Obama declares nomination victory
Barack Obama has declared himself “the Democratic nominee for president of the United States”. He was speaking to a cheering crowd on the last day of the primary season, as projections showed he had earned enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Of the states that voted, Montana was won by Mr Obama and South Dakota by his rival Hillary Clinton, US media say. In her own speech to supporters, Mrs Clinton refused to concede and said she would make a final decision later. If confirmed as the Democratic presidential nominee, Mr Obama would be the first black candidate to be nominated by one of the major US parties. BBC North America editor Justin Webb says a fabulously well-planned and executed campaign helped give him the edge over his rival.
Role for Clinton?
Mr Obama’s speech was delivered in St Paul, Minnesota, where Republicans are set to hold their presidential nominating convention.
DELEGATE COUNT
Winner: Needs 2,118 delegates
Super-delegates: Obama, 389; Clinton, 282
Total delegates: Obama, 2,154; Clinton, 1,919
South Dakota and Montana (early results): Obama, 15; Clinton, 13
Source: AP projections at 0430 GMT on 4 June
In the address, he paid tribute to Mrs Clinton and hinted that she would play a role in any future Obama administration.”What gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning is an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans,” he said.”When we finally win the battle for universal healthcare in this country, she will be central to that victory.”Mr Obama also praised Republican rival John McCain’s “many accomplishments”, although he accused the Arizona senator of choosing to deny his own achievements.Speaking in New York, Mrs Clinton congratulated Mr Obama and his supporters “for all that they have accomplished”.But she said she was making “no decisions tonight” about her continued presence in the race.She later spoke to Mr Obama by phone, and he repeated an offer to “sit down when it makes sense to you”.Mr Obama’s campaign said she responded positively, though no meeting was expected on Wednesday.Mr Obama will be tempted to offer Mrs Clinton some inducement to play ball, but may also be tempted to be rid of her and her husband and to strike out on his own, Justin Webb reports.Primaries over Earlier, she told congressional backers that she was “open” to the idea of being Mr Obama’s vice-presidential running-mate.
Hillary Clinton: ‘I will be making no decisions tonight’
Mr Obama was only a few delegates short of the 2,118 needed ahead of the polls closing in South Dakota and Montana. And although he failed to win in South Dakota, he had managed to pick up enough endorsements during the day from the remaining uncommitted “super-delegates” – party officials with a free choice over who to support – to pass the winning post as soon as polls closed in the state. His projected victory in Montana added even more delegates to his tally. In South Dakota, with 99% of the state’s precincts reporting, Mrs Clinton was winning with 55.3% of the vote, to Mr Obama’s 44.7%. Before the voting was complete, Republican presumptive nominee John McCain delivered a speech to supporters in Louisiana, in which he declared that “the primary season is over, and the general election campaign has begun”. He attacked Mr Obama for being “the wrong change”, and defended himself against the Obama campaign’s criticism that he will continue President Bush’s policies, saying he had “not seen eye to eye” with the president on many issues.
Sources:BBC
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From a dark horse in the Democrat race to the first black US presidential candidate from a major party, Barack Obama has had a meteoric rise from political obscurity to be at a sniffing distance of the White House. The 46-year-old Harvard-educated first-time Senator from Illinois had a prolonged bitter battle with powerful Democrat rival Hillary Clinton for winning the nomination — a roller-coaster run that was dominated by frequent controversies, mostly related to his race and religion. Son of a father who travelled from a small Kenyan village to pursue University education in Hawaii and went on to marry a white woman from Kansas, Obama started his political career as a low-paid community organiser.
The Columbia University graduate and the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review served for eight years in the Illinois state Senate. In 2004, he entered the Capitol Hill after a landslide Senate election victory and soon became a media darling and one of the most visible figures in Washington, with two best-selling books to his name. The father of two young daughters, who appeared with his wife Michelle to declare victory before a cheering crowd in St Paul, described it as a “defining moment” for the nation which abolished slavery 200 years ago but is still battling the scourge of racial discrimination. “Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America,” Obama, who projected himself as a candidate for “change”, said. “America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on policies of the past,” he pledged. There were reports earlier that Clinton would concede, but her campaign said she was “absolutely not” prepared to do so. Clinton praised Obama warmly in an appearance before supporters in New York. But she neither acknowledged Obama’s victory nor offered a concession of any sort. “This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight,” she said. Instead, the 60-year-old said she would spend the next few days determining “how to move forward with the best interests of our country and our party guiding my way.” US media reports quoted lawmakers as saying that during a conference call Clinton expressed willingness to serve as Obama’s running mate in November if she was asked to. The Obama campaign, however maintained that it was “too early” to discuss the issue. “We don’t have a long list or a short list,” said David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist.
“Obviously she’s an incredibly formidable person.”
Obama supporters gathered in large numbers outside a convention centre in St Paul. Festive mood prevailed all over as Obama walked in with wife Michelle amid loud cheers in an arena draped with huge American flags and the trademark “Change We Can Believe In” banners. Diving into general election mode, Obama took on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, saying it’s “time to turn the page on the policies of the past.”
The 71-year-old Vietnam war veteran also did not mince his words while addressing a gathering in Louisiana, the home state of Indian-American Governor Bobby Jindal who has been apparently short-listed for Republican vice-presidential nominee. “No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically. But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward,” McCain said. Obama, however, said “It’s not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush [Images] 95 per cent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.” After their respective party conventions in August and September formally nominates them, the two candidates will vie to succeed President George W Bush [Images], who has seen his popularity dip in opinion surveys amid fears of an economic recession and criticism over the handling of Iraq war. Analysts feel the Bush legacy can hurt the chances of McCain but he may gain from the divisions that emerged within the Democrats during the epic nominating battle that drew record turnouts in primary after primary – more than 34 million voters in all. Obama won a stunning victory in the first contest, the Iowa caucuses in January. Clinton came back with an upset five days later in New Hampshire. They traded victories through the Super Tuesday contests on February 5, when almost half the states voted. Then Obama had 11 straight victories and the Clinton campaign never fully recovered. Obama drew his strength from blacks and younger, more liberal and wealthier voters in many states. Clinton was preferred by older, more downscale voters, and women. The African-American Senator, the son of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas, has a tough task ahead in a country where race remains a bitterly divisive issue.
Clinton appeared to be playing up race factor during the primaries by insisting she would be the strongest candidate to beat McCain, pointing to Obama’s problems attracting working-class white voters.
Source: Rediff.
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