind the Democratic Party’s nominee, Barack Obama.
She had a very simple message.
“No way. No How. No McCain,” she said.“Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president.”
Clinton spoke on the second night of the Democratic National Convention – the 88th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Her daughter, Chelsea, introduced her.
Clinton took to the podium Tuesday night to thunderous applause that lasted several minutes, hoping to assuage many of her supporters who remain bitter about the outcome of the Democratic Party’s primary campaign. Clinton and Obama squared off in long, often tense primary battle, bruising each other along the way.
Despite garnering 18 million votes, Clinton failed to secure enough delegates to claim the nomination. Many Clinton supporters refuse to give up, though. Hundreds marched through downtown Denver, site of the Democratic National Convention, carrying signs and chanting slogans saying they intended to vote for Republican Sen. John McCain in November’s general election.
Clinton did her best to show party unity, beseeching her followers to vote for Obama rather than sitting out the election, or worse, voting for McCain.
“I’m here tonight … as a proud Democrat, as a proud senator from New York, a proud American, and a proud supporter of Barack Obama,” Clinton said.
“It is time to take back the country we love, and whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose,” she said. “We are on the same team, and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future and it is a fight that we must.”
She challenged those supporters who said they wouldn’t vote for Obama to think about why they were attracted to her campaign.
“Were you in this campaign just for me?” Clinton asked. “Or were you in it for all the people in this country that feel invisible?”
Democrats also began hitting back at McCain Tuesday night. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said the Arizona senator wants to abolish the Department of Education, and “hurt” seniors by privatizing Social Security.
“John McCain is just more of the same old say one thing do somethingelse crowd that we’ve got in the White House right now,” Patrick said.
But Patrick challenged his fellow Democrats, too, saying the party needed to prove to the American people that the Democratic Party should win the presidency and control Congress.
“Democrats don’t deserve to win just because the Republicans deserve to lose,” he said. “We need better policies. We need a better vision.”
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer had fun at McCain’s expense too, attacking McCain’s voting record on energy bills. Schweitzer said McCain voted against several renewable technologies, and preferred that America drill its way to energy independence. But, Schweitzer said, drilling in McCain’s backyard – “even the ones he doesn’t know
about” – won’t solve the problem.
-- Neal P. Goswami