World | USA
Former rivals keep common cause supreme at joint appearances
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama acknowledge pain of Democratic nomination race while trying to steel support for larger national issues.
- The New York Times Service
- Published: 23:29 July 11, 2008
New York: It was not quite a screwball comedy at the New York Hilton and Towers on Thursday morning, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama put on a bit of a show before hundreds of donors at a political breakfast.
In their continuing effort to put the rivalry and bad blood of the primaries behind them, the two Democrats appeared together at a "Women for Obama" fund-raising event. It came the morning after they appealed to donors at different gatherings on Wednesday night in an effort to help Clinton pay off part of the $23 million (Dh84.5) in debt she ran up trying to beat him in the primary campaign.
Both were effusive in their praise of the other on Thursday, as they have been in public - at least in public - since their very public show of post-primary unity in Unity, New Hampshire, two weeks ago.
But Clinton allowed a small, humorous glimpse of the resentment she still felt at being bested by her younger, cooler opponent and at what she believed were the tougher challenges women still face in American politics and life.
"Barack and I were talking before we came out here," Clinton said as she and Obama took the stage, "and he said 'You look kind of rested.' I said 'kind of' is the right descriptor."
She then told the crowd of mostly, but not exclusively, women, that it was time to get over the frustrations of the primaries and pull together to put Obama in the White House. She spoke as much for herself as for the 17 million Americans who voted for her.
"I know how difficult it is for someone who has invested their time, their money, their emotion, their entire being into any campaign, any cause," she said. "It really is an extraordinary personal experience."
Big effort to move forward
"When it is over I know how difficult that is," she continued. "I have been in winning and losing campaigns for a very long time. I have been in primary campaigns here in our Democratic Party. I understand how challenging it is to turn on a dime, say OK, close that chapter, and OK, we're on to the next chapter. It is a process and it does take time for people to take a deep breath and go forward.... Anyone who voted for me has so much in common with those who voted for Barack and it is critical that we join forces, because the Democratic Party is a family, sometimes a dysfunctional family, but it is a family and we care about what's going to happen to the economy and health care and education and what happens in Iraq and Afghanistan."
When his turn came, Obama paid elaborate homage to Clinton and went on at some length about how while her campaign and his had shattered barriers, America still had far to go.
"Hillary Rodham Clinton and I may have started on separate paths in the course of this campaign," he said. "One election cannot erase all the biases and outdated attitudes we're still wrestling to overcome. And we know there were times during this campaign when those biases flared and emerged. But while this campaign has shown us how far we have to go, we also know that because of what Hillary accomplished, my daughters and yours look at themselves a little differently today. They're dreaming a little bigger and setting their sights a little higher today."
Appeal to help clear debt
On Wednesday night, after finishing a 30-minute address to about 1,000 of his loyal donors in a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt New York, Obama said that giving money to Clinton was one of the best ways to ensure that the Democratic Party would be unified in the fall campaign.
"Please take this responsibility seriously," he said. "It's important to us, and obviously it's important to Mrs Clinton, too."
|
|
| This article on the national political campaigns in the United States is from The New York Times. It was specially selected and prepared by the editors of The New York Times News Service. |
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
