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Clinton declares her support for Obama
McCain? 'No way, no how,' she says
AP Photo
Hillary Clinton recalled her own campaign, telling Democrats, "You taught me so much, you made me laugh...you even made me cry."
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DNC 2008
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Convention Speeches
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» Barack Obama- Thursday, August 28, 2008
» Joe Biden - Wednesday, August 27, 2008
» Bill Clinton - Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Published: August 27, 2008
DENVER
Hillary Clinton summoned the millions of voters who supported her in the primaries to send Barack Obama to the White House, and drew thunderous applause at the Democratic National Convention last night when she declared that her one-time rival is "my candidate, and he must be our president."
"We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare," said Clinton, writing the final chapter in a quest for the White House every bit as pioneering as Obama's own.
The packed convention floor became a sea of white "Hillary" signs as the New York senator and former first lady-- Obama's fiercest rival across 56 primaries and caucuses -- strode to the podium for her prime-time speech. The signs were soon replaced by others that simply read "Unity."
Even though her remarks included a full-throated endorsement of Obama, Clinton did not say whether she would have her name placed in nomination or ask for a formal roll call of the states when the party's top prize is awarded by delegates tonight.
Clinton had been the prohibitive favorite for the nomination when she began her campaign last year, attempting to become the first female president. But she fell behind Obama after the leadoff Iowa caucuses in January, and he is now poised to become the first black nominee of a major party.
Obama turned the featured speaking slot of the convention's second night over to Clinton, hoping that she could nudge her disenchanted supporters toward his candidacy. He called her after her speech to express his appreciation, aides said.
She followed to the stage others who had ripped into Republican John McCain, the likely GOP presidential candidate, as indifferent to the working class and cozy with Big Oil.
"If he's the answer, then the question must be ridiculous," Gov. David Paterson New York said of McCain.
Said Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, "It's time to bring our jobs back and bring our troops home."
"Call the roll!" urged Ted Sorensen, a party elder eager to propel Obama toward the White House.
Not yet.
Obama's formal nomination was set for tonight. First came Clinton.
The convention hall was packed for her appearance, so much so that officials sealed the entrances.
Calling herself a "proud supporter of Obama, Clinton dismissed McCain with a few choice words.
"No way. No how. No McCain," she said as the hall erupted in cheers.
"We don't need four more years ... of the last eight years," she added.
Like other failed candidates at conventions past, Clinton recalled her own quest for the White House.
"You taught me so much, you made me laugh and ... you even made me cry," she said to supporters in the Pepsi Center and millions more watching on nationwide television. "You allowed me to become part of your lives, and you became part of mine.
"I want you to ask yourselves, ‘Were you in this campaign just for me?'" she asked.
Despite lingering unhappiness among some delegates nursing grievances over Clinton's loss, the party chairman, Howard Dean, declared that the convention is determined to make Obama the nation's 44th president. "There is not a unity problem. If anyone doubts that, wait till you see Hillary Clinton's speech," he said.
In the convention keynote speech, former Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia said that Obama will "appeal to us not as Republicans or Democrats, but first and foremost as Americans." He added, "We need leaders who see our common ground as sacred ground."
In contrast to many of speeches delivered earlier in the day, out of prime time, Warner's remarks were more a sketch of the "post-partisan" possibilities that Obama often speaks of, rather than criticism of McCain and President Bush.
"I know we're at the Democratic National Convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn't matter if it has an ‘R' or ‘D' next to it," he said.
As keynoter, Warner's task was the same one that Obama -- then an Illinois state legislator running for the U.S. Senate -- used four years ago to begin his astonishing ascent in national politics.
Obama, 47 and in his first Senate term, campaigned in Missouri as he slowly made his way toward the convention city. Speaking to airline workers in a giant hangar, he accused the Bush administration of failing to enforce health and safety laws and said that McCain "doesn't get it" when it comes to the concerns of blue-collar workers.
There was more of the same -- much more -- as a parade of speakers criticized McCain at the convention several hundred miles away.
Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that the Republican has voted against "real sex education, voted against affordable family planning. And if elected, John McCain has vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade," she said, referring to the landmark 1973 case that affirmed women's right to abortion.
Strickland focused on economic issues. "While families are losing sleep tonight trying to figure out some way to make their paycheck stretch through one more day, John McCain is sleeping better than ever," he said, recalling that McCain had recently said that Americans were better off because of Bush's policies.
And Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa said that oil companies are "placing their bets on John McCain, bankrolling his campaign and gambling with our future."
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said that "John McCain offers four more years of the same Bush-Cheney policies that have failed us."
Sorensen was a link to some of the party's glory years, John F. Kennedy's closest aide. As was the case with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's emotional appearance on the convention's opening night Monday, Sorensen's presence on the podium was designed to strengthen the image of Obama as Kennedy's worthy heir.
Obama will give his acceptance speech Thursday night at a football stadium. An estimated 75,000 tickets have been distributed for the speech, meant to stir additional comparisons with Kennedy's appearance at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960.
The Republican National Convention will meet in St. Paul, Minn., next week to nominate McCain and his still-unnamed running mate. That will set the stage for a final sprint to Election Day in a race that is remarkably close.
Dean, the party chairman, said that the Democrats' imperatives were "to make sure people know who Barack Obama is, who Joe Biden is."
Biden, a Delaware senator, is Obama's vice-presidential pick and is already making the rounds of the convention city.
Whatever tone the Democrats took, there was no mistaking McCain's intentions.
For the second time in three days, his campaign sought to use Clinton to wound Obama. This time it was a TV commercial that made use of a memorable ad she ran in the primaries.
It shows sleeping children and a 3 a.m. phone call into the White House portending a crisis. In the new ad Clinton is shown saying: "I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."
A narrator adds: "Hillary's right. John McCain for president."
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