2008 Democratic National Convention, Day 2
photos by Steed Media Service |
DENVER –The cacophony inside the media center and throughout the Pepsi Center came to a complete halt when the celebrated senator from New York began to deliver a speech that was equally anticipated by supporters, adversaries and media pundits for weeks. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first woman to ever win more than one presidential primary, forcefully declared to her supporters her unequivocal support for the first ever African American presumptive presidential nominee.
“I am a proud mother. I am a proud Democrat. I am a proud American. And I am a proud supporter of Barack Obama. My friends, it is time to take back the country we love,” she said to thunderous ovation inside the convention hall. “You haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership. Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.”
With her rousing speech, which included sharp denunciations of Sen. John McCain’s candidacy and policies, the former rival of Sen. Barack Obama did much to quell widely-circulated speculations of a Democratic party fractionalized by dissent and resentment. “She just sent a huge signal to unify the party,” New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former presidential candidate, told MSNBC on the convention floor after the event. “[Clinton] hit a home run – a 500-foot home run.”
Evidence of the evening’s importance was everywhere. Four times as many people tried to enter security gates to the Pepsi Center last night, choking off foot traffic and leading to chaos. Black-clad security details were out in much larger numbers throughout the city, surveying multiple pockets of impassioned protests and demonstrations. And the Secret Service closed access to the convention hall when Clinton was introduced because of extreme crowd swelling at each entrance, something that didn’t happen the first day.
In addition to Clinton’s plea for unity behind an Obama-Biden ticket, Clinton also took a moment to memorialize the life and history-making career of Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who died suddenly last week. Others joined Clinton in praising Tubbs Jones throughout the day. Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) called Tubbs Jones a “trailblazer.” John Conyers, the legendary representative from Detroit called her “a stalwart Democrat [and] a real leader.” And the Honorable Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said “we need more legacies like Stephanie’s – the kind of legacy that lives on.”
The third night of the DNC is expected to be a continuation of political drama and vehement disparagements of McCain and the GOP. Former President Bill Clinton, former presidential candidate John Kerry, Gov. Richardson and newly appointed vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden are scheduled to address the convention. – terry shropshire
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