By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Tuesday, July 26, delegates to the Democratic National Convention chose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Secretary Clinton is the first woman to win the presidential nomination for either major political party. Both parties have nominated women for vice-president before: Geraldine Ferraro (D) and Sarah Palin (R), though neither won in the General Election.
Former President Bill Clinton (D) spoke to the convention, “In the spring of 1971 I met a girl. The first time I saw her we were, appropriately enough, in a class on political and civil rights. She had thick blond hair, big glasses, wore no makeup, and she had a sense of strength and self- possession that I found magnetic. After the class I followed her out, intending to introduce myself. I got close enough to touch her back, but I couldn’t do it. Somehow I knew this would not be just another tap on the shoulder, that I might be starting something I couldn’t stop. And I saw her several more times in the next few days, but I still didn’t speak to her. Then one night I was in the law library talking to a classmate who wanted me to join the Yale Law Journal. He said it would guarantee me a job in a big firm or a clerkship with a federal judge. I really wasn’t interested, I just wanted to go home to Arkansas. Then I saw the girl again, standing at the opposite end of that long room. Finally she was staring back at me, so I watched her. She closed her book, put it down and started walking toward me. She walked the whole length of the library, came up to me and said, look, if you’re going to keep staring at me…and now I’m staring back, we at least ought to know each other’s name. I’m Hillary Rodham, who are you?” I was so impressed and surprised that, whether you believe it or not, momentarily I was speechless. Finally, I sort of blurted out my name and we exchanged a few words and then she went away. Well, I didn’t join the Law Review, but I did leave that library with a whole new goal in mind.”
Pres. Clinton said, “Hillary is uniquely qualified to seize the opportunities and reduce the risks we face. And she is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known. You could drop her into any trouble spot, pick one, come back in a month and somehow, some way she will have made it better. That is just who she is. There are clear, achievable, affordable responses to our challenges. But we won’t get to them if America makes the wrong choice in this election. That’s why you should elect her. And you should elect her because she’ll never quit when the going gets tough. She’ll never quit on you.”
Pres. Clinton said, “If you really think you can get the economy back you had 50 years ago, have at it, vote for whoever you want to. But if she wins, she is coming back for you to take you along on the ride to America’s future. And so I say to you, if you love this country, you’re working hard, you’re paying taxes and you’re obeying the law and you’d like to become a citizen, you should choose immigration reform over somebody that wants to send you back. If you’re a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together. We want you. If you’re a young African-American disillusioned and afraid, we saw in Dallas how great our police officers can be, help us build a future where nobody is afraid to walk outside, including the people that wear blue to protect our future.”
President Clinton said, “Hillary will make us stronger together. You know it because she’s spent a lifetime doing it. I hope you will do it. I hope you will elect her. Those of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows tend to care more about our children and grandchildren. The reason you should elect her is that in the greatest country on earth we have always been about tomorrow. You children and grandchildren will bless you forever if you do.”
Even though Sec. Clinton’s nomination was inevitable after she won the California presidential primary, far exceeding the number of pledged and bound delegates that Clinton needed to secure the nomination and even though US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has endorsed Clinton and urged party unity, dozens of angry Bernie Sanders delegates stormed out of the hall after the formal selection of Mrs. Clinton as the Democratic parties’ presidential nominee.
Sen. Sander’s supporters’ anger was further stoked on Friday when WikiLeaks released over 19,000 Democratic National Committee emails showing that the party leadership despised Sanders and wanted Hillary Clinton to be the nominee from the earliest point in the process. Democratic Party Chair Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has resigned effective Thursday in the wake of the revelations that her and her staff were so biased in favor of Clinton being the nominee.
While clearly the emails reveal bias, they do not show conclusively that the Party actually “rigged” the process as Republican nominee Donald Trump and many Sanders supporters are claiming. Clinton got over two million more actual Democratic party primary and caucus voters than Sanders. Sanders failure to connect with southern and Black voters (who overwhelmingly preferred Clinton) ultimately cost him the nomination.
Experts in the US government are claiming that hackers in the employ of Russian intelligence are responsible for hacking the DNC’s email servers. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange challenged those experts to prove that allegation publicly.
Assange is presently hiding in the Ecuador embassy in London to avoid questioning in a rape investigation in Sweden. Assange denies the rape allegations, but has expressed fear that once in Swedish custody, the US will press charges related to his hacking activities and will request extradition.
Assange vows that there will be more material leaked in coming days.
Columnist George Will has asserted that Russian oligarchs are heavily invested in Republican nominee Donald Trump’s businesses.
Hillary Clinton and US Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) will face the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence on November 8.
(Original reporting by CNN, Fox News, Wikipedia, and The Hill contributed to this report)
