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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Clinton Woos Sanders Fans,|Roasts Trump in DNC Speech

PHILADELPHIA (CN) — Hillary Clinton — the first female presidential candidate from a major party — made her plea to voters and the vocal supporters of Bernie Sanders: "Your cause is our cause."

Though a few hecklers took some of the shine off Clinton's moment, the former First Lady was largely greeted with cheers and thousands of waving American flags. Each time booing and heckling arose, the crowd drowned it out with chants of "Hillary! Hillary!"

Clinton gave a warm ode to Sanders early in her speech, and was cheered heartily in return. She made several pledges aimed at winning over the support of the Bernie-or-bust contingency of the party.

"He put economic and social justice issues front and center where they belong," she said.

Clinton pledged that she would work with Sanders to make a college education free for all Americans.

She also made the case for herself, telling stories of her family and her own life from a young attorney to her political career, her failed bid for universal health care as the First Lady and her role in the death of Osama Bin Laden.

"Now, America is at a moment of reckoning," Clinton said in a call for unity among the party, which teetered on the brink of mutiny during the week.

Clinton laid out her platform to create equality in the workplace, a pathway to citizenship and to bring an end to Washington paralysis.

She pledged to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision if necessary, and promised to keep Wall Street from wrecking Main Street, reform immigration, and to progress the switchover to green energy to combat climate change.

Clinton disarmed Republican nominee Donald Trump, indicting him on his brash personality and testy disposition.

"A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons," she said, to much approval.

Throughout the week, Democrats entertained the convention with vignettes of Trump's exploits and blunders. But Clinton's take on Trump was far more serious.

"Really, 'I alone can fix it?'" Clinton said, mocking Trump's speech last week in Cleveland. "Isn't he forgetting troops on the front line?

"Americans don't say I alone can fix it. They say, 'We'll fix it together.'"

She added, "You didn't hear any of this from Donald Trump, did you? He spoke for 70-odd minutes, and I do mean odd."

Clinton took aim at Trump's harsh critique of the U.S. military and his claim that he knows more about the Islamic State than American generals.

"No, Donald, you don't," she said.

She also accused Trump of being in the pocket of the gun lobby.

The former Secretary of State's speech captured the theme of the 2016 Democratic convention, that inclusiveness and equality are paramount to the American spirit.

"Because when any barrier falls in America it clears the way for everyone," she exclaimed.

She paid homage to President Barack Obama for pulling the nation out of recession, and promised future progress.

"Democrats, we are the party of working people, but we haven't done a good enough job showing that we know what you're going through. And we're going to get you help," she said.

Throughout her speech she quoted liberally from historical figures like FDR and Jackie Kennedy, and appealed to pop culture with a quote from the popular Broadway production "Hamilton."

After her speech, Clinton was joined on stage by her running mate Tim Kaine and her family while thousands of red, white and blue balloons and confetti rained down to close the convention.

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