tensions ran high during 16-month campaign
Barack Obama is my candidate, says Hillary
Published:
Former US president Bill Clinton supported presidential hopeful Barack Obama in his own words last night — after his wife urged Democrats to “unite as a single party with a single purpose”.
In a rousing prime-time address at the party’s national convention in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday night a passionate Hillary Clinton said: “Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president.”
Her husband, who went against Mr Obama’s vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden for top billing late last night, chose not to join her and their daughter Chelsea on stage on Tuesday.
His speech was less effusive, and his support more qualified, after Mr Obama beat his wife in an often bitter 16-month primary season which saw his own reputation tainted.
Tensions between the Clinton and Obama camps remain, partly because Mr Clinton is reported to be furious at suggestions that he played the race card during the primary season as Mr Obama sought to become America’s first black president.
And polls show that a significant number of Clinton supporters have refused to fall in line behind Mr Obama and some activists have formed the Party Unity My Ass political group.
On Tuesday night, Mrs Clinton enthusiastically threw her weight behind Mr Obama’s presidential bid in a speech which saw the convention floor change from a sea of white “Hillary” signs, as she came on the stage, to a sea of blue “Unity“ signs, bearing the names of both “Hillary” and “Obama”.
She urged her supporters, whom she described as “my sisterhood of the travelling pantsuits”, to remember who was most important in this campaign.
“I want you to ask yourselves, ‘Were you in this campaign just for me?’ Or were you in it for . . . all the people in this country that feel invisible,” she said.
“My friends 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.
“This is a fight for the future and it is a fight we must win together.”
She said she and Americans had not “endured the last eight years” to “suffer through more failed leadership”.
“No way, no how, no McCain,” she said.
Many US political pundits labelled it the most important speech of her career as it had the dual purpose of garnering support for Mr Obama and securing her legacy within the Democratic Party.
Her political future would have been cast in doubt if she was seen to wreck the convention and damage the party’s chances on November 4.
