Treading the fine line between promising change and reassuring continuity, Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party to be the president of the U.S on Thursday night – the first woman to do so.
“I've heard you. Your cause is our cause,” she said, acknowledging the concerns raised by supporters of Bernie Sanders in the primaries campaign, but she rejected the climate of fear and pessimism that fuels her Republican rival Donald Trump’s campaign. “‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,’” she quoted Franklin D Roosevelt, whose ‘New Deal” presidency rescued the country from depression and offered new hope for people eight decades ago. “He wants us to fear the future and fear each other,” she said of Mr. Trump. “He wants to divide us -- from the rest of the world, and from each other.” He's forgetting every last one of us. Americans don't say: “I alone can fix it.” We say: “We'll fix it together.”
Economy revamp
In a sign of how she might try to restructure the American economy, Ms. Clinton said: “Wall Street, corporations, and the super-rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes.” Offering to recast the economic order in favour of the working families, she promised to make college education debt-free, increase wages and improve and expand health care. “In America, if you can dream it, you should be able to build it. We’re going to help you balance family and work.” And you know what, if fighting for affordable child-care and paid family leave is playing the “woman card,” then Deal Me In!”
Ms. Clinton’s finely crafted 60-minute speech completed a campaign narrative the Democrats sought to build over four days through personal stories, speeches, live music and films. A Muslim American father who lost his solider son in Iraq, and a retired four-star general accompanied by a battery of military veterans that represented the ethnic diversity of the U.S military, set the mood for Ms. Clinton’s pitch to be the first woman commander-in-chief of the most powerful military in the world. Pop star Katy Perry sung ‘Rise’ and ‘Roar.’ “USA..USA,” the crowd chanted.
‘The C-in-C America needs’
“My fellow Americans, I tell you without hesitation or reservation that Hillary Clinton will be exactly, exactly the kind of commander-in-chief America needs. I know this because I served with her,” John Allen, who was commander in Afghanistan, said.
Chelsea Clinton then introduced Ms. Hillary Clinton, the mother. “I get it that some people just don't know what to make of me. So let me tell you,” Ms. Clinton said before she went on to explain her life, struggles and successes. “More than a few times, I've had to pick myself up and get back in the game.”
On questions of foreign policy, Ms. Clinton promised continuity. “I’m proud to stand by our allies in NATO against any threat they face, including from Russia,” she said, in a denunciation of Mr. Trump’s position that the terms of the alliance needs to be reworked. “I’m proud that we put a lid on Iran’s nuclear program without firing a single shot – now we have to enforce it, and keep supporting Israel's security. I’m proud that we shaped a global climate agreement – now we have to hold every country accountable to their commitments, including ourselves.”
Compare and contrast
Contrasting herself with Mr. Trump on qualifications to be the Commander-in-Chief, she said: “I can't put it any better than Jackie Kennedy did after the Cuban Missile Crisis. She said that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started – not by big men with self-control and restraint, but by little men – the ones moved by fear and pride.”
