HISTORY! HILLARY BECOMES DEMS' 1ST WOMAN NOMINEE
Bob Unruh
Hillary Clinton accepts Democrat nomination for president
Hillary Clinton, former first lady, former senator, former secretary of state and one-time Democratic presidential primary loser to upstart Barack Obama, stood on the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia Thursday night and set a new political precedent in the United States: A woman can be a major party’s candidate for president.
Nominated Tuesday night, she was introduced by her daughter, Chelsea, who, with her father, is at the top of the Clinton Foundation, which the Internal Revenue Service just announced was under investigation.
Hillary Clinton recited a list of the complaints that progressives have against the country: “There’s too much inequality, too little social mobility, too much paralysis in Washington.”
But Clinton said America has the most dynamic and diverse people in the world, the most tolerant and generous young people the nation ever has had, the most powerful military, the most innovative entrepreneurs, the most enduring values.
What does she want?
“An economy where everyone who wants a good job can get one. We’ll built a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who already are contributing to our economy. We will not ban a religion. We will work with all Americans and our allies to fight and defeat terrorism,” she said.
Attacking GOP candidate Donald Trump directly, she said: “Don’t let anyone tell you our country is weak. We’re not. Don’t let anyone tell you we don’t have what it takes. We do. Don’t believe anyone who says ‘I alone can fix it.’
“Those were Donald Trump’s words in Cleveland.”
But she said he was forgetting the troops, police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses and teachers.
Raising her voice and putting on a fierce look, she said, “Our founders fought a revolution and wrote a Constitution so America would never be a nation where one person had all the power.”
Pushing for progressive fundamentals, she said: “None of us can raise a family, build a community or lift a country totally alone. American needs every one of us to lend our energy.”
She recited the nation’s motto as “E pluribus unum,” out of many, one.
“We will stay true to that motto,” she said.
However, it was only the de facto motto until Congress made “In God We Trust” the official motto in 1956.
She portrayed herself as the president for “for all Americans together,” even those who refuse to vote for her.
It took a few minutes, but she also got to the historical moment of the night.
“Tonight we’ve reached a milestone in our nation’s march toward a more perfect union. The first time a major party has nominated a woman for president.”
Removing such a barrier, she said, “clears the way for everyone.”
“After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit.”
She said the nation has improved under Barack Obama, but she admitted there still are problems.
“Some of you are frustrated. Even furious, and you know what, you’re right. It’s not yet working the way it should. Americans are willing to work and work hard. But right now an awful lot of people feel there’s less and less respect for the work they do.”
She promised more “opportunity and good jobs and rising wages right here in the United States.”
But she said the democracy “isn’t working the way it should.”
So she would appoint Supreme Court justices to “take money out of politics and expand voting rights.”
If necessary, she said, she would “pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United [a Supreme Court decision on campaign advertising].”
Comprehensive immigration reform, a term used in Congress for illegal-alien amnesty, she said, “would grow our economy, keep families together and it’s the right thing to do.”
She talked about the rights to affordable health care, a “living wage” and more, inviting all to join her. She promoted expanding Social Security and abortion and equal pay for women.
She promised more federal spending, to create jobs in green energy, small business and infrastructure.
“Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college free for the middle class and debt-free for all. We will also liberate millions of people who already have student debt,” she promised.
She promised more taxes for corporations, Wall Street and the “super-rich.”
Trump, active on Twitter during Clinton’s speech, promised another $1 million of his own money for the GOP effort this year while asking supporters to help.
“I believe the American people have had enough,” he wrote. “I am more fed up than ever with Crooked Hillary and her corrupt friends in DC.”
Clinton briefly mentioned “enemies that must be defeated” around the globe late in her speech.
“We are stronger when we work with our allies around the world,” she said.
She referenced the Cuban missile crisis, but didn’t bring up Benghazi. She brought up the original 13 colonies but not the FBI director’s description of her as “extremely careless” with national secrets.