Obama sets tone of tolerance, diversity with rousing speech
30 July 2016 4:09 AM IST
The latest of the American president’s key speeches endorsing party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had applause erupting after almost every pause he took at a sports arena here that had barely a seat empty, in a reminder why he beat her in 2008.
“So 12 years ago tonight I addressed this convention for the very first time,” he said, adding how Americans were also introduced to his daughters Malia and Sasha who are “now two amazing young women” and wife Michelle who “somehow hasn’t aged a day”.
“I know, the same cannot be said for me. My girls remind me all the time. Wow, you’ve changed so much, daddy. And then they try to clean it up. Not bad, just more mature. And it’s true, I was so young that first time in Boston,” he recalled.
Obama’s speeches are known for their vignettes of intimately personal narratives and sweeping visions of America, and his fiery 45-minute speech on Thursday, seen by many as a valedictory coda to his 2004 debut, was nothing short of it.
It was a result of six drafts and a few late nights, according to White House officials, who added that the president had begun working on it in June and the first draft was ready on July 18. He even stayed up until 3:30 am on Monday revising it, the same day when his wife Michelle wowed the audience on the first day of the convention, moving delegates to tears and proving to be the ‘perfect Trump antidote’. In his speech, Obama touched upon the developments that America has seen over the years under his presidency and staying “great” all the while and set a tone of tolerance, diversity as he lashed out at Trump for a divisive rhetoric. Making the case for his successor, who has already created history by becoming the first woman nominee of a major US party, Obama warned of the threat that Trump poses to the 240-year-old fabric of American democracy.
Trump will make US less safe: Biden
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is unelectable and would make the country less safe, US Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday as he launched an unprecedented scathing attack to prevent the real estate billionaire to enter the White House next January.
“The times are too uncertain, to elect Donald Trump as President of the United States, now let me finish. No major party, no major party nominee in the history of this nation has ever known less has been less prepared to deal with our national security,” Biden told an electrifying audience at the Democratic National Convention.
Making a strong pitch for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden said the US can not elect a man who exploits fears of IS and other terrorists.
“Who has no plan whatsoever to make us safer. A man who embraces the tactics of our enemies, torture, religious intolerance, you all know. All the Republicans know, that’s not who we are. It betrays our values. It alienates those who we need in the fight against ISIS,” Biden said.
Indian-American Neera Tanden makes fervent pitch for Clinton
For presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, politics is all about fighting for people, not when the cameras are on but when they are off, Indian- American Neera Tanden said on Thursday in her political debut on the national stage at the Democratic party convention here.
So far, Tanden, 45, is the only Indian-American to have been invited by the Democratic leadership and the Clinton Campaign to address the ongoing Democratic National Convention. Tanden, who is currently president of the Center for American Progress, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organisation based in Washington DC, narrated her personal story to make a strong case for Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States. “It’s truly an honour for me to address this convention. Because frankly, I would not be here without the policies of the democratic party,” said Tanden, a close confidant of Clinton. “My parents got divorced when I was five years old. My father left for a time, and my mother had to be on welfare. She worked hard to support me and my brother...We used lunch of vouchers at school and food stamps at the supermarket.
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