Divisions on show

It has taken her a long time but Hillary Clinton has finally secured the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency that was snatched from her grasp by Barack Obama in 2008. At the convention in Philadelphia, her supporters waved banners with the word “history”. If she goes on to win the White House in November, America’s first black president will be followed by its first woman head of state. For a country whose politics sometimes appears dysfunctional these are significant achievements. Even if Mrs Clinton falls at the final hurdle, she has shown that a woman can contest for the top job, and not before time.

But her satisfaction at breaking the glass ceiling cannot disguise the divisions within the Democratic Party on show in Philadelphia. Mrs Clinton was given a fright in the primaries by Bernie Sanders, and had to move politically to the Left to beat him but must now tack back to the centre to win the election. Moreover, Sanders supporters have been infuriated by allegations that dirty tricks were used to keep their favoured candidate away from the nomination.

Stories like this will haunt Mrs Clinton’s campaign, as will suggestions that she is the dynastic candidate of a party that has lost touch with its base, an impression that Donald Trump will mercilessly exploit. True, Mrs Clinton has tried to step out from her husband’s shadow by serving first as a senator and then as secretary of state in Mr Obama’s first administration. But she is still partly defined by her time as first lady; and it has not gone unnoticed that the best speech of the week in Philadelphia so far has been delivered by Michelle Obama. Does she too, perhaps, harbour presidential ambitions?