‘A MOMENT OF RECKONING’
In her speech, Clinton draws contrast with Trump’s ‘ bombast,’ ‘ bigotry’
PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton on Thursday night accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, asking Americans to reject the “bigotry and the bombast” of Donald Trump in favor of a vision of a country in which “children can dream, families are strong, communities are safe and, yes, love trumps hate.”
After Democratic allies devoted much of this week at the Democratic National Convention softening her image, the first female presidential nominee of a major party went on the attack against Trump, whom she derided as an uninformed, thin-skinned egotist with delu-
sions of knowing best how to defeat Islamic State.
“Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis,” she said. “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
Clinton’s hourlong speech was an attempt to recast herself as a fierce progressive — someone who would fight alongside former rival Bernie Sanders to close corporate loopholes — while trying to assure skeptical swing voters that she would not take away their guns or weaken the military.
And she tried to reassure Americans who, like Trump, think the country and the world are starting to unravel following a spree of terrorist attacks around the globe and mass killings of police officers at home.
“America is once again at a moment of reckoning,” Clinton said. “Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. And just as with our founders, there are no guarantees. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we’re going to work together so we can all rise together.”
Clinton delegates showered her with chants of “Hillary” during her speech and afterward as the convention hall, festooned with balloons and confetti, celebrated her historic nomination.
“I started to cry when she talked about women’s rights and equal pay,” said Ann Richardson, a 62-year-old Clinton delegate from Sacramento. “I’m an attorney and didn’t get the top jobs.”
At least for one night, the City of Brotherly Love became a city of sisterly love as 11 of the U.S. Senate’s 20 women took to the stage extolling Clinton as a “battle-tested fighter,” a “workhorse,” and a woman of dignity and resolve.
“In crisis or in calm, whether we need a hand or a real heart-to-heart, we can always count on her to come through,” said California Sen. Barbara Boxer. “We, the Democratic women of the Senate, stand shoulder to shoulder with Hillary, resolved and ready to make her the next president of the United States of America.”
ChelseaClinton, whogrew up in the White House during her father’s presidency, introduced her mother. She painted a picture of a loving, caring woman and advocate for the underprivileged — a sharp contrast to the image of an untrustworthy politician portrayed by Republi- cans at their convention last week.
“People ask me all the time: How does she do it? How does she keep going amid the sound and fury of politics? Here’s how: It’s because she never ever forgets who’s she’s fighting for,” Chelsea Clinton said.
She told moving stories about how her mother would read “Goodnight Moon” to her, their love of “Pride and Prejudice,” and how her mom would leave little notes for her each day she was traveling as first lady of Arkansas.
“She’s a woman driven by compassion, by faith, a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love,” Chelsea Clinton said.
The mother and daughter shared a long embrace when her mother took the stage.
Mary Steenburgen, who grew up in Arkansas and is close to the Clintons, told the delegates she remembers thinking back in 1978 that Hillary Clinton, not just her husband, should be president one day.
“Then, it seemed like too much to dream for,” she said. “But tonight it seems very, very possible.”
Clinton faces a daunting battle against the tough-talking Trump. Polls show the race is neck and neck, and in some key swing states, the New York billionaire is ahead.
The convention this week got off to a rocky start, with protests in the streets and booing in the convention hall, after WikiLeaks released a trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee showing efforts to undermine Sanders’ campaign.
Even on the convention’s final night, die-hard Sanders supporters wore glow-inthe-dark shirts emblazoned with Sanders’ “Enough is enough” slogan.
But Clinton gave them little reason to boo because she incorporated much of Sanders’ populist rhetoric.
She promised to stand up to China on trade, ease student debt burdens, make “corporations and the super rich” pay their fair share of taxes, target excessive executive bonuses and get money out of politics.
“I want you to know I heard you. Your cause is our cause,” she said. “Our country needs your ideas, energy and passion.”
Many Sanders delegates seemed pleased that she reached out to them.
“She covered most of the agenda Bernie Sanders supporters are asking for,” said Sam Hindi, a Sanders delegate and Foster City councilman. “I think she did an awesome job, and hopefully we can work together on reaching out to young voters who supported Bernie Sanders and make them feel integrated into the party.”
Clinton made no mention of her email scandal, the WikiLeaks revelations or her six-figure speaking engagements for Wall Street firms, which damaged her reputation with young, progressive voters.
The most she did was acknowledge her struggle to connect with voters during her quarter-century in public life. “Through all these years of public service, the service part has always come easier than the public part,” she said. “I get it. Some people don’t know what to make of me.”
Clinton described a middle-class suburban upbringing as the daughter of a stern but loving father and a mother who had been abandoned as a teenager and who refused to let her hide from a neighborhood bully.
Gia Daniller-Katz, a Clinton delegate from San Francisco, said Clinton showed “all the different facets of who she is: a caring mother, impassioned advocate, a highly experienced legislator. She put it all together while drawing a poignant contrast to her opponent.”
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, agreed:
“She found her voice. It’s the first time I’ve heard her have a conversation with us, her ups and downs, her highs and lows. Just the way all mothers do, she practically put her hand on her hip, and said, ‘No, Donald, you actually don’t know very much at all.’ ”