Sanders, first lady thrill delegates after turmoil
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Ending months of animosity, Bernie Sanders embraced his former rival Hillary Clinton Monday night as a champion for the same economic causes that enlivened his supporters, signaling it was time for them, too, to rally behind the Democratic nominee in the campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
“Any objective observer will conclude that — based on her ideas and her leadership — Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States,” he declared in a headlining address on the opening night of the Democratic convention.
President Bill Clinton, watching from the audience, leapt to his feet and applauded, as did most of the delegates filling the convention arena.
Sanders joined a high-wattage lineup of speakers, including first lady
Michelle Obama, who delivered a forceful, impassioned defense of the Democratic nominee.
“I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands the issues a president faces are not black and white,” Mrs. Obama said. Referring to Trump’s penchant for tweeting, she said of the presidency: “It cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.”
While Sanders had endorsed Clinton previously, his remarks Monday marked his most vigorous praise of her qualifications for the presidency. It came at a crucial moment for Clinton’s campaign, on the heels of leaked emails suggesting the party had favored the former secretary of state through the primaries despite a vow of neutrality.
Sanders scored the resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but that wasn’t enough to quell the anger of supporters. Outside the convention hall, several hundred marched down Philadelphia’s streets with signs carrying messages such as “Never Hillary,” and police briefly detained more than 50 people after they tried to storm the barricades outside the Wells Fargo Center.
By the time Sanders took the stage for the night’s closing address, much of the anger had been overshadowed by speeches promoting party unity. Sanders did his part, imploring his supporters to consider a country under Trump’s leadership.
Sanders spoke just after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors,” Warren said in the keynote address. “No plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump.”
Clinton’s campaign hoped the nighttime lineup would overshadow a tumultuous start to the four-day convention. The hacked DNC emails fed the suspicion of Sanders’ supporters and sapped Clinton’s campaign of some of its energy following a well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.
The leaked correspondence, posted by WikiLeaks over the weekend, showed top DNC officials favoring Clinton over Sanders in the presidential primaries.
Clinton campaign officials blamed the hack, which is being investigated by the FBI, on Russian military intelligence agencies. The campaign also accused Moscow of trying to meddle in the U.S. election and help Trump, who has said he might not necessarily defend NATO allies if they are attacked by Russia.