‘Obama is my candidate’

DENVER — Hillary Clinton emotionally and definitively implored Democrats to rally around one-time rival Barack Obama on Tuesday night, as she sought to put to rest continued reports of Democratic disunity.

Clinton wasted no time in establishing a unity message. She said right away in her speech to delegates that aside from being a proud mother, senator and Democrat, she is also a “proud supporter of Barack Obama.”

{mosads}Democrats and the Obama campaign have been hounded all week by protesters and reports of a party divided.

Clinton was greeted with a loud standing ovation by the delegates, many of whom shouted, “We love you.” But in her remarks she made it clear that she does not want the blame for any reports of a division.

“I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?” Clinton said to those of her supporters who continue to bemoan the Democratic Party and its new standard-bearer. “Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?”

Clinton said that “whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose.”

“We are on the same team, and none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines,” she said. Clinton added: “Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our president.”

On the first night of the convention, some Democrats accused the Obama campaign of wasting time by not being more aggressive in attacking Republican rival John McCain. But in her speech on the second evening Clinton combined her call for unity with sharp criticism of McCain, saying at one point, “No way, no how, no McCain.”

The New York senator, who garnered about 18 million votes during a contentious nomination battle, noted that President Bush will be in attendance at McCain’s convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul next week, joking that like the Twin Cities, McCain and Bush “are awfully hard to tell apart,” which sent the delegates into a frenzy of cheers and applause.

“We don’t need four more years like the last eight years,” she said.

Clinton thanked her supporters, some of whom have caused headaches for the Obama campaign throughout the convention, referencing her “sisterhood of the traveling pantsuit” and listing the reasons she got in the race.

“Those are the reasons I ran for president, and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president,” Clinton said.

Polls and anecdotal evidence have indicated a lingering resentment in some former Clinton supporters — a cause for concern, as Democrats are increasingly worried by a dead-heat race in a political environment that should be toxic for Republicans.

The stagecraft on the convention floor represented Democratic officials’ call to unity. As a video introduction of Clinton was played, convention staffers distributed white signs that read “Hillary.”

As Clinton spoke, however, staffers began to pass out blue signs that read “Unity” on one side and “Obama” on the other. By the end of her speech, the sea of signs in the auditorium changed from white to blue. And Clinton received repeated standing ovations in response to Clinton’s call to support Obama.

While Clinton likely won over some good will from Obama supporters who blame her and former President Bill Clinton for the ongoing party dissent, she might have raised some eyebrows by proclaiming that she can’t wait “to see President Obama sign a healthcare plan into law that covers every single American.”

While universal healthcare has long been Clinton’s signature cause, she repeatedly accused Obama during the primaries and debates of offering a healthcare plan that did not cover every American.

Perhaps more troubling, however, are continued reports of what many see as reluctance by Bill Clinton to get fully behind the nominee.

Aides to the former president said Tuesday that he will make it clear, when he takes the stage Wednesday night, that he wholeheartedly supports Obama.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) was on the floor with the Iowa delegation for the speech, praising Hillary Clinton’s speech afterwards but saying she should not proceed with tentative plans to have her name put on the roll call ballot.

“I think she hit it out of the park, and I think she made it clear to support Obama and not put her name in for nomination,” Harkin said. If her name got put in for nomination, he said, “it would be a disservice to her and her history.”