After losing the US presidential election to Donald Trump, a hard blow to take from which the Democratic Party has still not recovered, Hillary Clinton gave a speech on November 9, 2016 that had to be hastily rewritten in response to the surprise of the defeat: “I know we haven’t broken the glass ceiling yet, but one day someone will, and I hope it’s soon,” she said, before addressing “the Democratic Party.”“All the girls” watching: “Please never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and that you deserve all the opportunities in the world to be able to achieve your own dreams.”
On Monday, Clinton gave a powerful speech to kick off the Democratic National Convention, a conclave from which Kamala Harris will emerge acclaimed on Thursday, someone who may achieve what she was unable to achieve: defeat Trump in the US elections next November and become the first woman in history to occupy the Oval Office.
“This isn’t just about electing a president,” Clinton said. “This is about lifting up this nation. About opening up to the promise of an America where we all fit. We’ve managed to crack the highest and hardest of glass ceilings. And tonight, as we get so close to breaking it once and for all, I want to tell you what I see through those cracks, and why it matters to all of us. What I see is the freedom to make our own choices about our health, our lives, the people we love, and our families.”
Clinton appeared shortly before nine o’clock at night, Chicago time, dressed in white and to the delirium of the Chicago Bulls stadium, which cheered her for almost two minutes and which was already packed to the rafters awaiting the highlight of the first night: the intervention with which Joe Biden passed the baton to Harris after giving up his campaign for re-election a month and a day ago with a message on X, the network on which he also named his vice president as his successor.
The Chisholm example
“We are writing a new chapter in American history,” Clinton began, recalling three women in her speech: her mother, Dorothy, “born right here in Chicago, before we had the right to vote, a right that came 104 years ago yesterday”; black Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first female candidate for president of the United States in 1972; and Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate in an election that was won comfortably by the Republicans in 1984.
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“Then, in 2016, it was the great honor of my life to accept my party’s presidential nomination. Nearly 66 million Americans voted for a future with no ceiling on our dreams,” Clinton added to cheers from delegates. “Well, my friends: the future is here. Let’s send Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House!”
Her speech also echoed the words with which she accepted her defeat eight years ago, when she asked her countrymen to unite as “we the people” instead of dividing into “us versus them.” “The story of my life and the story of this country shows that progress is possible. Are we moving forward or backward?” Clinton asked.
That dilemma, he argued, is the gap that separates the two candidates: “Kamala cares about children, families and America. Donald is only interested in himself.” “So I’m not surprised that he’s lying about Kamala’s history. He’s making fun of her.” [la pronunciación de] “His name and his laugh. And, wow, that sounds familiar,” she added, referring to Trump’s attacks during the 2016 campaign.
Another clear parallel between her remarks Monday and her failed presidential bid came when the audience broke into an impromptu “Lock him up, lock him up!” chant that recalled the chants of Trump supporters eight years ago calling for Clinton to be jailed. “As a prosecutor,” she said before being interrupted by delegates, “Kamala sent murderers and drug dealers to prison. She will never rest in the defense of our freedom and our security. Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial. When he woke up, he made history, as the first person charged with 34 felonies to run for president.”
When she had finished her speech, Clinton left the stage of the Democratic convention with the song Fight Song, by Rachel Platten in the background. It was a new nod to that time when she almost broke the glass ceiling. The song was, in 2016, the symbol of the dream ―and also the deep disappointment― of her truncated path to the White House.
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