Philadelphia (CNN): As
Hillary Clinton playfully batted away an avalanche of balloons Thursday
night, she appeared proud, happy and reconciled to her historic moment.
She
had accepted the Democratic nomination with "humility, determination
and boundless confidence in America's promise," taking her place as the
first woman to lead a major presidential ticket on a night pulsating
with emotion.
"When there are no ceilings," she declared, "the sky's the limit."
She
quickly reached out to disappointed Bernie Sanders voters at the end of
a convention dedicated to healing the deep rift from their contentious
primary race. With the Vermont senator watching from the arena, Clinton
told his supporters: "I've heard you. Your cause is our cause."
President Barack Obama congratulated Clinton at the conclusion of her speech.
"Great
speech," he tweeted. "She's tested. She's ready. She never quits.
That's why Hillary should be our next @POTUS. (She'll get the Twitter
handle, too)"
In the audience, Clinton supporters were moved to tears, including 16-year-old Victoria Sanchez.
"This
is more than I ever could have imagined," she said. "I know that I have
just lived history and I can follow in her footsteps. This changes my
entire life."
After a lifetime in a
polarizing political spotlight that has left her with plenty of enemies
and dented approval ratings, Clinton set out to prove to voters that
she could be trusted.
Dedicated fighter
She
avoided any show of contrition for controversies like the one over the
private email server she used for official business while secretary of
state that has again provoked questions about her honesty and integrity
among many voters.
Instead, she
presented herself as a dedicated and indefatigable fighter for children,
the disabled, blue-collar workers, women and the poor, while promising a
backbone of steel as she vowed to take out ISIS.
Throughout
a speech punctuated by roars of applause and watched by a misty-eyed
former President Bill Clinton, she repeatedly returned to attack Trump
-- who laid out a much darker vision of America's future at his own
convention last week.
"Don't let
anyone tell you we don't have what it takes," Clinton said. "Most of
all, don't believe anyone who says: 'I alone can fix it,' " a reference
to a part of Trump's acceptance speech last week.
"Powerful
forces are threatening to pull us apart," she said. "Bonds of trust and
respect are fraying. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we
all will work together so we all can rise together."
Turning to national security, Clinton warned that a president has to make decisions about war and peace, life and death.
"Ask
yourself: Do you really think Donald Trump has the temperament to be
commander in chief? Donald Trump can't even handle the rough-and-tumble
of a presidential campaign."
She added: "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."
Trump hit back -- with a series of tweets.
"No
one has worse judgement than Hillary Clinton - corruption and
devastation follows her wherever she goes," he wrote. "Hillary's wars in
the Middle East have unleashed destruction, terrorism and ISIS across
the world."
Stephen Miller, Trump's
senior policy adviser, blasted Clinton's speech as an "insulting
collection of cliches and recycled rhetoric."
"She spent the evening talking down to the American people she's looked down on her whole life," he said.
Persuading Americans
But
Clinton is working to persuade Americans that she understands their
frustration and economic anxiety at a time when many of them still do
not trust her. Her prime-time televised address is especially crucial
because she has not so far generated the kind of passion among her
supporters that Trump has garnered from his backers by channeling anger
about the direction of the country.
She
spoke of her wholesome middle class upbringing and said her family were
builders of the American dream and not people "with their name on big
buildings" -- another dig at Trump.
Clinton
took pains to reach out to white blue-collar workers, many of whom have
been left behind by economic globalization and technological change and
have been attracted by Trump's anti-elite message.
"Right
now, an awful lot of people feel there is less and less respect for the
work they do," she said, and admitted that politicians had not done a
good enough job of showing they understand.
One
of the major themes of the Democratic convention has been an attempt to
reintroduce one of the most famous women in the world to the American
people. And she admitted that if many Americans knew little of the woman
behind the image, it may be her fault.
"The
truth is, through all these years of public service, the 'service' part
has always come easier to me than the 'public' part," Clinton said.
Clinton also indicated she
understood the need to reassure Americans shaken by a violent summer at
home and an epidemic of terror attacks in Europe and the US. While
Clinton and Obama have argued that ISIS is on the run, the economy is on
the upswing, and Americans are safer than they have been in years, they
are struggling to counter the dark image that Trump has painted of a
nation in decline, chaos and disorder that resonates with many voters.
National security threats
Amid
charges by Republicans that the optimistic mood of the Democratic
convention has ignored the threat from ISIS and terrorism, Clinton was
specific about the global national security threats that loom -- though
she didn't use the term Islamic terrorism as the GOP repeatedly has
called for.
"Anyone reading the
news can see the threats and turbulence we face," Clinton said. "From
Baghdad to Kabul, to Nice to Paris and Brussels. From San Bernardino to
Orlando, we're dealing with determined enemies who must be defeated. No
wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance -- looking for
steady leadership."
Following a spate of
killings by police of African-American youths and massacres of police
officers, Clinton laid out a firm stance on gun control, vowing that
America should not have a president in the "pocket" of the gun lobby.
"I'm
not here to take away your guns," she said. "I just don't want you to
be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place."
Ahead
of her speech, retired four star General John Allen, the former head of
US and international forces in Afghanistan, delivered a powerful
address in which he told delegates that Clinton would be "exactly the
Commander-in-Chief America needs."
'America will continue to lead'
"With
her as our Commander-in-Chief, America will continue to lead this
volatile world. We will oppose and resist tyranny and we will defeat
evil. America will defeat ISIS and protect the homeland," said Allen,
who was surrounded on stage by 37 military veterans.
Clinton
delivered her speech at the end of a largely successful convention,
which helped mend the party after her divisive primary against Sanders.
The mood on the convention floor Thursday was festive and upbeat — in
contrast to the discontent that festered on the opening night Monday
when die-hard Sanders fans loudly make their disappointment known.
Samantha Herring of Walton County, Florida, was a Sanders supporter but has decided this week to work hard to elect Clinton.
"Is
it hard? Yes. I loved Bernie, but that's why I have to vote for
Hillary," said Herring, who made signs reading "He has my heart, but she
has my vote.
Her
speech lacked the poetic sweep of the President Barack Obama's address
Wednesday, but it was in keeping with someone who presents herself as a
practical, dogged, policy-oriented striver who gets knocked down and
then gets straight back upThe choice she defined for the nation in 2016 is stark: a "moment of reckoning."The
former first lady, senator and secretary of state set her sights on the
White House and blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump, portraying him
as a small man who got rich by sng workers, who peddles fear and
who lacks the temperament to be commander-in-chief.
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