‘WE WILL RISE TO THE CHALLENGE’
Clinton says race with Trump is ‘moment of reckoning ’ for nation
Making history as the first female major-party nominee for president, Hillary Clinton said Thursday that America faces “a moment of reckoning ” over the economy, terrorism, national unity and the candidacy of Republican opponent Donald Trump.
“Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart,” Clinton’s said. “Bonds of trust and respect are fraying,” and the American people “have to decide whether we’re going to work together so we can all rise together.”
Clinton peppered her remarks with criticism of Trump and defined her policy agenda largely in response to her Republican opponent.
Pledging to enact a “path to citizenship” for migrants who are in the country illegally, Clinton attacked Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. She promised to work with allies to combat terrorism and said Trump’s criticism of military alliances would undermine global cooperation.
Clinton mocked Trump for saying in his convention speech last week that he “alone” can fix the nation’s problem.
“Americans don’t say, ‘I alone can fix it,’ ” she said. “We say we’ll fix it together.”
Promising that her “primary mission” as president would be “more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States,” Clinton warned that the nation faces a “stark” choice between her and Trump over national security.
Clinton cited recent terrorist attacks in the USA and abroad by “determined enemies that must be defeated.”
“No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance — looking for steady leadership,” she said.
Playing off a slogan of Republican President Ronald Reagan, Clinton criticized Trump’s negative tone by saying he has turned “morning in America” into “midnight in America.”
“When any barrier falls in America ... it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit.” Hillary Clinton
Trump did not stay idle as Clinton accepted her nomination. The Republican nominee campaigned Thursday in Iowa, where he again attacked “Crooked Hillary” as an unfit candidate who offers only a third term of the Obama administration.
In a written statement, he said Clinton and the Democrats live in a “fantasy world” that ignores the threat of Islamic State terrorism, porous borders with Mexico and millions of Americans who have stopped looking for work as bad trade deals send jobs overseas.
“I propose a different vision for America, one where we can break up Washington’s rigged system and empower all Americans to achieve their dreams,” Trump said. “In our vision, we will put America first.”
Clinton, who was still working on her remarks as late as Thursday morning, echoed domestic proposals she made during her successful primary campaign, an agenda ranging from increased college assistance to a higher minimum wage to equal pay for women in the workplace.
Referring to her own historic nomination — and drawing the biggest cheers of the night — Clinton said the reality of a female presidential candidate shows that “when there are no ceilings, the sky is the limit.”
In the hours leading up to Clinton’s appearance, the crowd at the Wells Fargo Center included supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who challenged Clinton in Democratic primaries this year. Many of his allies wore hats and shirts adorned with a single word: “Bernie.”
Clinton, accused by Sanders backers of not paying enough attention to the issue of income inequality, promised she will focus on areas of the country that have long “been left out and left behind” by the modern economy.
She called on Sanders’ supporters to help her implement the liberal platform he helped push the convention to adopt. When Clinton told Sanders supporters, “Your cause is our cause,” a few jeered and hooted at her before being shushed by the crowd.
Sanders backers made their presence known throughout the evening. As a group of veterans endorsed Clinton from the podium, some California delegates chanted, “No more wars!” and “Peace, not war!” Other Democrats sought to drown them out with “U-S-A.! U-S-A.!”
Eight years after losing her Democratic nomination race to Barack Obama, the former first lady, U.S. senator from New York and secretary of State sought to reintroduce herself to the American people, helped by testimonials from other speakers and a biographical film.
Joking that “some people just don’t know what to make of me,” Clinton recounted experiences that included her health care fights in the 1990s and the military raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. She invoked ideas she wrote about in the 1996 book
It Takes A Village and promoted the theme of her 2016 campaign, “Stronger Together.”
Daughter Chelsea Clinton introduced the nominee before the speech, telling personal stories of their lives together and calling her mother “a fighter who never, ever gives up and who believes that we can always do better.”
Clinton’s acceptance speech ended a program featuring a procession of Democratic lawmakers, candidates and activists, spiced with musical performances by Carole King and Katy Perry. Clinton took the stage to the sounds of Perry’s Fight Song.
Various speakers throughout the night assailed Trump.
Khizr Khan, the Muslim father of a U.S. soldier killed in post-9/11 military action, took aim at a Trump proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the USA. His slain son may not have been allowed in the country under Trump policies, Khan said.
Asking whether Trump had ever read the U.S. Constitution, Khan pulled out a pocket book of the document and said, “I will gladly lend you my copy.”
Hillary Clinton is “a fighter who never, ever gives up and who believes that we can always do better.” Chelsea Clinton