From the New York Times:
Barack Hussein Obama, a freshman senator who defeated the first family of Democratic Party politics with a call for a fundamentally new course in politics, was nominated by his party on Wednesday to be the 44th president of the United States. The unanimous vote made Mr. Obama the first African-American to become a major party nominee for president. It brought to an end an often-bitter two-year political struggle for the nomination with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who, standing on a packed convention floor electric with anticipation, moved to halt the roll call in progress so that the convention could nominate Mr. Obama by acclamation. That it did with a succession of loud roars, followed by a swirl of dancing, embracing, high-fiving and chants of “Yes, we can.” In an effort to fully ease the lingering animosity from the primary season, former President Bill Clinton, in a speech that had been anxiously awaited by Mr. Obama’s aides given the uncomfortable relations between the two men, offered an enthusiastic and unstinting endorsement of Mr. Obama’s credentials to be president. Mr. Clinton’s message, like the messenger, was greeted rapturously in the hall. “Last night Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack Obama,” Mr. Clinton said. “That makes two of us...” “I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world,” Mr. Clinton said. “Barack Obama is ready to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.” Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Mr. Obama’s choice for vice president, accepted the nomination with a speech in which he spoke frequently, and earnestly, of his blue-collar background, in effect offering himself as a validator for Mr. Obama among some voters who have been reluctant to embrace the Democratic presidential nominee. “The choice in this election is clear,” Mr. Biden said. “These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader,” he said, a leader who can deliver “the change that everybody knows we need.” His 21-minute address completed, Mr. Biden was joined on stage by his wife, Jill, who told the crowd they were about to be joined by an unscheduled guest. The crowd exploded as Mr. Obama walked around the corner. “If I’m not mistaken, Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night,” he said, gazing up at where Mr. and Mrs. Clinton were watching the proceedings and leading the crowd in applause. “And President Clinton reminded us of what it’s like when you have a president who actually puts people first. Thank you.”
From the Washington Post:
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois completed an improbable and historic journey here Wednesday when he was nominated by acclamation as the Democratic candidate for president, becoming the first African American to lead a major political party into a general-election campaign. Obama, who just eight years ago attended his first Democratic National Convention and who four years later shot to national prominence with an electrifying keynote address at the gathering in Boston, was given a final symbolic boost Wednesday by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who moved from the convention floor to suspend the roll call of the states and formalize her former rival's nomination by acclamation. The gesture of conciliation brought to a conclusion the closest and hardest-fought nomination battle Democrats have waged in the modern era of presidential politics, pitting two historic candidacies in a contest that divided the party and left lingering bitter feelings among Clinton loyalists. But after days of nervous speculation about how the long and often contentious competition would end here in Denver, the nomination-by-acclamation set off a joyous scene on the convention floor, as delegates danced to the strains of "Love Train" and then broke out in chants of "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" Hours later, the convention confirmed Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) as the party's vice presidential nominee, and as he finished his acceptance speech, Obama made a surprise visit to the Pepsi Center to praise his running mate; his wife, Michelle; his erstwhile rival Clinton; and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, who had delivered a powerful speech on behalf of Obama earlier in the night. "I think the convention's gone pretty well so far, don't you think?" Obama said. He cited his wife's speech on Monday, and then, referring to Hillary Clinton's speech on Tuesday, said, "If I'm not mistaken, Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night." In his acceptance speech, Biden, the fiery chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, cast himself as a champion of working-class families -- a key target group Obama has struggled to win over -- and laid out a sustained critique of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who will accept the GOP nomination next week. "I am here for everyone I grew up with in Scranton and Wilmington," he said. "I am here for the cops and firefighters, the teachers and assembly-line workers -- the folks whose lives are the very measure of whether the American dream endures." Time and again, Biden charged, Obama's judgment on foreign policy issues has been superior to McCain's. On domestic issues, he said, McCain would continue the policies of President Bush rather than embrace changes he said the country desperately needs. "Again and again, on the most important national security issues of our time, John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama was proven right," Biden argued. "Folks, remember when the world used to trust us? When they looked to us for leadership? With Barack Obama as our president, they'll look to us again, they'll trust us again, and we'll be able to lead again..." Clinton drew a thunderous and sustained welcome from delegates, who cheered and waved American flags and chanted "Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill" as he sought to quiet them. "I am here first to support Barack Obama," he said, setting off another round of applause. Clinton acknowledged that "in the end, my candidate didn't win" the nomination. But then, citing his wife's speech on Tuesday, he said: "Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama. That makes two of us." That set off a fresh round of applause that grew louder when he added: "Actually, that makes 18 million of us, because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November." Challenging Republican criticism of the new nominee, he said: "Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States." Recalling that Republicans had accused him of not being ready when he ran in 1992, Clinton noted that the criticism had not worked then and "won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history."
From USA Today:
...After an especially long primary season, after private wrangling and public battle, the Democratic Party became the first major party to select an African-American nominee for president in the nation's history. With a roar of approval and a sparkle of flashing cameras, the convention's delegates nominated by acclamation Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who just four years ago electrified the Democratic convention with a speech where he first called for "a politics of hope." That message carried him in this election season to the top of his party's ticket. "I never thought I'd live this long to see this," said Albert Lewis, a Hawaii delegate, where Obama grew up. "I'm very proud to be an American today." Obama's nomination was the climax of a campaign that intertwined two groups that have spent much of the past 50 years struggling for their place at the table of American politics: blacks and women. And it came at the hands of the woman who had tried so hard to wrest it from him. When the roll call came to New York, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton joined her state's delegation on the floor and asked the convention to stop the roll call and nominate Obama. "In the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory," Clinton said, "let's declare together in one voice, right here right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate." George Bixon, a retired electrician and the only black delegate among 57 from Iowa, said tears streamed down his cheeks as Obama was nominated. "It was a moment I thought would never happen in my lifetime," Bixon said. "He was nominated not as a black man but as a man who is qualified to do the job, and that made me proud." He immediately called his wife back home who waited by the phone with their daughter and two grandchildren. "We made history and I was part of it," he said he told them. "I'm proud of my country. I'm 63. I was refused buying a candy bar when I was 7 years old. I have been refused trying to purchase a home in an all-white neighborhood. This is nothing short of a miracle," "I can hardly describe how I feel, I am so excited," said Kathy Sykes, a delegate from Mississippi, whose delegation in 1964 challenged the party to seat black delegates. "When I think about (civil rights activist) Medgar Evers, who lost his life registering people to vote — we have come a long way in this country, and we need a man like Barack Obama to lead us into the future." Although it had been expected for months, the impact of Obama's nomination rippled out from the Denver convention hall. Charles Evers, the brother of slain civil rights leader Evers and a Republican supporter of Barack Obama, was listening to the nomination coverage on television Wednesday night before hosting his radio show, Let's Talk, on WMPR-FM in Jackson, Miss. The nomination is "one of the greatest things that ever happened in my 86 years," Evers said. "I know Medgar, Martin (Luther King) and others never dreamed they would see this day. Forty-five years ago we couldn't do this. Medgar was killed 45 years ago trying to get the right to be heard, period." "This is a monumental moment in our nation's history," Martin Luther King III, the civil rights icon's oldest son, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "And it becomes obviously an even greater moment in November if he's elected..." Earlier in the day, Clinton had released her delegates, allowing them to vote for either candidate. She told them that she had voted for Obama but did not tell them how to vote. Mark Smith, a delegate from Silsbee, Texas, changed his vote as a result. "When Barack became her candidate, he became mine. It was difficult because it was a bitter battle between two qualified, very talented candidates for presidency."
From the LA Times:
Barack Obama, riding a message of change, swept aside a Democratic dynasty and two centuries of history Wednesday to become the first African American to lead a major political party into the fall campaign for the White House. The vote was by acclamation after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York waded onto the convention floor amid a standing ovation and stopped a roll call of delegations. She urged Obama's unanimous selection as the party's presidential nominee "in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory." Delegates shouted their affirmation, and the longest, most contentious Democratic primary fight in more than a generation came to a congenial halt. Hours later, former President Clinton did his part for party peace by wrapping Obama in his unqualified embrace. "Everything I learned in my eight years as president and in the work I have done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job," Clinton told cheering delegates, going far beyond the tepid endorsements he had offered in the past. "Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama," Clinton said, a day after his wife pledged her unstinting support. "That makes two of us..." Obama, 47, was at his Denver hotel with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters when history was made. At evening's end, he sent a jolt of electricity through the crowded arena when he strode onstage and embraced running mate Joe Biden, who made his convention debut with a speech that mixed autobiography with policy and pugnacity. Saluting his erstwhile rival, Obama said, "If I'm not mistaken, Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night." The crowd roared. "And just in case you're wondering . . . President Clinton reminded us of what it is when you've got a president who actually puts people first." The couple, along with their daughter, Chelsea, beamed from the VIP seats. Obama's installation as the Democratic nominee capped an improbably swift rise that began four years ago at the party's national convention when Obama, then an Illinois state senator, delivered a soaring keynote address. Bookending his rise is Thursday night's acceptance speech at Invesco Field, a football stadium expected to fill with more than 75,000 people. On Wednesday, Democrats continued their pounding of Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Obama's fall rival and a more resilient opponent than many in the party had anticipated. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island called McCain the "cheerleader in chief" for the Iraq war. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called McCain a snake oil salesman and, in an apparent dig at his nearly 72 years, referred to him as "kindly old Doc McCain." Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic nominee who once considered McCain as a possible running mate, said "the candidate who once promised a 'contest of ideas' now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting. How pathetic. How desperate." Biden joined in. Citing Obama's early opposition to the war in Iraq, he said, "Again and again, on the most important national security issues of our time, John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama was proven right." "The choice in this election is clear," said Biden, who twice tried for the White House himself. "These times require more than a good soldier; they require a wise leader, a leader who can deliver change."
From the Denver Post:
Sen. Barack Obama, finally minted as his party's nominee after a historic primary season, joined running mate Joe Biden on stage Wednesday night in a symbolic and literal embrace of the man who, in a span of less than 10 weeks, must help him win the presidency. Descending the private staircase to Pepsi Center's stage, Obama reached up again and again to shake the hands of eager staffers lining up along the rail just to catch one more glimpse of the surprise guest, who — by appearance alone — electrified a Democratic National Convention audience largely here for him. "I want everyone to now understand why I'm so proud to have Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Beau Biden and Mama Biden with me on this journey," Obama said on stage, referring to the Delaware senator and a few of the 26 members of the Biden clan in the audience. Minutes before, Biden finished a sweeping condemnation of John McCain and his record, having awakened on the third day of the convention as a long-serving senator and going to bed as a stiletto-wielding vice presidential nominee. Biden used the most-watched half-hour of his political life to try to recast the presidential race as a comparison of records rather than — as it has been for much of the summer — a referendum on Obama. And he reintroduced himself to American voters as a tough, driven politician of humble roots, a fighter who remembered his father's advice: "Champ, when you get knocked down, get up, . . . get up." "Failure at some point in everyone's life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable," Biden said. Pointing to his 92-year-old mother, Catherine, in the audience, Biden said she "taught her children . . . that you are defined by your sense of honor and you are redeemed by your loyalty. She believes bravery lives in every heart and her expectation is that it will be summoned." Biden's speech was in many ways the one that Democrats say they needed — biting, intelligent, emotional and occasionally pitch-perfect... "(He) adroitly made the case for Barack Obama, but more importantly, he made the case against John McCain," Hart said.
Comments are closed for this post.
