Obama passes torch to Clinton, warns election a test of democracy

The November election is not a “typical election”, but a “big” and “more fundamental choice” for the American people, Obama told some 5,000 delegates of the DNC at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

In his speech to Democrats in Philadelphia, Obama heaped praise on Clinton, his former secretary of state.

Thursday night Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination for president. And pundits will debate about whether Hillary Clinton was right to walk onto the stage with Barack Obama standing there, whether she risked being framed by him.

Clinton personally thanked Sanders, who was seated in the packed arena, making clear that his role throughout the primary campaign season was important and that he brought people to the table who would not have otherwise been there.

Rather than a contest between a reality TV star and a career politician, this election is becoming a contest between Trump’s dystopian view and a sunnier outlook, one where the United States is, and will remain, the most powerful nation on the planet and where the American dream is alive and well. Apparently, he doesn’t know the men and women who make up the strongest fighting force the world has ever known.

“At the end of the day, (Sanders’) coalition looked too much like a modern day Woodstock, and not enough like the Obama coalition it takes to win the primaries and the general”, said Boyd Brown, a Democratic National Committeeman from SC who supported former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

“Hillary’s got her share of critics”, Obama said. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation recently concluded that she was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified material contained in her State Department emails, but that no criminal charges were warranted.

In that time, he said, Barack Obama had become “one of the finest Presidents we have ever had”, and also his friend. First lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden each cast Clinton as champion for the disadvantaged and a fighter who has withstood decades of Republican attacks.

The idea that Biden might have run against her in the primaries, which he put aside after the death of his son Beau, might linger for him-there were delegates at the D.N.C. who undoubtedly would have preferred him to Clinton-but he didn’t even hint at it.

Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost her legs in combat, took on Trump’s readiness to be commander in chief, saying “I didn’t put my life on the line to defend our democracy so you could invite Russian Federation to interfere with it”.

Emma Schmit, 22, of Rockwell City, Iowa, agreed: “She’s part of the one percent”. When boos erupted another time he shredded Trump, Obama advised, “Don’t boo”.

To be sure, many black delegates at the convention said they don’t view the “Bernie or Bust” movement through a racial lens. And he seized on Trump’s statements suggesting he would insist North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies have fulfilled financial responsibilities before the USA would come to their aid.

“They offered no solutions for the problems facing America – in fact, they pretended those problems didn’t even exist.” the statement said. “Well, America’s promises do not come with a price tag”. They are going to vote for Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, some other write-in, Donald Trump, or no one.

He urged Democrats to enable Clinton to finish the job he started with his election almost eight years ago in a rousing speech that capped a night when party luminaries took to the stage to contrast the party’s new standard-bearer with Trump, whom they portrayed as a threat to USA values. Obama declared Clinton not only can defeat Trump’s “deeply pessimistic vision” but also realize the “promise of this great nation”.

Trump’s campaign issued a statement calling Wednesday a “sad night” for the Democratic Party and saying they presented only proposals to reward the rich while attacking “decent Americans who want change for their families”.

A Democrat should not have to struggle as much against a loudmouth like Donald Trump like Hillary Clinton is having to. “Let me tell you, it was tough, because Hillary’s tough. That’s a bunch of malarkey!” Tim Kaine of Virginia, edged the Republicans’ third night despite lasting well beyond 11:30 at night, when ratings typically plunge.