China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Clinton ‘clear-eyed’ on challenges
Hillary Clinton is casting herself as a unifier for divided times and as a tested, steady hand to lead in a volatile world.
“We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against,” she said in excerpts released ahead of her speech Thursday to accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia. “But we are not afraid. We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.”
Clinton’s national convention address at the Wells Fargo Center follows three nights of Democratic stars, including a past and present president, asserting she is ready for the White House.
Clinton is vowing to create economic opportunities in inner cities and struggling small towns. She also says terror attacks around the world require “steady leadership” to defeat a determined enemy.
The first woman to lead a
Hillary Clinton, win speech accepting nomination as Democratic candidate for president
major US political party in a bid for the White House, Clinton will be greeted by a crowd of cheering delegates eager to see history made in the November election.
But her real audience will be millions of voters who may welcome her experience but question her character as she prepares to face Republican Donald Trump in November.
Clinton also has had to deal with a divided convention that saw many supporters of her primary opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, engage in various forms or protest this week.
Late Thursday, the Sanders campaign was urging calm among its 1,900 delegates attending the acceptance speech.
The campaign said in a text message to delegates it would be a “courtesy to Bernie” if the delegates show respect to Clinton when she gives her speech accepting the party’s nomination for president.
The text tells the delegates the Clinton campaign asked her delegates on Monday to be respectful to Sanders when he spoke to the convention. The text asks delegates to “extend the same respect” to Clinton.
Some Sanders delegates were wearing high-visibility green T-shirts at the Wells Fargo Center.
China Daily sought reaction from Democrats about any impact Sanders’ announcement that he would give up his short-term membership in the Democratic Party and go back to being an independent would have on the campaign.
“I think that Bernie did a great job of bringing a lot of very serious ideas and proposals to the Democratic Party,” said Alissa Keny-Guyer, an Oregon state representative from Portland, who is also a delegate to the convention.
“I come from a state where Bernie won a big majority of the delegates, but I will be working very hard to make sure those delegates come over to Hillary. I think there’s about 90 percent agreement (on the issues). … Both of them are totally opposite Trump. … I sure hope that both Democrats and independents and moderate Republicans or reasonable Republicans would see that choosing Trump would be a total disaster.”
William Little of New York, who described himself as a contributor, didn’t see any legislative impact from Sanders becoming independent again.
We are not afraid. We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have..”
“He’s always been an independent senator, but he caucuses with the Democrats. I’m sure he’s going to continue to caucus with the Democrats because he’s actually to the left of the Democrats,” Little said. “He couldn’t possibly consider caucusing with the Republicans.”
Even as Clinton and her validators argue Trump is unqualified for the Oval Office, they recognize the businessman has a visceral connection with some voters in a way the Democratic nominee does not.
Campaigning in Iowa on Thursday, Trump said there were “a lot of lies being told” at the Democratic convention. He has accused Democrats of living in a “fantasy world”, ignoring economic and security troubles as well as Clinton’s controversial email use at the State Department.
The Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, introduced her on Thursday night.
The week’s most powerful validation came Wednesday night from President Barack Obama, her victorious primary rival in 2008. Obama declared Clinton not only can defeat Trump’s “deeply pessimistic vision” but also realize the “promise of this great nation.”
On Thursday, former Reagan administration official Doug Elmets announced he was casting his first vote for a Democrat in November, and urged other Republicans who “believe loyalty to our country is more important than loyalty to party” to do the same.
Retired Marine General John R. Allen, a former commander in Afghanistan, said that with Clinton as commander in chief, “America will continue to lead in this volatile world”.
Allen said that under Clinton, the military won’t become what he calls an “instrument of torture”. He said that with Clinton in the White House, US international relations won’t be reduced to a business transaction.
The father of an Army captain — a Muslim-American killed in Iraq — condemned Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States. Khizr Khan came to the US from the United Arab Emirates.
“Let me ask you, have you ever read the United States’ Constitution?” Khan said rhetorically to Trump.
Following reports that Russia hacked Democratic Party emails, Trump said he’d like to see Moscow find the thousands of emails Clinton deleted from the account she used as secretary of state.
Trump told Fox News he was being “sarcastic” although shortly after his remarks, he tweeted that Russia should share the emails with the FBI.