Democrat convention: Hillary Clinton rallies delegates behind Obama

Published on Wednesday 27 August 2008 08:54

"BARACK Obama is my candidate and he must be our president," his former rival Hillary Clinton said today.

Under pressure from senior Democratic Party officials to help unite the party behind Mr Obama at its national convention in Denver, Colorado, the former first lady wasted no time in her eagerly-awaited prime-time address.

Wearing a striking orange trouser suit, she urged her supporters, whom she described as "my sisterhood of the travelling pantsuits", to remember who was most important in this campaign.

"I want you to ask yourselves, 'Were you in this campaign just for me?' Or were you in it for... all the people in this country that feel invisible," she said.

"I'm here tonight as a proud mother, a proud Democrat, a proud senator from New York, a proud American and a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

"My friends it is time to take back the country we love.

"And whether you voted for me, or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose.

"We are on the same team and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines.

"This is a fight for the future and it is a fight we must win together."

Mrs Clinton went on: "I haven't spent the last 35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal healthcare, helping parents balance work and family and fighting for women's rights here at home and around the world to see another Republican in the White House squander our promise of a country that really fulfils the hopes of our people."

She said she and Americans had not "endured the last eight years" to "suffer through more failed leadership".

"No way, no how, no McCain," she said.

Mrs Clinton, who lost an often-bitter primary election battle with Mr Obama, had to unite the party behind her former rival amid growing tensions between the two camps.

Polls show that a significant number of Clinton supporters have refused to fall in line behind Mr Obama and some activists have formed the Party Unity My Ass political group.

But Mrs Clinton forcefully endorsed Mr Obama in a speech which saw the convention floor change from a sea of white "Hillary" signs, as she came on to the stage, to a sea of blue "Unity" signs, bearing the names of both "Hillary" and "Obama".

Many US pundits labelled it the most important speech of her career as it had the dual purpose of garnering support for Mr Obama and securing her legacy within the Democratic Party.

Her political future would have been cast in doubt if she was seen to wreck the convention and damage the party's chances in November.

Mrs Clinton was greeted by more than 4,000 delegates who gave her a standing ovation, which lasted more than three minutes, before she had even spoken.

She said the United States needed a leader who could show Americans that there was no limit to what was possible in America and that she supported Mr Obama for all the same reasons that she ran for president.

"This will not be easy, progress never is," she said.

"But it will be impossible if we don't fight to put a Democrat back into the White House.

"He built his campaign on the fundamental belief that change in this country must start from the ground up, not the top down, and he knows that government must be about, 'We the people', not 'We the favoured few'.

"And when Barack Obama's in the White House, he'll revitalise our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time.

"Democrats know how to do this."

To roaring cheers and a standing ovation from the convention floor, she went on: "As I recall, we did it before with President Clinton and the Democrats.

"And if we do our part we'll do it again with President Obama."

Mrs Clinton went on: "We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.".

She also criticised Mr Obama's Republican rival John McCain, who has used her past comments in a series of attack adverts against Mr Obama over the last few days, and tied him to the unpopular presidency of George W Bush.

"John McCain is my colleague and my friend," she said.

"He has served our country with honour and courage, but we don't need four more years of the last eight years.

"Well, John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound; John McCain doesn't think 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis; John McCain wants to privatise social security, and in 2008 he still thinks it's OK when women don't earn equal pay for equal work.

"Now with an agenda like that it makes perfect sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the twin cities, because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart."

The Republican convention, which takes place in the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, starts on Monday.

Mrs Clinton also said that Mr Obama's wife Michelle would make "a great first lady for America" and his vice presidential nominee Joe Biden was "a strong leader, a good man who understands both the economic stresses here at home and the strategic challenges abroad."

She said they would make "a great team for our country".

Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, looked on from his box in the Pepsi Centre and will take to the stage to make his own speech late tonight.

He is reported to be furious at suggestions that he incited racial politics during the primary season and his speech will be analysed closely to see how passionately he supports Mr Obama's campaign to become America's first black president.