Vox: All Posts by Katie Hickshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52517/voxv.png2016-08-04T12:40:02-04:00https://www.vox.com/authors/katie-hicks/rss2016-08-04T12:40:02-04:002016-08-04T12:40:02-04:00Republicans could lose the Senate. And they'd have Donald Trump to blame.
<figure>
<img alt="Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) speaks while flanked by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mwDak3Y617_f1HAk3CiSCEv3Nm8=/0x232:2383x2019/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50294801/GettyImages-547298168.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) speaks while flanked by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). | Mark Wilson/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="lCOYQQ">The biggest worry for Republicans isn’t that Donald Trump will lose. It’s that he’ll lose so badly that he’ll end up dragging down GOP candidates in other races, costing the party the Senate and maybe the House.</p>
<p id="PU5yaJ">Lately it looks like those fears might come true. A new <a href="http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/08/04/clinton-over-trump-new-hampshire-poll">WBUR </a>poll <a href="http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/08/04/clinton-over-trump-new-hampshire-poll">in New Hampshire</a> shows Trump down 15 points to Hillary Clinton in the state. But more significantly, Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte is down 10 points in her bid for reelection against Maggie Hassan, the former Democratic governor.</p>
<p id="92dfz3">For Republicans, this is an important race, and could be a key to Senate control. Democrats currently hold 46 seats and need to take just four from Republican incumbents to take back the Senate if Clinton wins (and five if she does not).</p>
<p id="cQh5rV">To be clear, this is just one poll, and it could be driven by a Democratic convention bounce that will fade over the next few weeks. But it highlights an important dynamic in the election: When Trump’s campaign starts going <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/8/3/12367230/trump-post-convention-meltdown-explained">"off the rails</a><a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/8/3/12367230/trump-post-convention-meltdown-explained">,</a><a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/8/3/12367230/trump-post-convention-meltdown-explained">"</a> as it has in recent days, other Republicans get dragged down with him:</p>
<div id="5thXVB">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">SIREN for Kelly Ayotte. She's now down 10 in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nhsen?src=hash">#nhsen</a>, per new poll, in no small part BC of the Trump effect <a href="https://t.co/doGhos512K">https://t.co/doGhos512K</a></p>
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) <a href="https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/761197188399587329">August 4, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
<script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>
<p id="3s2Gz2">"There's a very close relationship between the votes for Kelly Ayotte and Donald Trump," <a href="http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/08/04/clinton-over-trump-new-hampshire-poll">said Steve Koczela,</a> president of the MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the WBUR survey. "Their support is sort of locked together. And with the direction that Donald Trump seems to be heading in, Kelly Ayotte's task is to somehow decouple those two."</p>
<h3 id="0crIZp">Ayotte has tried to distance herself from Trump — but it doesn’t seem to be working</h3>
<p id="V4gIMq">Lately, Ayotte has tried to disavow Trump’s <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/7/30/12332922/donald-trump-khan-muslim">a</a><a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/7/30/12332922/donald-trump-khan-muslim">ttacks on Khizr and Ghazala Khan</a>. In a recent <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/republican-leaders-say-they-stand-by-family-of-fallen-muslim?utm_term=.ls3jm94K9#.qdy4gDWAD">statement</a>, she said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Khan family deserves nothing less than our deepest support, respect, and gratitude, and they have every right to express themselves in any way they choose. I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family.</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="2YSJaK">But separating herself entirely from Trump will be difficult.<b> </b>Though she hasn't endorsed Trump, Ayotte’s aides say she still backs him (à la her famous <a href="http://www.unionleader.com/article/20160504/NEWS0605/160509712&template=mobileart">"support, but not endorse"</a> statement) and <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/republican-leaders-say-they-stand-by-family-of-fallen-muslim?utm_term=.ls3jm94K9#.qdy4gDWAD">plans to vote for</a> the Republican presidential nominee.</p>
<p id="Yb97LP">One saving grace for Ayotte may be the fact that Trump has been distancing himself from her. In a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-refuses-to-endorse-paul-ryan-in-gop-primary-im-just-not-quite-there-yet/2016/08/02/1449f028-58e9-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html">recent interview with</a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-refuses-to-endorse-paul-ryan-in-gop-primary-im-just-not-quite-there-yet/2016/08/02/1449f028-58e9-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html"> the Washington Post</a>, Trump didn’t sound like he would endorse <i>or </i>support Ayotte.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t know Kelly Ayotte. I know she’s given me no support — zero support — and yet I’m leading her in the polls. I’m doing very well in New Hampshire. We need loyal people in this country. We need fighters in this country. We don’t need weak people. We have enough of them. We need fighters in this country. But Kelly Ayotte has given me zero support, and I’m doing great in New Hampshire.</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="Xo615u">A rift with Trump could arguably be a good thing for Ayotte. Another option might be to do what Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) did — last month he revoked his support for Trump and became the first Republican senator to run an anti-Trump ad. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/04/politics/mark-kirk-donald-trump/">According to a Kirk campaign official</a>, Kirk has seen "an uptick in donor and volunteer interest since the senator distanced himself from Trump."</p>
<hr>
<h3>This election is about normal vs. abnormal</h3>
<div data-analytics-viewport="video" data-analytics-action="volume:view:article:middle" data-analytics-label="This election is about normal vs. abnormal | 10634" data-volume-uuid="5b4da11bd" data-volume-id="10634" data-analytics-placement="article:middle" data-volume-placement="article" id="volume-placement-3445" class="volume-video"></div>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/8/4/12376050/trump-effect-senate-majority-kelly-ayotte-new-hampshireKatie Hicks2016-07-29T14:40:02-04:002016-07-29T14:40:02-04:00A federal court just struck down North Carolina’s voter ID laws, citing racial discrimination
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hvhuBbVaqNPXEJgbsLm_E673HAw=/0x168:4200x3318/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50246265/GettyImages-515752454.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Sara D. Davis/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="FCJIBV">North Carolina’s 2013 voter ID law, which required registered voters to show identification before casting their ballots and barred early and out-of-precinct voting, was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/30/us/federal-appeals-court-strikes-down-north-carolina-voter-id-provision.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0">struck down Friday </a>by a federal appeals court.</p>
<p id="KG4olP">The decision followed a unanimous vote by a three-judge panel in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/us/politics/federal-judge-upholds-north-carolina-voter-id-law.html">US Court of Appeals</a> for the Fourth Circuit. Justice Diana Gribbon Motz, writing for the majority, called the ID law "one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history," particularly for black Americans.</p>
<p id="muNGcq">North Carolina’s law was enacted in 2013 following the controversial US Supreme Court ruling that <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/25/politics/scotus-voting-rights/">invalidated</a> part of the Voting Rights Act. That policy, passed in the 1960s, provided a reversal of Jim Crow–era voter suppression laws.</p>
<p id="ScyHtR">In a blatant admission of the motivation behind North Carolina’s law, the state actually argued that black voters had<b> </b>"too much" voter accessibility. The court recognized this in its decision, ruling in favor of the North Carolina NAACP, which brought the case forward:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thus, in what comes as close to a smoking gun as we are likely to see in modern times, the State’s very justification for a challenged statute hinges explicitly on race — specifically its concern that African Americans, who had overwhelmingly voted for Democrats, had too much access to the franchise.</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="M7nyAW">In its argument, the state also made its case against early voting by stating that "[c]ounties with Sunday voting in 2014 were disproportionately black" and "disproportionately Democratic."</p>
<p id="OaRdfo">Voter ID laws are often argued to be modern versions of poll taxes or literacy tests, which were banned in the 1960s due to their disproportionate effects on black communities. However, those who support the identification restrictions — <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/4/6/11377078/voter-id-republicans-grothman">typically Republicans </a>— say they’re really just trying to prevent voter fraud.</p>
<p id="idMc90">According to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/appeals-court-considers-north-carolinas-controversial-voting-rules/2016/06/20/0fbe2f32-340a-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html">Washington Post</a>, Justice Department attorney Anna Baldwin told the court that as a result of the 2013 law, many people were "shut out of the political process" in the 2014 election. Around 1,600 ballots cast out of district were not counted, and nearly 12,000 people were unable to register to vote on Election Day.</p>
<p id="lUALxf">The decision is hailed as a civil rights victory, coming only nine days after a Texas court struck down a similar law last Wednesday, also decided on the grounds of racial discrimination.</p>
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/29/12325472/north-carolina-voter-id-law-struck-down-court-racial-discriminationKatie Hicks2016-07-29T06:00:00-04:002016-07-29T06:00:00-04:00Hillary Clinton's DNC speech transcript: "We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against. But we are not afraid."
<figure>
<img alt="PHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 28: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd as she arrives on stage during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Philadelphia, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Democratic National Convention kicked off July 25. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2vIzxVSIA2LMLHwhSQl_91x_qVM=/0x711:2624x2679/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50241535/GettyImages-584448768.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>PHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 28: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd as she arrives on stage during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Philadelphia, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Democratic National Convention kicked off July 25. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) | Alex Wong/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="cSzLDS"><span>Thank you! Thank you for that amazing welcome.</span></p>
<p>And Chelsea, thank you.</p>
<p>I'm so proud to be your mother and so proud of the woman you've become.</p>
<p>Thanks for bringing Marc into our family, and Charlotte and Aidan into the world.</p>
<p>And Bill, that conversation we started in the law library 45 years ago is still going strong. It's lasted through good times that filled us with joy, and hard times that tested us.</p>
<p>And I've even gotten a few words in along the way.</p>
<p>On Tuesday night, I was so happy to see that my Explainer-in-Chief is still on the job.</p>
<p>I'm also grateful to the rest of my family and the friends of a lifetime.</p>
<p>To all of you whose hard work brought us here tonight...</p>
<p>And to those of you who joined our campaign this week.</p>
<p>And what a remarkable week it's been.</p>
<p>We heard the man from Hope, Bill Clinton.</p>
<p>And the man of Hope, Barack Obama.</p>
<p>America is stronger because of President Obama's leadership, and I'm better because of his friendship.</p>
<p>We heard from our terrific vice president, the one-and-only Joe Biden, who spoke from his big heart about our party's commitment to working people.</p>
<p>First Lady Michelle Obama reminded us that our children are watching, and the president we elect is going to be their president, too.</p>
<p>And for those of you out there who are just getting to know Tim Kaine - you're soon going to understand why the people of Virginia keep promoting him: from city council and mayor, to Governor, and now Senator.</p>
<p>He'll make the whole country proud as our Vice President.</p>
<p>And... I want to thank Bernie Sanders.</p>
<p>Bernie, your campaign inspired millions of Americans, particularly the young people who threw their hearts and souls into our primary.</p>
<p>You've put economic and social justice issues front and center, where they belong.</p>
<p>And to all of your supporters here and around the country:</p>
<p>I want you to know, I've heard you.</p>
<p>Your cause is our cause.</p>
<p>Our country needs your ideas, energy, and passion.</p>
<p>That's the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America.</p>
<p>We wrote it together - now let's go out there and make it happen together.</p>
<p>My friends, we've come to Philadelphia - the birthplace of our nation - because what happened in this city 240 years ago still has something to teach us today.</p>
<p>We all know the story.</p>
<p>But we usually focus on how it turned out - and not enough on how close that story came to never being written at all.</p>
<p>When representatives from 13 unruly colonies met just down the road from here, some wanted to stick with the King.</p>
<p>Some wanted to stick it to the king, and go their own way.</p>
<p>The revolution hung in the balance.</p>
<p>Then somehow they began listening to each other ... compromising ... finding common purpose.</p>
<p>And by the time they left Philadelphia, they had begun to see themselves as one nation. That's what made it possible to stand up to a King.</p>
<p>That took courage.</p>
<p>They had courage.</p>
<p>Our Founders embraced the enduring truth that we are stronger together.</p>
<p>America is once again at a moment of reckoning.</p>
<p>Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart.</p>
<p>Bonds of trust and respect are fraying.</p>
<p>And just as with our founders, there are no guarantees.</p>
<p>It truly is up to us.</p>
<p>We have to decide whether we all will work together so we all can rise together.</p>
<p>Our country's motto is e pluribus unum: out of many, we are one.</p>
<p>Will we stay true to that motto?</p>
<p>Well, we heard Donald Trump's answer last week at his convention.</p>
<p>He wants to divide us - from the rest of the world, and from each other.</p>
<p>He's betting that the perils of today's world will blind us to its unlimited promise.</p>
<p>He's taken the Republican Party a long way...</p>
<p>from "Morning in America" to "Midnight in America."</p>
<p>He wants us to fear the future and fear each other.</p>
<p>Well, a great Democratic President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, came up with the perfect rebuke to Trump more than eighty years ago, during a much more perilous time.</p>
<p>"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."</p>
<p>Now we are clear-eyed about what our country is up against.</p>
<p>But we are not afraid.</p>
<p>We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.</p>
<p>We will not build a wall.</p>
<p>Instead, we will build an economy where everyone who wants a good paying job can get one.</p>
<p>And we'll build a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are already contributing to our economy!</p>
<p>We will not ban a religion.</p>
<p>We will work with all Americans and our allies to fight terrorism.</p>
<p>There's a lot of work to do.</p>
<p>Too many people haven't had a pay raise since the crash.</p>
<p>There's too much inequality.</p>
<p>Too little social mobility.</p>
<p>Too much paralysis in Washington.</p>
<p>Too many threats at home and abroad.</p>
<p>But just look at the strengths we bring to meet these challenges.</p>
<p>We have the most dynamic and diverse people in the world.</p>
<p>We have the most tolerant and generous young people we've ever had.</p>
<p>We have the most powerful military.</p>
<p>The most innovative entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>The most enduring values.Freedom and equality, justice and opportunity.</p>
<p>We should be so proud that these words are associated with us. That when people<br>hear them - they hear... America.</p>
<p>So don't let anyone tell you that our country is weak.</p>
<p>We're not.</p>
<p>Don't let anyone tell you we don't have what it takes.</p>
<p>We do.</p>
<p>And most of all, don't believe anyone who says: "I alone can fix it."</p>
<p>Those were actually Donald Trump's words in Cleveland.</p>
<p>And they should set off alarm bells for all of us.</p>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>I alone can fix it?</p>
<p>Isn't he forgetting?</p>
<p>Troops on the front lines.</p>
<p>Police officers and fire fighters who run toward danger.</p>
<p>Doctors and nurses who care for us.</p>
<p>Teachers who change lives.</p>
<p>Entrepreneurs who see possibilities in every problem.</p>
<p>Mothers who lost children to violence and are building a movement to keep other kids safe.</p>
<p>He's forgetting every last one of us.</p>
<p>Americans don't say: "I alone can fix it."</p>
<p>We say: "We'll fix it together."</p>
<p>Remember: Our Founders fought a revolution and wrote a Constitution so America would never be a nation where one person had all the power.</p>
<p>Two hundred and forty years later, we still put our faith in each other.</p>
<p>Look at what happened in Dallas after the assassinations of five brave police officers.</p>
<p>Chief David Brown asked the community to support his force, maybe even join them.</p>
<p>And you know how the community responded?</p>
<p>Nearly 500 people applied in just 12 days.</p>
<p>That's how Americans answer when the call for help goes out.</p>
<p>20 years ago I wrote a book called "It Takes a Village." A lot of people looked at the title and asked, what the heck do you mean by that?</p>
<p>This is what I mean.</p>
<p>None of us can raise a family, build a business, heal a community or lift a country totally alone.</p>
<p>America needs every one of us to lend our energy, our talents, our ambition to making our nation better and stronger.</p>
<p>I believe that with all my heart.</p>
<p>That's why "Stronger Together" is not just a lesson from our history.</p>
<p>It's not just a slogan for our campaign.</p>
<p>It's a guiding principle for the country we've always been and the future we're going to build.</p>
<p>A country where the economy works for everyone, not just those at the top.</p>
<p>Where you can get a good job and send your kids to a good school, no matter what zip code you live in.</p>
<p>A country where all our children can dream, and those dreams are within reach.</p>
<p>Where families are strong... communities are safe...</p>
<p>And yes, love trumps hate.</p>
<p>That's the country we're fighting for.</p>
<p>That's the future we're working toward...</p>
<p>And so it is with humility. . . determination . . . and boundless confidence in America's promise... that I accept your nomination for President of the United States!</p>
<p>Now, sometimes the people at this podium are new to the national stage.</p>
<p>As you know, I'm not one of those people.</p>
<p>I've been your First Lady. Served 8 years as a Senator from the great State of New York.</p>
<p>I ran for President and lost.</p>
<p>Then I represented all of you as Secretary of State.</p>
<p>But my job titles only tell you what I've done.</p>
<p>They don't tell you why.</p>
<p>The truth is, through all these years of public service, the "service" part has always come easier to me than the "public" part.</p>
<p>I get it that some people just don't know what to make of me.</p>
<p>So let me tell you.</p>
<p>The family I'm from . . . well, no one had their name on big buildings.</p>
<p>My family were builders of a different kind.</p>
<p>Builders in the way most American families are.</p>
<p>They used whatever tools they had - whatever God gave them - and whatever life in America provided - and built better lives and better futures for their kids.</p>
<p>My grandfather worked in the same Scranton lace mill for 50 years.</p>
<p>Because he believed that if he gave everything he had, his children would have a better life than he did.</p>
<p>And he was right.</p>
<p>My dad, Hugh, made it to college. He played football at Penn State and enlisted in the Navy after Pearl Harbor.</p>
<p>When the war was over he started his own small business, printing fabric for draperies.</p>
<p>I remember watching him stand for hours over silk screens.</p>
<p>He wanted to give my brothers and me opportunities he never had.</p>
<p>And he did. My mother, Dorothy, was abandoned by her parents as a young girl. She ended up on her own at 14, working as a house maid.</p>
<p>She was saved by the kindness of others.</p>
<p>Her first grade teacher saw she had nothing to eat at lunch, and brought extra food to share.</p>
<p>The lesson she passed on to me years later stuck with me:</p>
<p>No one gets through life alone.</p>
<p>We have to look out for each other and lift each other up.</p>
<p>She made sure I learned the words of our Methodist faith:</p>
<p>"Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can."</p>
<p>I went to work for the Children's Defense Fund, going door-to-door in New Bedford, Massachusetts on behalf of children with disabilities who were denied the chance<br>to go to school.</p>
<p>I remember meeting a young girl in a wheelchair on the small back porch of her house.</p>
<p>She told me how badly she wanted to go to school - it just didn't seem possible.</p>
<p>And I couldn't stop thinking of my mother and what she went through as a child.</p>
<p>It became clear to me that simply caring is not enough.</p>
<p>To drive real progress, you have to change both hearts and laws.</p>
<p>You need both understanding and action.</p>
<p>So we gathered facts. We built a coalition. And our work helped convince Congress to ensure access to education for all students with disabilities.</p>
<p>It's a big idea, isn't it?</p>
<p>Every kid with a disability has the right to go to school.</p>
<p>But how do you make an idea like that real? You do it step-by-step, year-by-year... sometimes even door-by-door.</p>
<p>And my heart just swelled when I saw Anastasia Somoza on this stage, representing millions of young people who - because of those changes to our laws - are able to get an education.</p>
<p>It's true... I sweat the details of policy - whether we're talking about the exact level of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the number of mental health facilities in Iowa, or the cost of your prescription drugs.</p>
<p>Because it's not just a detail if it's your kid - if it's your family.</p>
<p>It's a big deal. And it should be a big deal to your president.</p>
<p>Over the last three days, you've seen some of the people who've inspired me.</p>
<p>People who let me into their lives, and became a part of mine.</p>
<p>People like Ryan Moore and Lauren Manning.</p>
<p>They told their stories Tuesday night.</p>
<p>I first met Ryan as a seven-year old.</p>
<p>He was wearing a full body brace that must have weighed forty pounds.</p>
<p>Children like Ryan kept me going when our plan for universal health care failed...and kept me working with leaders of both parties to help create the Children's Health Insurance Program that covers 8 million kids every year.</p>
<p>Lauren was gravely injured on 9/11.</p>
<p>It was the thought of her, and Debbie St. John, and John Dolan and Joe Sweeney, and all the victims and survivors, that kept me working as hard as I could in the Senate on behalf of 9/11 families, and our first responders who got sick from their time at Ground Zero.</p>
<p>I was still thinking of Lauren, Debbie and all the others ten years later in the White House Situation Room when President Obama made the courageous decision that finally brought Osama bin Laden to justice.</p>
<p>In this campaign, I've met so many people who motivate me to keep fighting for change.</p>
<p>And, with your help, I will carry all of your voices and stories with me to the White House.</p>
<p>I will be a President for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.</p>
<p>For the struggling, the striving and the successful.</p>
<p>For those who vote for me and those who don't.</p>
<p>For all Americans.</p>
<p>Tonight, we've reached a milestone in our nation's march toward a more perfect union:</p>
<p>the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for President.</p>
<p>Standing here as my mother's daughter, and my daughter's mother, I'm so happy this day has come.</p>
<p>Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between.</p>
<p>Happy for boys and men, too - because when any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit.</p>
<p>So let's keep going, until every one of the 161 million women and girls across America has the opportunity she deserves.</p>
<p>Because even more important than the history we make tonight, is the history we will write together in the years ahead.</p>
<p>Let's begin with what we're going to do to help working people in our country get ahead and stay ahead.</p>
<p>Now, I don't think President Obama and Vice President Biden get the credit they deserve for saving us from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes.</p>
<p>Our economy is so much stronger than when they took office. Nearly 15 million new private-sector jobs. Twenty million more Americans with health insurance. And an auto industry that just had its best year ever. That's real progress.</p>
<p>But none of us can be satisfied with the status quo. Not by a long shot.</p>
<p>We're still facing deep-seated problems that developed long before the recession and have stayed with us through the recovery.</p>
<p>I've gone around our country talking to working families. And I've heard from so many of you who feel like the economy just isn't working.</p>
<p>Some of you are frustrated - even furious.</p>
<p>And you know what??? You're right.</p>
<p>It's not yet working the way it should.</p>
<p>Americans are willing to work - and work hard.</p>
<p>But right now, an awful lot of people feel there is less and less respect for the work they do.</p>
<p>And less respect for them, period.</p>
<p>Democrats are the party of working people.</p>
<p>But we haven't done a good enough job showing that we get what you're going through,<br>and that we're going to do something about it.</p>
<p>So I want to tell you tonight how we will empower Americans to live better lives.</p>
<p>My primary mission as President will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States...</p>
<p>From my first day in office to my last!</p>
<p>Especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind.</p>
<p>From our inner cities to our small towns, from Indian Country to Coal Country.</p>
<p>From communities ravaged by addiction to regions hollowed out by plant closures.</p>
<p>And here's what I believe.</p>
<p>I believe America thrives when the middle class thrives.</p>
<p>I believe that our economy isn't working the way it should because our democracy isn't working the way it should.</p>
<p>That's why we need to appoint Supreme Court justices who will get money out of politics and expand voting rights, not restrict them. And we'll pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United!</p>
<p>I believe American corporations that have gotten so much from our country should be just as patriotic in return.</p>
<p>Many of them are. But too many aren't.</p>
<p>It's wrong to take tax breaks with one hand and give out pink slips with the other.</p>
<p>And I believe Wall Street can never, ever be allowed to wreck Main Street again.</p>
<p>I believe in science. I believe that climate change is real and that we can save our planet while creating millions of good-paying clean energy jobs.</p>
<p>I believe that when we have millions of hardworking immigrants contributing to our economy, it would be self-defeating and inhumane to kick them out.</p>
<p>Comprehensive immigration reform will grow our economy and keep families together - and it's the right thing to do.</p>
<p>Whatever party you belong to, or if you belong to no party at all, if you share these beliefs, this is your campaign.</p>
<p>If you believe that companies should share profits with their workers, not pad executive bonuses, join us.</p>
<p>If you believe the minimum wage should be a living wage... and no one working full time should have to raise their children in poverty... join us.</p>
<p>If you believe that every man, woman, and child in America has the right to affordable health care...join us.</p>
<p>If you believe that we should say "no" to unfair trade deals... that we should stand up to China... that we should support our steelworkers and autoworkers and homegrown manufacturers...join us.</p>
<p>If you believe we should expand Social Security and protect a woman's right to make her own health care decisions... join us.</p>
<p>And yes, if you believe that your working mother, wife, sister, or daughter deserves equal pay... join us...</p>
<p>Let's make sure this economy works for everyone, not just those at the top.</p>
<p>Now, you didn't hear any of this from Donald Trump at his convention.</p>
<p>He spoke for 70-odd minutes - and I do mean odd.</p>
<p>And he offered zero solutions. But we already know he doesn't believe these things.</p>
<p>No wonder he doesn't like talking about his plans.</p>
<p>You might have noticed, I love talking about mine.</p>
<p>In my first 100 days, we will work with both parties to pass the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II.</p>
<p>Jobs in manufacturing, clean energy, technology and innovation, small business, and infrastructure.</p>
<p>If we invest in infrastructure now, we'll not only create jobs today, but lay the foundation for the jobs of the future.</p>
<p>And we will transform the way we prepare our young people for those jobs.</p>
<p>Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all!</p>
<p>We will also liberate millions of people who already have student debt.</p>
<p>It's just not right that Donald Trump can ignore his debts, but students and families can't refinance theirs.</p>
<p>And here's something we don't say often enough: College is crucial, but a four-year degree should not be the only path to a good job.</p>
<p>We're going to help more people learn a skill or practice a trade and make a good living doing it.</p>
<p>We're going to give small businesses a boost. Make it easier to get credit. Way too many dreams die in the parking lots of banks.</p>
<p>In America, if you can dream it, you should be able to build it.</p>
<p>We're going to help you balance family and work. And you know what, if fighting for affordable child care and paid family leave is playing the "woman card," then Deal Me In! (Oh, you've heard that one?)</p>
<p>Now, here's the thing, we're not only going to make all these investments, we're going to pay for every single one of them.<br> <br>And here's how: Wall Street, corporations, and the super-rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes.</p>
<p>Not because we resent success. Because when more than 90% of the gains have gone to the top 1%, that's where the money is.</p>
<p>And if companies take tax breaks and then ship jobs overseas, we'll make them pay us back. And we'll put that money to work where it belongs ... creating jobs here at home!</p>
<p>Now I know some of you are sitting at home thinking, well that all sounds pretty good.</p>
<p>But how are you going to get it done? How are you going to break through the gridlock in Washington? Look at my record. I've worked across the aisle to pass laws and treaties and to launch new programs that help millions of people. And if you give me the chance, that's what I'll do as President.</p>
<p>But Trump, he's a businessman. He must know something about the economy.</p>
<p>Well, let's take a closer look.</p>
<p>In Atlantic City, 60 miles from here, you'll find contractors and small businesses who lost everything because Donald Trump refused to pay his bills.</p>
<p>People who did the work and needed the money, and didn't get it - not because he couldn't pay them, but because he wouldn't pay them.</p>
<p>That sales pitch he's making to be your president? Put your faith in him - and you'll win big? That's the same sales pitch he made to all those small businesses. Then Trump walked away, and left working people holding the bag.</p>
<p>He also talks a big game about putting America First. Please explain to me what part of America First leads him to make Trump ties in China, not Colorado.</p>
<p>Trump suits in Mexico, not Michigan. Trump furniture in Turkey, not Ohio. Trump picture frames in India, not Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again - well, he could start by actually making things in America again.</p>
<p>The choice we face is just as stark when it comes to our national security.</p>
<p>Anyone reading the news can see the threats and turbulence we face.</p>
<p>From Baghdad and Kabul, to Nice and Paris and Brussels, to San Bernardino and Orlando, we're dealing with determined enemies that must be defeated.</p>
<p>No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance. Looking for steady leadership.</p>
<p>You want a leader who understands we are stronger when we work with our allies around the world and care for our veterans here at home. Keeping our nation safe and honoring the people who do it will be my highest priority.</p>
<p>I'm proud that we put a lid on Iran's nuclear program without firing a single shot - now we have to enforce it, and keep supporting Israel's security.</p>
<p>I'm proud that we shaped a global climate agreement - now we have to hold every country accountable to their commitments, including ourselves.</p>
<p>I'm proud to stand by our allies in NATO against any threat they face, including from Russia.</p>
<p>I've laid out my strategy for defeating ISIS.</p>
<p>We will strike their sanctuaries from the air, and support local forces taking them out on the ground. We will surge our intelligence so that we detect and prevent attacks before they happen.</p>
<p>We will disrupt their efforts online to reach and radicalize young people in our country.</p>
<p>It won't be easy or quick, but make no mistake - we will prevail.</p>
<p>Now Donald Trump says, and this is a quote, "I know more about ISIS than the generals do...."</p>
<p>No, Donald, you don't.</p>
<p>He thinks that he knows more than our military because he claimed our armed forces are "a disaster."</p>
<p>Well, I've had the privilege to work closely with our troops and our veterans for many years, including as a Senator on the Armed Services Committee.</p>
<p>I know how wrong he is. Our military is a national treasure.</p>
<p>We entrust our commander-in-chief to make the hardest decisions our nation faces. Decisions about war and peace. Life and death.</p>
<p>A president should respect the men and women who risk their lives to serve our country - including the sons of Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, both Marines.</p>
<p>Ask yourself: Does Donald Trump have the temperament to be Commander-in-Chief?</p>
<p>Donald Trump can't even handle the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign.</p>
<p>He loses his cool at the slightest provocation. When he's gotten a tough question from a reporter. When he's challenged in a debate. When he sees a protestor at a rally.</p>
<p>Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>I can't put it any better than Jackie Kennedy did after the Cuban Missile Crisis. She said that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started - not by big men with self-control and restraint, but by little men - the ones moved by fear and pride.</p>
<p>America's strength doesn't come from lashing out.</p>
<p>Strength relies on smarts, judgment, cool resolve, and the precise and strategic application of power.</p>
<p>That's the kind of Commander-in-Chief I pledge to be.</p>
<p>And if we're serious about keeping our country safe, we also can't afford to have a President who's in the pocket of the gun lobby.</p>
<p>I'm not here to repeal the 2nd Amendment.</p>
<p>I'm not here to take away your guns.</p>
<p>I just don't want you to be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place.</p>
<p>We should be working with responsible gun owners to pass common-sense reforms and keep guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists and all others who would do us harm.</p>
<p>For decades, people have said this issue was too hard to solve and the politics were too hot to touch.</p>
<p>But I ask you: how can we just stand by and do nothing?</p>
<p>You heard, you saw, family members of people killed by gun violence.</p>
<p>You heard, you saw, family members of police officers killed in the line of duty because they were outgunned by criminals.</p>
<p>I refuse to believe we can't find common ground here.</p>
<p>We have to heal the divides in our country.</p>
<p>Not just on guns. But on race. Immigration. And more.</p>
<p>That starts with listening to each other. Hearing each other. Trying, as best we can, to walk in each other's shoes.</p>
<p>So let's put ourselves in the shoes of young black and Latino men and women who face the effects of systemic racism, and are made to feel like their lives are disposable.</p>
<p>Let's put ourselves in the shoes of police officers, kissing their kids and spouses goodbye every day and heading off to do a dangerous and necessary job.</p>
<p>We will reform our criminal justice system from end-to-end, and rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.</p>
<p>We will defend all our rights - civil rights, human rights and voting rights... women's rights and workers' rights... LGBT rights and the rights of people with disabilities!</p>
<p>And we will stand up against mean and divisive rhetoric wherever it comes from.</p>
<p>For the past year, many people made the mistake of laughing off Donald Trump's comments - excusing him as an entertainer just putting on a show.</p>
<p>They think he couldn't possibly mean all the horrible things he says - like when he called women "pigs." Or said that an American judge couldn't be fair because of his Mexican heritage. Or when he mocks and mimics a reporter with a disability.</p>
<p>Or insults prisoners of war like John McCain -a true hero and patriot who deserves our respect.</p>
<p>At first, I admit, I couldn't believe he meant it either.</p>
<p>It was just too hard to fathom - that someone who wants to lead our nation could say those things. Could be like that.</p>
<p>But here's the sad truth: There is no other Donald Trump...This is it.</p>
<p>And in the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesn't get: that America is great - because America is good.</p>
<p>So enough with the bigotry and bombast. Donald Trump's not offering real change.</p>
<p>He's offering empty promises. What are we offering? A bold agenda to improve the lives of people across our country - to keep you safe, to get you good jobs, and to give your kids the opportunities they deserve.</p>
<p>The choice is clear.</p>
<p>Every generation of Americans has come together to make our country freer, fairer, and stronger.</p>
<p>None of us can do it alone.</p>
<p>I know that at a time when so much seems to be pulling us apart, it can be hard to imagine how we'll ever pull together again.</p>
<p>But I'm here to tell you tonight - progress is possible.</p>
<p>I know because I've seen it in the lives of people across America who get knocked down and get right back up.</p>
<p>And I know it from my own life. More than a few times, I've had to pick myself up and get back in the game.</p>
<p>Like so much else, I got this from my mother. She never let me back down from any challenge. When I tried to hide from a neighborhood bully, she literally blocked the door. "Go back out there," she said.</p>
<p>And she was right. You have to stand up to bullies. You have to keep working to make things better, even when the odds are long and the opposition is fierce.</p>
<p>We lost my mother a few years ago. I miss her every day. And I still hear her voice urging me to keep working, keep fighting for right, no matter what.</p>
<p>That's what we need to do together as a nation.</p>
<p>Though "we may not live to see the glory," as the song from the musical Hamilton goes, "let us gladly join the fight."</p>
<p>Let our legacy be about "planting seeds in a garden you never get to see."</p>
<p>That's why we're here...not just in this hall, but on this Earth.</p>
<p>The Founders showed us that.</p>
<p>And so have many others since.</p>
<p>They were drawn together by love of country, and the selfless passion to build something better for all who follow.</p>
<p>That is the story of America. And we begin a new chapter tonight.</p>
<p>Yes, the world is watching what we do.</p>
<p>Yes, America's destiny is ours to choose.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><i></i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><span></span></p>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/7/28/12319246/read-hillary-clinton-dnc-speech-2016-democratic-conventionKatie Hicks2016-07-28T22:02:49-04:002016-07-28T22:02:49-04:00Chelsea Clinton DNC speech transcript 2016: My mother "never, ever forgets who she is fighting for."
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uKBex_Pxnx1Av0HdZb0AzU9UMKM=/99x0:3877x2834/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50241603/GettyImages-584446450.0.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="6onmoX"><span>It is such an honor for me to be here tonight. I'm here as a proud American, a proud Democrat, a proud mother. And tonight, in particular, and very proud daughter. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Mark and I can't quite believe it, but our daughter Charlotte is nearly two years old. She loves Elmo, she loves blueberries and above all, she loves Facetiming with Grandma. My mom can be about to walk on stage and it just does not matter, she will drop everything for a few minutes of blowing kisses and reading "Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo" with her granddaughter. Our son, Aidan, is five and a half weeks old. We are so thankful that he is healthy and thriving and we are biased, but we think he is just about the cutest baby in the world — a view I'm sure my mom shares. And every day that I spend with them as Charlotte and Aidan's mother, I think about my own mother. My wonderful, thoughtful, hilarious mother. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>My earliest memory is my mom picking me up after I had fallen down, giving me a big hug, and reading me "Goodnight Moon." From that moment to this one — every single memory I have of my mom is that regardless of what was happening in her life, she was always there for me. Every soccer game, every softball game, every piano recital, every dance recital. Sundays spent together at church, the local library, countless Saturdays finding shapes in the clouds. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Making up stories about what we would do if we met a Triceratops — in my opinion, the friendliest looking dinosaur — although my mother would remind me that they were still dinosaurs. As a kid I was pretty obsessed with dinosaurs and the day that my parents took me to Dinosaur National Park, I didn’t think life could get any better. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Whenever my mom was away for work, which thankfully did not happen very often, she let notes for me to open every day she was gone. All stacked neatly together in a special drawer with a date on the front of each one, so I would know which note to open on which day. When she went to France to learn about the childcare system, I remember one was all about the Eiffel Tower. Another was about that ideas she helped to bring home to help the kids of Arkansas. I treasured each and every one of those notes. They were another reminder that I was always in her thoughts and in her heart. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Growing up, conversations around the dinner table always started with what I learned in school that day. I remember one week talking incessantly about a book that had captured my imagination, "A Wrinkle in Time." Only after my parents had listened to me talk, would they then talk about what they were working on: education, health care consuming their days and keeping them up at night. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I love that my parents expected me to have opinions and to be able to back them up with facts. I never once doubted that my parents cared about my thoughts and my ideas, and I always knew how deeply they love me. That feeling of being valued and loved — that is what my mom wants for every child. It is the calling of her life.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>My parents raised me to know how lucky I was that I never had to worry about food on the table, that I never had to worry about a good school to go to. Never had to worry about a safe neighborhood to play in. And they taught me to care about what happens in the world. And to do whatever I can to change what frustrated me, what felt wrong. They taught me that’s the responsibility that comes with being smiled on by fate.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I know my kids are little young, but I'm already trying to instill those same values in them. There's something else that my mother taught me: public service is about service. And as her daughter, I've had a special window into how she serves. I’ve seen her holding the hands of mothers worried about how they will feed their kids, worried about how they will get them the healthcare they need. My mother promised to do everything she could to help. I have seen her right after those conversations getting straight to work. Figuring out what she could do, who she could call. How fast she could get results. She always feels like there isn't a moment to lose because she knows that for that mother, for that family, there isn’t.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>And I've seen her at the low points, like the summer of 1994. Several people this week have talked about her fight for universal health care. I saw it up close. It was bruising. It was exhausting. She fought her heart out and as all of you know, she lost. For me, 14 years old, it was pretty tough to watch. But my mom, she was amazing. She took a little time to replenish her spirit — family movie night definitely helped. Dad, as all of you know, liked "Police Academy." My mom and I loved "Pride and Prejudice." And then she got right back to work. Because she believed she could still make a difference for kids. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>People ask me all the time — how does she do it? How does she keep going amid the sound and politics? Here is how: she never, ever forgets who she is fighting for.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>She has worked to make it easier for foster kids to get adopted. For 9/11 first responders to get the health care they deserve. For women around the world to be safe, to be treated with dignity, and to have more opportunity. Fights like these, they are what keep my mother going. They grabbed her heart. Her conscience. And they never let go. That is to my mom. She's a listener, a doer. She is a woman driven by compassion, by faith, but a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Come this November, I'm voting for a woman as a role model and a mother. A woman who has spent her entire life fighting for families and children. I'm voting for the Progressive who will protect our planet from climate change, who will reform our criminal justice system, who knows that women's rights are human rights, and who knows that LGBT rights are human rights. Here at home, and around the world, I'm voting for a fighter who never ever gives up and who believes we can always do better when we come together and work together. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>I hope that my children will someday be as proud of me as I am of my mom. I am so grateful to be her daughter. I'm so grateful that she is Charlotte and Aidan's grandmother. She makes me proud every single day. And mom, grandma would be so proud of you tonight. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>To everyone watching here at home, I know with all my heart that my mother will make us proud as our next president.</span></p>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/7/28/12319276/chelsea-clinton-dnc-speech-transcript-democratic-convention-2016Katie Hicks2016-07-28T19:50:04-04:002016-07-28T19:50:04-04:00Watch live: the final night of Democratic National Convention
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mCBR9K_j-nxdFXQLQ5BmWW6cSLg=/0x0:4176x3132/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50240725/GettyImages-583627934.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p id="CjhUl4">Tonight is the night that Hillary Clinton accepts the bid to become the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee — the first time a woman has become a major party’s nominee in history.</p>
<p id="rd95nI"><b>Hillary Clinton</b> will begin speaking between <b>10 and 11 pm Eastern Thursday night. </b>Prior to speaking, she will be introduced by her daughter, Chelsea, the other keystone speaker of the night.</p>
<h3 id="HC9kO5">Here’s how to watch</h3>
<p id="QsSh6q">The Democrats <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/DemConvention/videos">have a live stream on YouTube</a></b>.</p>
<p id="QjoHcP"><b><a href="http://www.c-span.org/schedule/?channel=1">C-SPAN</a></b> is airing all convention proceedings on cable and provides a <b><a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?412845-1/democratic-national-convention-live-monday-400-pm-et-cspan">live stream for web viewers</a></b>.</p>
<p id="rNf4X7">And <b><a href="http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/07/13/cnn-to-deliver-24-hour-cross-platform-coverage-from-republican-and-democratic-national-conventions/">CNN</a></b> has <b><a href="http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/07/13/cnn-to-deliver-24-hour-cross-platform-coverage-from-republican-and-democratic-national-conventions/">24-hour coverage of the convention</a></b> from Philadelphia.</p>
<h3 id="5rBeM6">What to expect</h3>
<p id="Fj9SNc">As Vox’s Tara Golshan wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House was an announcement eight years in the waiting. But the election was more of a trial than most predicted, and Sen. Bernie Sanders proved to be a serious contender.</p>
<p>Contention from the primaries has had a strong presence throughout the convention. Clinton’s name has been met with boos and jeers from die-hard Sanders supporters, and Bernie or Bust protesters continue to surround the convention hall. And while Clinton has publicly thanked Sanders for his role in shaping the Democratic Party in the past, how she will address the rift in the party remains a big question.</p>
<p>Division aside, Thursday will be a historic night for Clinton. It is she, not Sanders, who is the Democratic nominee, and the first woman to have won the nomination of a major US political party. Regardless of internal party politics, her speech will undoubtedly reflect this inflection point in American history.</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="Kt5m7P">Follow our story stream for more coverage of <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/7/13/12174138/democratic-convention-dnc-2016-philadelphia">the Democratic National Convention</a>.</p>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/7/28/12319112/democratic-convention-dnc-watch-liveKatie Hicks2016-07-27T22:49:51-04:002016-07-27T22:49:51-04:00Read President Obama's DNC speech: "We don't fear the future, we shape it."
<figure>
<img alt="President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CnGIB-YVQFdS1f7dbdqGA2TO4Vw=/0x0:3679x2759/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50228993/GettyImages-583839280.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton | Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p></p>
<div data-analytics-viewport="video" data-analytics-action="volume:view:article:middle" data-analytics-label="Barack Obama full remarks at 2016 DNC | 10608" data-volume-uuid="309f3a5ff" data-volume-id="10608" data-analytics-placement="article:middle" data-volume-placement="article" id="volume-placement-3257" class="volume-video"></div>
<p>Thank you so much, everybody. Hello America. Hello Democrats. <span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span>Twelve years ago tonight, I addressed this convention for the very first time.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>You met my two little girls, Malia and Sasha – now two amazing young women who just fill me with pride. You fell for my brilliant wife and partner Michelle, who’s made me a better father and a better man; who’s gone on to inspire our nation as First Lady; and who somehow hasn’t aged a day.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>I know the same can’t be said for me. My girls remind me all the time. "Wow, you’ve changed so much, daddy." Then try to clean it up</span><span> — "Not bad, just more mature."</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And it’s true – I was so young that first time in Boston. And look, I will admit, maybe a little nervous addressing such a big crowd. But I was filled with faith; faith in America – the generous, bighearted, hopeful country that made my story – indeed, all of our stories – possible.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>A lot’s happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war and recession and all manner of challenge – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your President, to tell you I am even more optimistic about the future of America.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>How could I not be – after all we’ve achieved together?</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>After the worst recession in 80 years, we’ve fought our way back. We’ve seen deficits come down, 401(k)s recover, an auto industry set new records, unemployment reached eight-year lows, and our businesses create 15 million new jobs.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>After a century of trying, we declared that health care in America is not a privilege for a few, but a right for everybody. After decades of talk, we finally began to wean ourselves off foreign oil, and doubled our production of clean energy.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>We brought more of our troops home to their families, and we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden. Through diplomacy, we shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program, opened up a new chapter with the people of Cuba, and brought nearly 200 nations together around a climate agreement that could save this planet for our kids.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>We put policies in place to help students with loans; protect consumers from fraud; and cut veteran homelessness almost in half. And through countless acts of quiet courage, America learned that love has no limits, and marriage equality is now a reality across the land.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>By so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And through every victory and every setback, I’ve insisted that change is never easy, and never quick; that we wouldn’t meet all of our challenges in one term, or one presidency, or even in one lifetime.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>So tonight, I’m here to tell you that yes, we still have more work to do. More work to do for every American still in need of a good job or a raise, paid leave or a decent retirement; for every child who needs a sturdier ladder out of poverty or a world-class education; for everyone who hasn’t yet felt the progress of these past seven and a half years. We need to keep making our streets safer and our criminal justice system fairer; our homeland more secure, and our world more peaceful and sustainable for the next generation. We’re not done perfecting our union, or living up to our founding creed – that all of us are created equal and free in the eyes of God.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That work involves a big choice this November. I think it's fair to say, this is not your typical election. It’s not just a choice between parties or policies; the usual debates between left and right. This is a more fundamental choice – about who we are as a people, and whether we stay true to this great American experiment in self-government.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Look, we Democrats have always had plenty of differences with the Republican Party, and there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s precisely this contest of ideas that pushes our country forward.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>But what we heard in Cleveland last week wasn’t particularly Republican – and it sure wasn’t conservative. What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems – just the fanning of resentment, and blame, and anger, and hate.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And that is not the America I know.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>The America I know is full of courage, and optimism, and ingenuity. The America I know is decent and generous. Sure, we have real anxieties – about paying the bills, protecting our kids, caring for a sick parent. We get frustrated with political gridlock, worry about racial divisions; are shocked and saddened by the madness of Orlando or Nice. There are pockets of America that never recovered from factory closures; men who took pride in hard work and providing for their families who now feel forgotten; parents who wonder whether their kids will have the same opportunities we had.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>All that is real. We’re challenged to do better; to be better. But as I’ve traveled this country, through all fifty states; as I’ve rejoiced with you and mourned with you, what I’ve also seen, more than anything, is what is right with America. I see people working hard and starting businesses; people teaching kids and serving our country. I see engineers inventing stuff, and doctors coming up with new cures. I see a younger generation full of energy and new ideas, not constrained by what is, ready to seize what ought to be.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Most of all, I see Americans of every party, every background, every faith who believe that we are stronger together – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; young and old; gay, straight, men, women, folks with disabilities, all pledging allegiance, under the same proud flag, to this big, bold country that we love. That is what I see. <br></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That’s the America I know. And there is only one candidate in this race who believes in that future, and has devoted her life to it; a mother and grandmother who’d do anything to help our children thrive; a leader with real plans to break down barriers, blast through glass ceilings, and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American – the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That is right. Let me tell you, now, eight years ago, Hillary and I were rivals for the Democratic nomination. We battled for a year and a half. Let me tell you, it was tough, because Hillary’s tough. I was worn out. She was doing everything I was doing but it was tough. Every time I thought I might have that race won, Hillary just came back stronger.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>But after it was all over, I asked Hillary to join my team. She was a little surprised, but ultimately said yes – because she knew that what was at stake was bigger than either of us. And for four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment, and her discipline. I came to realize that her unbelievable work ethic wasn’t for praise or attention – that she was in this for everyone who needs a champion. I understood that after all these years, she has never forgotten just who she’s fighting for.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Hillary’s still got the tenacity she had as a young woman working at the Children’s Defense Fund, going door to door to ultimately make sure kids with disabilities could get a quality education.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>She’s still got the heart she showed as our First Lady, working with Congress to help push through a Children’s Health Insurance Program that to this day protects millions of kids.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>She’s still seared with the memory of every American she met who lost loved ones on 9/11, which is why, as a Senator from New York, she fought so hard for funding to help first responders; why, as Secretary of State, she sat with me in the Situation Room and forcefully argued in favor of the mission that took out bin Laden.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>You know, nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office. Until you’ve sat at that desk, you don’t know what it’s like to manage a global crisis, or send young people to war. But Hillary’s been in the room; she’s been part of those decisions. She knows what’s at stake in the decisions our government makes for the working family, the senior citizen, the small business owner, the soldier, and the veteran. Even in the middle of crisis, she listens to people, and keeps her cool, and treats everybody with respect. And no matter how daunting the odds; no matter how much people try to knock her down, she never, ever quits.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That’s the Hillary I know. That’s the Hillary I’ve come to admire. And that’s why I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as President of the United States of America.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p>
<p>I hope you don't mind, Bill, but I was just telling the truth.<span> And, by the way, in case you were wondering about her judgment, look at her choice of running mate. Tim Kaine is as good a man, as humble and committed a public servant, as anyone I know. I know his family and I love his wife and kids. He will be a great Vice President, and he’ll make Hillary a better President. Just like my dear friend and brother Joe Biden has made me a better President.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Now, Hillary has real plans to address the concerns she’s heard from you on the campaign trail. She’s got specific ideas to invest in new jobs, to help workers share in their company’s profits, to help put kids in preschool, and put students through college without taking on a ton of debt. That’s what leaders do.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And then there’s Donald Trump. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Don't boo. Vote.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Now, the Donald’s not really a plans guy. Not really a facts guy, either. He calls himself a business guy, which is true, but I have to say, I know plenty of businessmen and women who’ve achieved success without leaving a trail of lawsuits, and unpaid workers, and people feeling like they got cheated.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Does anyone really believe that a guy who’s spent his 70 years on this Earth showing no regard for working people is suddenly going to be your champion? Your voice? If so, you should vote for him. But if you’re someone who’s truly concerned about paying your bills, and seeing the economy grow, and creating more opportunity for everybody, then the choice isn’t even close. If you want someone with a lifelong track record of fighting for higher wages, better benefits, a fairer tax code, a bigger voice for workers, and stronger regulations on Wall Street, then you should vote for Hillary Clinton.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And if you’re concerned about who’s going to keep you and your family safe in a dangerous world – well, the choice is even clearer. Hillary Clinton is respected around the world not just by leaders, but by the people they serve. I have to say this </span><span><span>– people outside of the United States do not understand what's going on with this election. They really don't. </span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">They know Hillary. They've seen her work. <span><span></span>She’s worked closely with our intelligence teams, our diplomats, our military. And she has the judgment, the experience, and the temperament to meet the threat from terrorism. It’s not new to her. Our troops have pounded ISIL without mercy, taking out leaders, taking back territory. I know Hillary won’t relent until ISIL is destroyed. She’ll finish the job – and she’ll do it without resorting to torture, or banning entire religions from entering our country. She is fit to be the next Commander-in-Chief.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Meanwhile, Donald Trump calls our military a disaster. Apparently, he doesn’t know the men and women who make up the strongest fighting force the world has ever known. He suggests America is weak. He must not hear the billions of men, women, and children, from the Baltics to Burma, who still look to America to be the light of freedom, dignity, and human rights. He cozies up to Putin, praises Saddam Hussein, and tells the NATO allies that stood by our side after 9/11 that they have to pay up if they want our protection. Well, America’s promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. And that’s one reason why almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago when I took office.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>America is already great. America is already strong. And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>In fact, it doesn’t depend on any one person. And that, in the end, may be the biggest difference in this election – the meaning of our democracy.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Ronald Reagan called America "a shining city on a hill." Donald Trump calls it "a divided crime scene" that only he can fix. It doesn’t matter to him that illegal immigration and the crime rate are as low as they’ve been in decades, because he’s not offering any real solutions to those issues. He’s just offering slogans, and he’s offering fear. He’s betting that if he scares enough people, he might score just enough votes to win this election.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That is another bet that Donald Trump will lose. The reason he will lose is because he’s selling the American people short. We are not a fragile or frightful people. Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order. We don’t look to be ruled. Our power comes from those immortal declarations first put to paper right here in Philadelphia all those years ago; We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that together, We, the People, can form a more perfect union.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That’s who we are. That’s our birthright – the capacity to shape our own destiny. That’s what drove patriots to choose revolution over tyranny and our GIs to liberate a continent. It’s what gave women the courage to reach for the ballot, and marchers to cross a bridge in Selma, and workers to organize and fight for better wages.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>America has never been about what one person says he’ll do for us. It’s always been about what can be achieved by us, together, through the hard, slow, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately enduring work of self-government.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And that’s what Hillary Clinton understands. She knows that this is a big, diverse country, and that most issues are rarely black and white. That even when you’re 100 percent right, getting things done requires compromise. That democracy doesn’t work if we constantly demonize each other. She knows that for progress to happen, we have to listen to each other, see ourselves in each other, fight for our principles but also fight to find common ground, no matter how elusive that may seem.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Hillary knows we can work through racial divides in this country when we realize the worry black parents feel when their son leaves the house isn’t so different than what a brave cop’s family feels when he puts on the blue and goes to work; that we can honor police and treat every community fairly. She knows that acknowledging problems that have festered for decades isn’t making race relations worse – it’s creating the possibility for people of good will to join and make things better.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Hillary knows we can insist on a lawful and orderly immigration system while still seeing striving students and their toiling parents as loving families, not criminals or rapists; families that came here for the same reasons our forebears came – to work, and study, and make a better life, in a place where we can talk and worship and love as we please. She knows their dream is quintessentially American, and the American Dream is something no wall will ever contain. These are the things Hillary knows.<br></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It can be frustrating, this business of democracy. Trust me, I know. Hillary knows, too. When the other side refuses to compromise, progress can stall. Supporters can grow impatient, and worry that you’re not trying hard enough; that you’ve maybe sold out.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>But I promise you, when we keep at it; when we change enough minds; when we deliver enough votes, then progress does happen. Just ask the twenty million more people who have health care today. Just ask the Marine who proudly serves his country without hiding the husband he loves. Democracy works, but we gotta want it – not just during an election year, but all the days in between.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>So if you agree that there’s too much inequality in our economy, and too much money in our politics, we all need to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders’ supporters have been. We all need to get out and vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, and then hold them accountable until they get the job done. That's right. Feel the Bern!<br></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>If you want more justice in the justice system, then we’ve all got to vote – not just for a President, but for mayors, and sheriffs, and state’s attorneys, and state legislators. And we’ve got to work with police and protesters until laws and practices are changed. That's how democracy works.<br></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>If you want to fight climate change, we’ve got to engage not only young people on college campuses, but reach out to the coal miner who’s worried about taking care of his family, the single mom worried about gas prices.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>If you want to protect our kids and our cops from gun violence, we’ve got to get the vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, who agree on background checks to be just as vocal and determined as the gun lobby that blocks change through every funeral we hold. That’s how change happens.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Look, Hillary’s got her share of critics. She’s been caricatured by the right and by some folks on the left; accused of everything you can imagine – and some things you cannot. But she knows that’s what happens when you’re under a microscope for 40 years. She knows she’s made mistakes, just like I have; just like we all do. That’s what happens when we try. That’s what happens when you’re the kind of citizen Teddy Roosevelt once described – not the timid souls who criticize from the sidelines, but someone "who is actually in the arena…who strives valiantly; who errs…[but] who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement."</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Hillary Clinton is that woman in the arena. She’s been there for us – even if we haven’t always noticed. And if you’re serious about our democracy, you can’t afford to stay home just because she might not align with you on every issue. You’ve got to get in the arena with her, because democracy isn’t a spectator sport. America isn’t about "yes he will." It’s about "yes we can." And we’re going to carry Hillary to victory this fall, because that’s what the moment demands.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>You know, there’s been a lot of talk in this campaign about what America’s lost – people who tell us that our way of life is being undermined by pernicious changes and dark forces beyond our control. They tell voters there’s a "real America" out there that must be restored. This isn’t an idea that started with Donald Trump. It’s been peddled by politicians for a long time – probably from the start of our Republic.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And it’s got me thinking about the story I told you twelve years ago tonight, about my Kansas grandparents and the things they taught me when I was growing up. They came from the heartland; their ancestors began settling there about 200 years ago. They were Scotch-Irish mostly, farmers, teachers, ranch hands, pharmacists, oil rig workers. Hardy, small town folks. Some were Democrats, but a lot of them were Republicans. My grandparents explained that they didn’t like show-offs. They didn’t admire braggarts or bullies. They didn’t respect mean-spiritedness, or folks who were always looking for shortcuts in life. Instead, they valued traits like honesty and hard work. Kindness and courtesy. Humility; responsibility; helping each other out.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That’s what they believed in. True things. Things that last. The things we try to teach our kids.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And what my grandparents understood was that these values weren’t limited to Kansas. They weren’t limited to small towns. These values could travel to Hawaii; even the other side of the world, where my mother would end up working to help poor women get a better life. They knew these values weren’t reserved for one race; they could be passed down to a half-Kenyan grandson, or a half-Asian granddaughter; in fact, they were the same values Michelle’s parents, the descendants of slaves, taught their own kids living in a bungalow on the South Side of Chicago. They knew these values were exactly what drew immigrants here, and they believed that the children of those immigrants were just as American as their own, whether they wore a cowboy hat or a yarmulke; a baseball cap or a hijab.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>America has changed over the years. But these values my grandparents taught me – they haven’t gone anywhere. They’re as strong as ever; still cherished by people of every party, every race, and every faith. They live on in each of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what’s in here. That’s what matters. That’s why we can take the food and music and holidays and styles of other countries, and blend it into something uniquely our own. That’s why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here. That’s why our military can look the way it does, every shade of humanity, forged into common service. That’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>That’s America. Those bonds of affection; that common creed. We don’t fear the future; we shape it, embrace it, as one people, stronger together than we are on our own. That’s what Hillary Clinton understands – this fighter, this stateswoman, this mother and grandmother, this public servant, this patriot – that’s the America she’s fighting for.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>And that’s why I have confidence, as I leave this stage tonight, that the Democratic Party is in good hands. My time in this office hasn’t fixed everything; as much as we’ve done, there’s still so much I want to do. But for all the tough lessons I’ve had to learn; for all the places I’ve fallen short; I’ve told Hillary, and I’ll tell you what’s picked me back up, every single time.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It’s been you. The American people.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It’s the letter I keep on my wall from a survivor in Ohio who twice almost lost everything to cancer, but urged me to keep fighting for health care reform, even when the battle seemed lost. Do not quit.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It’s the painting I keep in my private office, a big-eyed, green owl, made by a seven year-old girl who was taken from us in Newtown, given to me by her parents so I wouldn’t forget – a reminder of all the parents who have turned their grief into action.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It’s the small business owner in Colorado who cut most of his own salary so he wouldn’t have to lay off any of his workers in the recession – because, he said, "that wouldn’t have been in the spirit of America."</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It’s the conservative in Texas who said he disagreed with me on everything, but appreciated that, like him, I try to be a good dad.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It’s the courage of the young soldier from Arizona who nearly died on the battlefield in Afghanistan, but who’s learned to speak and walk again – and earlier this year, stepped through the door of the Oval Office on his own power, to salute and shake my hand.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>It’s every American who believed we could change this country for the better, so many of you who’d never been involved in politics, who picked up phones, and hit the streets, and used the internet in amazing new ways (that I didn't understand) to make change happen. You are the best organizers on the planet, and I’m so proud of all the change you’ve made possible.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Time and again, you’ve picked me up. I hope, sometimes, I picked you up, too. Tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me. I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me. Because you’re who I was talking about twelve years ago, when I talked about hope – it’s been you who’ve fueled my dogged faith in our future, even when the odds are great; even when the road is long. Hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty; the audacity of hope!</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>America, you have vindicated that hope these past eight years. And now I’m ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen. This year, in this election, I’m asking you to join me – to reject cynicism, reject fear, to summon what’s best in us; to elect Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States, and show the world we still believe in the promise of this great nation.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span>Thank you for this incredible journey. Let’s keep it going. God bless the United States of America.</span></p>
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12302954/president-barack-obama-dnc-speech-transcript-2016-democratic-conventionKatie Hicks2016-07-27T22:06:12-04:002016-07-27T22:06:12-04:00Read Tim Kaine's DNC speech transcript
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oCJhhUyXKGUupnK3hhsBZ2vZppk=/0x0:3146x2360/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50228477/Kaine.0.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="KSPutN"><i>The following is the official transcript for Tim Kaine's 2016 DNC speech:</i></p>
<p>Thank you. Welcome everyone.</p>
<p>I want to thank my beautiful wife Anne and my three wonderful children, Nat, Woody, and Annella. Nat deployed with his Marine battalion two days ago to protect and defend the very NATO allies that Donald Trump now says he would abandon. My parents and in-laws are here, our siblings and their spouses, our nieces and nephews, hundreds of friends from Virginia and beyond, including my great friend, Representative Bobby Scott. We love you all.</p>
<p>Today, for my wife Anne and every strong woman in this country: for Nat, Woody, and Annella, and every young person starting out in life to make their own dreams real; for every man and woman serving in our military, at home and abroad; for every family working hard to get ahead and stay ahead; for my parents and in-laws and every senior citizen who hopes for a dignified retirement with health care and research to end diseases like Alzheimer's; for every person who wants America to be a beloved community, where people aren't demeaned because of who they are, but rather respected for their contributions to this nation; for all of us who know the brightest future for our country is the one we build together; and for my friend Hillary Clinton, I humbly accept my party's nomination to be Vice President of the United States.</p>
<p>I never expected to be here. But let me tell you how it happened.</p>
<p>I was born in Minnesota and grew up in Kansas City. My folks weren't much into politics. My dad ran a union ironworking shop. My mom was his best salesman. My brothers and I pitched in to help during summers and on weekends. That's how small family businesses work. My parents, Al and Kathy, taught me about hard work, and about kindness, and most importantly, about faith.</p>
<p>I went to a Jesuit boys school <span class="st">— Rockhurst High School. The motto of our school was "men for others." That's where my faith became vital, a North Star for orienting my life. And I knew that I wanted to fight for social justice.</span></p>
<p>That's why I took a year off of law school to volunteer with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. I taught kids welding and carpentry. Aprendi los valores del pueblo <span class="st">— fe, familia, y trabajo. Faith, family, and work. Los mismos valores de la comunidad Latino estan aqui en nuestro país. Somos Americanos todos.</span></p>
<p>And here's what really struck me. I got a first-hand look at a system <span class="st">— a dictatorship </span><span class="st">— where a few people at the top had power and everyone else got left out. It convinced me that we've got to advance opportunity for everyone. Not matter where they come from, how much money they have, what they look like, how they worship, or who they love. </span></p>
<p>Back in 1970, in Virginia, the Republican Governor Linwood Holton believed exactly the same thing. He integrated public schools so black and white kids would finally learn together, and the family enrolled their own kids, including his own daughter, Anne, in those integrated inner-city schools.</p>
<p>When Anne went off to college, she brought with her the lessons borne of that experience. And one day, in a study group, she met this goofy guy who had been off teaching kids in Honduras. Anne and I have now been married for almost 32 years and I am the luckiest husband in the world.</p>
<p>Anne's parents, Lin and Jinks, are here today, 90-plus and going strong. Lin's still a Republican. But he's voting for Democrats these days. Because any party that would nominate Donald Trump for president has moved too far away from the party of Lincoln. And if you are looking for that party of Lincoln, we've got a home for you right here in the Democratic party.</p>
<p>Lin's example helped inspire me to work as a civil rights lawyer. Over 17 years, I took on banks and landlords, real estate firms, and local governments, anyone who treated people unfairly <span class="st">— like the insurance company that was discriminating against minority neighborhoods all across America in issuing homeowners' insurance.</span></p>
<p>These are the battles I've been fighting my whole life. And that's the story of how I decided to run for office. My city of Richmond was divided and discouraged. An epidemic of gun violence overwhelmed our low income neighborhoods. People were pointing fingers and casting blame instead of finding answers. I couldn't stand it. So I ran for city council.</p>
<p>I won that first race, more than 20 years ago, by 94 votes. And I've said ever since <span class="st">— if I'm good at anything, it's because I started at the local level, listening to people, learning about their lives and trying to get results. Later, I became Mayor of Richmond, Lieutenant Governor, and then the 70th Governor of Virginia. I was a hard times governor </span><br><span class="st">— steering my state thorugh the deepest recession since the 1930s. But tough times don't last </span><span class="st">— tough people do. And Virginians are tough. Smart too.</span></p>
<p>We achieved national recognition for our work <span class="st">— best managed state, best state for business, best state for a child to be raised, low unemployment, high family income. We shed tears in the days after a horrible mass shooting at Virginia Tech, but we rolled up our sleeves and fixed a loophole in our background check system to make us safter. And we invested in our people expanding pre-K and higher education, because education was the key to all we wanted to be.</span></p>
<p>Now I have the honor of serving in the Senate. I work on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees to keep us safe at home and strong in the world. I work on the Budget Committee with Bernie Sanders, a great leader, fighting for investments in education, health care, research, and transportation. And I serve on the Aging Committee, making sure that seniors have secure retirement and don't get targeted by rip-off artists who will scam them out of their savings or overcharge them for prescription drugs. And here's a funny thing: I spend time with a lot of Republican senators who, once they've made sure nobody's listening, will tell you how fantastic a senator Hillary Clinton was.</p>
<p>My journey has convinced me that God has created a rich tapestry in this country <span class="st">— an incredible cultural diversity that succeeds when we embrace everyone in love and battle back against the dark forces of division. We're all neighbors and we must love our neighbors as ourselves.</span></p>
<p>Hillary Clinton and I are compañeros del alma. We share this belief: Do all the good you can. Serve one another. That's what I'm about. That's what you're about. That's what Bernie Sanders is about. That's what Joe Biden is about. That's what Barack and Michelle Obama are about. And that's what Hillary Clinton is about.</p>
<p>Now, last week in Cleveland, we heard a lot about trust. So let's talk about trust. I want to tell you why I trust Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>First, she's consistent. She has battled to put kids and families first since she was a teenager <span class="st">— in good times and bad, in victory and defeat, in and out of office, through hell or high water. Fighting for underprivileged kids at the Children's Defense Fund. Fighting to get health insurance for 8 million kids when she was First Lady. Fighting for the well-being of women and girls around the world.</span></p>
<p>Here's a little tip for you: When you want to know about the character of someone in public life, look to see if they have a passion, one that began before they were in office, and that they have consistently held on to throughout their career. Hillary's passion is kids and families. Donald Trump has a passion too. It's himself.</p>
<p>And it's not just words with Hillary, it's accomplishments. She delivers. As Senator, after 9/11, she battled Congressional Republicans to care for the first responders who saved victims of that terrorist attack. As Secretary of State, she implemented tough sanctions against Iran to pave the way for a diplomatic breatkthrough that curtailed a dangerous nuclear weapons program. She stood up against thugs and dictators and was a key part of the Obama national security team that decided to go to the end of the earth to wipe out Osama bin Laden.</p>
<p>Hey, remember Karla, the little girl we heard from on Monday who feared her parents would be deported? She trusts Hillary to keep them together. And remember the Mothers of the Movement we heard from last night? They trust Hillary to keep other mothers' sons and daughters safe.</p>
<p>And as he's serving our nation abroad, I trust Hillary Clinton with our son's life.</p>
<p>You know who I don't trust? Donald Trump. The guy promises a lot. But you might have noticed, he has a habit of saying the same two words right after he makes the biggest promises. You guys know the words I mean? "Believe me."</p>
<p>"It's gonna be great <span class="st">— believe me! We're gonna build a wall and make Mexico pay for it </span><span class="st">— believe me! We're gonna destroy ISIS so fast </span><span class="st">— believe me! There's nothing suspicious in my tax returns </span><span class="st">— believe me!" By the way, does anyone here believe that Donald Trump's been paying his fair share of taxes? Do you believe he ought to release those tax returns like every other presidential candidate in modern history? Of course he should. Donald, what are you hiding?</span></p>
<p>And yet he still says, "Believe me." "Believe me?" Here's the thing. Most people, when they run for president, they don't just say "believe me." They respect you enough to tell you how they will get things done.</p>
<p>For example, you can go to HillaryClinton.com right now and find out exactly how she'll make the biggest investment in new jobs in generations, and how she'll defend and build on Wall Street reform. you can see how she'll reform our immigration system and create a path to citizenship, and how she'll make it possible to graduate from college debt-free. You can see how she'll guarantee equal pay for women and make paid family leave a reality. With just one click, we can see how she'll do it, how she'll pay for it, and how we'll benefit.</p>
<p>Not Donald Trump. He never tells you how he's going to do any of the things he says he's going to do. He just says, "believe me." So here's the question. Do you really believe me? Donald Trump's whole career says you better not.</p>
<p>Small contractors <span class="st">— companies just like my dad's</span><span class="st"> — believed him when he said that he'd pay them to build a casino in Atlantic City. They did the work, hung the drywall, poured the concrete. But a year after opening, Trump filed for bankruptcy. He walked away with millions. They got pennies on the dollar. Some of them went out of business. All because they believed Donald Trump.</span></p>
<p>Retirees and families in Florida believed Donald Trump when he said he'd build them condos. They paid their deposits, but the condos were never built. He just pocketed their money and walked away. They lost tens of thousands of dollars, all because they believed Donald Trump. Charity after charity believed Donald Trump when he said he would contribute to them. And thousands of Trump University students believed Donald Trump when he said he would help them succeed. They got stiffed.</p>
<p>He says, "believe me." Well, his creditors, his contractors, his laid-off employees, his ripped-off students did just that. Folks, you cannot believe one word that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth. Our nation is too great to put it in the hands of a slick-talking, empty-promising, self-promoting, one man wrecking crew.</p>
<p>Don't take it from me. Take it from former First Lady Barbara Bush. She said she didn't know how any woman could vote for him after his offensive comments. Or John McCain's former economic advisor, who estimates Trump's promises would cost America 3.5 million jobs. Or the independent analysts that found Trump's tax plan, a gift to the wealthy and big corporations, would rack up $30 trillion in debt.</p>
<p>Or John Kasich, the Republican governor who had the honor of hosting the Republican Convention in Cleveland but wouldn't even attend it because he thinks Trump is such a moral disaster. Or take it from the guy who co-wrote Trump's autobiography. For Trump, he said, "lying is second nature to him." So, do you believe him? Does anybody here believe him?</p>
<p>The next president will face many challenges. We better elect the candidate who's proven she can be trusted with the job. The candidate who's proven she's ready for the job. And by the way, I used the word "ready" for a specific reason. When I lived in Honduras, I learned that the best compliment you could give someone was to say they were "listo" (ready), not "inteligente" (smart), not "amable" (friendly), not "rico" (rich). But "listo." Because what "listo" means in Spanish is prepared, battle-tested, rock-solid, up for anything, never backing down. And Hillary Clinton is "lista."</p>
<p>She's ready because of her faith. She's ready because of her heart. She's ready because of her experience. She's ready because she knows in America we are stronger together. My fellow Democrats, this week we begin the next chapter in our proud story.</p>
<p>Thomas declared all men equal and Abigail remembered the women. Woodrow brokered peace and Eleanor broke down barriers. Jack told us what to ask, and Lyndon answered the call. Martin had a dream, Cesar y Dolores said "si se puede," and Harvey gave his life. Bill bridged a century and Barack gave us hope.</p>
<p>And now Hillary is ready. Ready to fight, ready to win, ready to lead. Thank you, Philadelphia. God bless you all.</p>
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12302896/tim-kaine-dnc-speech-transcript-2016-democratic-conventionKatie Hicks2016-07-27T21:34:05-04:002016-07-27T21:34:05-04:00Read Michael Bloomberg's DNC speech: We must unite to "defeat a dangerous demagogue."
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rgQFLs5GDm1EQqYQ6GpTn1H6SPQ=/0x20:2096x1592/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50228213/Bloomberg-getty.0.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="O24KSp"><i>The following is the transcript of Bloomberg's DNC speech:</i></p>
<p>Kasim, thank you for that kind introduction. Let me thank all of you for welcoming an outsider here to deliver what will be an unconventional convention speech.</p>
<p>Now, I'm not here as a member of any party, or to endorse any party platform. I am here for one reason, and one reason only: to explain why I believe it is my imperative that we elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States. And to ask you to join with me in supporting her this November.</p>
<p>When the Founding Fathers arrived here in Philadelphia to forge a new nation, they didn't come as Democrats or Republicans, or to nominate a presidential candidate. They came as patriots who feared party politics. I know how they felt. I've been a Democrat, I've been a Republican, and I eventually became an independent because I don't believe either party has a monopoly on good ideas or strong leadership.</p>
<p>When I enter the voting booth each time, I look at the candidate, not the party label. I have supported elected officials from both sides of the aisle. Probably not many people in this room can say that, but I know there are many watching at home who can. And now, they are carefully weighing their choices. I understand their dilemma.</p>
<p>I know what it's like to have neither party fully represent my views or values. Too many Republicans wrongly blame immigrants for our problems, and they stand in the way of action on climate change and gun violence. Meanwhile, many Democrats wrongly blame the private sector for our problems, and they stand in the way of action on education reform and deficit reduction.</p>
<p>There are times when I disagree with Hillary. But whatever our disagreements may be, I've come here to say: We must put them aside for the good of our country. And we must united around the candidate who can defeat a dangerous demagogue.</p>
<p>I believe it's the duty of all American citizens to make our voices heard by voting in this election. And, if you're not yet registered to vote, go online. Do it now. It's just too important to sit this out.</p>
<p>Now, we've heard a lot of talk in this campaign about needing a leader who understands business. I couldn't agree more. I've built a business and I didn't start it with a million-dollar check from my father. Because of my success in the private sector, I had the chance to run America's largest city for 12 years, governing in the wake of its greatest tragedy.</p>
<p>Today, as an independent, an entrepreneur, and a former mayor, I believe we need a president who is a problem solver, not a bomb thrower. Someone who can bring members of Congress together, to get things done. And I know Hillary Clinton can do that because I saw it firsthand.</p>
<p>I was elected mayor two months after 9/11, as a Republican <span class="st">— and I saw how Hillary Clinton worked with Republicans in Washington to ensure that New York got the help it needed to recover and rebuild. Throughout her time in the Senate, we didn't always agree </span><br><span class="st">— but she always listened. And that's the kind of approach we need in Washington today, and it just has to start in the White House.</span></p>
<p>Given my background, I've often encouraged business leaders to run for office because many of them share that same pragmatic approach to building consensus, but not all. Most of us who have created a business know that we're only as good as the way our employees, clients, and partners view us. Most of us don't pretend that we're smart enough to make every big decision by ourselves. And most of us who have our names on the door know that we're only as good as our word. But not Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Throughout his career, Trump has left behind a well-documented record of bankruptcies, thousands of lawsuits, angry shareholders, and contractors who feel cheated, and disillusioned customers who feel ripped off. Trump says he wants to run the nation like he's run his business. God help us.</p>
<p>I'm a New Yorker, and New Yorkers know a con when we see one! Trump says he'll punish manufacturers that move to Mexico or China, but the clothes he sells are made overseas in low-wage factories. He says he wants to put Americans back to work, but he games the US visa system so he can hire temporary foreign workers at low wages. He says he wants to deport 11 million undocumented people, but he seems to have no problem in hiring them. What'd I miss here?!</p>
<p>Truth be told, the richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy. He wants you to believe that we can solve our biggest problems by deporting Mexicans and shutting out Muslims. He wants you to believe that erecting trade barriers will bring back good jobs. He's wrong on both counts.</p>
<p>We can only solve our biggest problems if we come together and embrace the freedoms that our Founding Fathers established right here in Philadelphia, which permitted our ancestors to create the great American exceptionalism that all of us now enjoy. Donald Trump doesn't understand that. Hillary Clinton does. And we can only create good jobs if we make smarter investments in infrastructure and do more to support small businesses. Not stiff them. Donald Trump doesn't understand that. Hillary Clinton does.</p>
<p>I understand the appeal of a businessman president. But Trump's business plan is a disaster in the making. He would make it harder for small businesses to compete, do great damage to our economy, threaten the retirement savings of millions of Americans, lead to greater debt and more unemployment, erode our influence in the world, and make our communities less safe.</p>
<p>The bottom line is: Trump is a risky, reckless, and radical choice. And we can't afford to make that choice.</p>
<p>Now, I know Hillary Clinton is not flawless; no candidate is. But she is the right choice <span class="st">— and the responsible choice </span><span class="st">— in this election. No matter what you may think about her politics or her record, Hillary Clinton understands that this is not reality television; this is reality. She understands the job of president. It involves finding solutions, not pointing fingers, and offering hope, not stoking fear.</span></p>
<p>Over the course of our country's proud history, we have faced our share of grave challenges, but we have never retreated in fear. Never. Not here in Philadelphia in 1776, not at Gettysburg in 1863, not through two World Wars and a Great Depression, not at Selma or Stonewall, and not after 9/11 <span class="st">— and we must not start now. </span></p>
<p>America is the greatest country on Earth <span class="st">— and when people vote with their feet, they come here. The presidency of the United States is the most powerful office in the world, and so I say to my fellow independents: Your vote matters now. Your vote will determine the future of your job, your business, and our future together as a country.</span></p>
<p>To me, this election is not a choice between a Democrat and a Republican. It's a choice about who is better to lead our country right now: better for our economy, better for our security, better for our freedom, and better for our future.</p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind that Hillary Clinton is the right choice this November. So tonight, as an independent, I am asking you to join with me <span class="st">— not out of party loyalty but out of love of country. And together, let's elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.</span></p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12302828/michael-bloomberg-dnc-speech-transcript-2016-democratic-conventionKatie Hicks2016-07-27T21:10:01-04:002016-07-27T21:10:01-04:00Read Vice President Joe Biden's DNC speech transcript
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oHXb5zhWx2ZcpgyJ8KSjzl5Uu4U=/0x161:4044x3194/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50228249/Biden-getty.0.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="OQzSPj"><i>The following is a rush transcript of Vice President Joe Biden's DNC speech:</i></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" id="docs-internal-guid-1756e379-2f24-cb2d-7ac4-847c52a1726c">Ladies and gentlemen, thank you, thank you. I love you. Ladies and gentlemen, 8 years ago, I stood on the stage in Denver. And I accepted your nomination to be Vice President of the United States. And every single day since then, it has been the honor of our lives for Jill and me. Every day we have been grateful for Barack and Michelle, for asking us to join them on the incredible journey. A journey that can only happen in America. We not only have worked together, as it has become obvious, we have become friends. We are now family. We are family.</p>
<p>You have all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve and character. One of the finest presidents we have ever had.This is a man of character. He has become a brother to Jill and me. And Michelle, you are incredible.</p>
<p>You have all seen over the last eight years what president Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve and character. One of the finest presidents we have ever had. This is a man of character. He has become a brother to Jill and me. And Michelle, you are incredible.</p>
<p>I was talking to Barack today — it is no longer he will give the best speech, we know who did that. You were incredible Monday night. The Delaware delegation, as they say, Barack and I married way up. As I stand here tonight, I see so many friends and colleagues like my buddy Chris Dodd from the Connecticut delegation. So many people here. I see the faces of those who have placed their belief in Barack and me. So many faces.</p>
<p>But one, this is kind of a bittersweet moment for Jill and me and our family. In 2008, when he was about to deploy to Iraq again in 2012, our son Beau introduced me to the country and place my name and nomination. You got a glimpse of what an incredibly fine young man Beau was. Thank you.</p>
<p>Thank you. His wife and his two kids are here tonight. As Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world breaks everyone, and afterwards, many are strong in the broken places." I've been made strong at the broken places by my love with Jill, by my heart and son Hunter and the love of my life, my Ashley. By all of you, and I mean this sincerely, those who have been through this, you know I mean what I say — by all of you, your love and prayers and support. But you know what, we talk about, we think about the countless thousands of other people who suffered so much more than we have, with so much less support. So much less reason to go on. But they get up every morning, every day. They put one foot in front of the other, they keep going. That is the unbreakable spirit of the people of America. That is who we are. That is who we are. Don't forget it.</p>
<p>Like the people in the neighborhood that Jill and I grew up in, she in Willow Grove, and mine down in Wilmington and Claymont, the kid in Claymont with the most courage, who always jumped in when you were double teamed or your back was against the wall. Who became a cop because he always wanted to help people. The middle daughter of three daughters, who always made her mother smile, who is a hero to her sisters.</p>
<p>Now I was a major in the United States Marine Corps because I wanted to serve my country. The teachers who Jill knows who take money out of their own pockets to buy pencils and notebooks for their students who can't afford them. Why? Because being a teacher is not what they do, it is who they are. You know what I know, for real. These are the people that are the heart and soul of this country. It is the America that I know. The America that Hillary knows and Tim Kaine knows. I've known Hillary for well over 30 years, before she was first lady of the United States, when she became first lady. We served together in the United States Senate and during her years as secretary of state, once a week we had breakfast in my home, the vice president's residence.</p>
<p>Everybody knows she is smart. Everyone knows she is tough. But I know what she is passionate about. I know Hillary. Hillary understands. Hillary gets it. She understands the college loans are about a lot more than getting a qualified student education. It is about saving mom and dad from the indignity of having to look at their child and say, "I'm sorry, the bank would not lend us the money. I can't help you get to school."</p>
<p>I know that about Hillary. Hillary understood that for years, millions of people went to bed staring at the ceiling thinking, "What if I get breast cancer? Or he has a heart attack? I will lose everything. What will we do then?" I know about Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Ladies and gentlemen, we all understand what it will mean for our daughters and granddaughters when Hillary Clinton walks into the Oval Office as president of the United States of America. It will change their lives. My daughter and granddaughters can do anything any son or grandson can do and she will prove it, Mr. Mayor.</p>
<p>Let me say this as clearly as I can, if you live in the neighborhoods like the ones Jill and I grew up in, if you worry about your job and getting a decent pay, if you worry about your children's education, if you are taking care of an elderly parent, then there is only one person in this election who will help you, only one person in this race who will be there, who has always been there for you, and that is Hillary Clinton's life story. Not just who she is, it is her life story. She is always there.</p>
<p>Ladies and gentlemen, let's say the obvious, that is not Donald Trump’s story. Just listen to me a second without booing or cheering. His cynicism and undoubtedly his lack of empathy and compassion can be summed up in that phrase he is most proud of making famous: "You're fired." I'm not joking. Think about that. Think about that. Think about everything you learned as a child. No matter where you were raised, how can there be pleasure in saying, "You're fired?</p>
<p>He is trying to tell us he cares about the middle class. Give me a break. That is a bunch of malarkey.</p>
<p>Whatever he thinks, and I mean is from the bottom of my heart — I know I'm called middle-class Joe and in Washington, that is not meant as a compliment. It means you are not sophisticated. I know why we are strong, I know why we are held together, I know why we are united, it is because there has always been a growing middle class. This guy does not have a clue about the middle class. Not a clue. Because folks, when the middle class does well, the rich do very well and the poor have hope. They have a way out. He has no clue about what makes America great. Actually, he has no clue period.</p>
<p>Folks, let me say, let me say something that has nothing to do with politics. Let me talk about something that I'm deadly serious about. This is a complicated and uncertain world we live in. The threats are too great, the times are too uncertain, to elect Donald Trump as president of the United States. Let me finish, no major party, no major party nominee in the history of the station has ever known less or been less prepared to deal with our national security.</p>
<p>We cannot elect a man who exploits our fears of ISIS and other terrorists, who has no plan whatsoever to make us safer. A man who embraces the tactics of our enemies, torture, religious intolerance, you all know. Other Republics know, that is not who we are. It betrays our values. It alienates those who we need in the fight against ISIS. Donald Trump, with all his rhetoric, would literally make us less safe. We cannot elect a man who belittles our closest allies while embracing dictators like Vladimir Putin. I mean it.</p>
<p>A man who seeks to sow division in America for his own gain and disorder around the world. A man who confuses bluster with strength. We simply cannot let that happen as Americans. Period. Folks, whatever doubts, I mean what I say. But sometimes I say all that I mean. Let me tell you what I literally tell every leader I've met with — and I've met them all. It is never, never, never bet against America.</p>
<p>We have the finest fighting force in the world. Not only do we have the largest economy in the world, we have the strongest economy in the world. We have the most productive workers in the world. And give it a fair shot. Given a fair chance. Americans have never, ever, ever, ever, ever let the country down. Never!</p>
<p>Ordinary people like us, who do extraordinary things, we had candidates before attempting get elected by appealing to our fears, but they've never succeeded because we do not scare easily. We never bow, we never break, when confronted with crisis. We endure! We overcome and we always move forward. That is why I can say, with absolute conviction that I am more optimistic about our chances today than when I was elected as a 29-year-old kid to the senate.</p>
<p>The 21st century is going to be the American century. Because we lead not only by example of our power, but by the power of our example. That is the history of the journey of Americans. And God willing, Hillary Clinton will write the next chapter in that journey.</p>
<p>We are America, second to none, and we own the finish line! Don't forget it! God bless you all and God protect our troops.</p>
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12302680/vice-president-joe-biden-dnc-speech-transcript-2016-democratic-conventionKatie Hicks2016-07-27T00:39:35-04:002016-07-27T00:39:35-04:00Read the full text of Bill Clinton's nostalgic speech about Hillary at the DNC
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tOptRR1LBeloL6OrmN9F0ql-ITY=/97x0:1306x907/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50214633/Screen_Shot_2016-07-26_at_11.55.55_PM.0.0.png" />
</figure>
<p id="nNNj3J">In the spring of 1971, I met a girl. The first time I saw her, we were, appropriately enough, in a class on political and civil rights. She had thick blond hair, big glasses. Wore no makeup. And she exuded this strength of self-possession I found magnetic.</p>
<p id="Yvzznb">After the class, I followed her out, intending to introduce myself. I got close enough to touch her back, but I couldn't do it. Somehow, I knew this would not be just another tap on the shoulder, that I might be starting something I couldn't stop. I saw her several more times the next few days but still didn't speak to her. Then one night in the law library talking to a classmate who wanted me to join the Yale Law Journal, he said it would guarantee me a job at a big firm or a clerkship with a federal judge. I really wasn’t interested — I just wanted to go home to Arkansas.</p>
<p id="5xqYML">Then I saw the girl again, standing at the opposite end of that long room. Finally, she was staring back at me. So I watched her. She closed her book, put it down, and started walking toward me. She walked the whole length of the library, came up to me, and said, "Look, if you are going to keep staring at me, we at least ought to know each other's name. I'm Hillary Rodham, who are you?" I was so impressed and surprised that, whether you believe it or not, momentarily, I was speechless.</p>
<p id="6GK210">Finally, I sort of blurted out my name and we exchanged a few words, and she went away. Well, I didn't join the Law Review, but I did leave that library with a whole new goal in mind. A couple days later, I saw her again, wearing a long, white, flowery skirt, and I went up to her and she said she was going to register for classes for the next term. I said I would go too.</p>
<p>We stood in line and talked — you had to do that to register back then. I thought I was doing pretty well until we got to the front of the line and the registrar looked up and said, "Bill, what are you doing here? You registered this morning."</p>
<p id="xJERFa">I turned red and she laughed that big laugh of hers and I thought, well, heck, since my cover has been blown, I asked her to take a walk down to the art museum. We have been walking, and talking, and laughing together ever since.</p>
<p id="xalXgl">And we have done it in good times, through joy and heartbreak. We cried together this morning on the news that our good friend and a lot of your good friend, Mark Weiner, passed away early this morning. We built up a lifetime of memories. After the first month and that first walk, I drove her home to Park Ridge, Illinois, to meet her family and see the town where she grew up, a perfect example of post-World War II middle-class America. Street after street of nice houses, great schools, good parks, a big public swimming pool. And almost all white.</p>
<p id="0DQfg8">I really liked her family, her crusty, conservative father, her rambunctious brothers, all extolling the virtue of rooting for the bears and the cubs. And for the people of Illinois here, they even told me what waiting for next year meant — could be next year, guys.</p>
<p>Now, her mother was different. She was more liberal than the boys. She had a childhood that made mine look like a piece of cake. She was easy to underestimate with her soft manner and she reminded me all over again of the truth of that old saying that you should never judge a book by its cover. Knowing her was one of the greatest gifts Hillary ever gave me.</p>
<p id="BRwoYj">I learned that Hillary got her introduction to social justice through her Methodist youth minister, Don Jones. He took her downtown to Chicago to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak and he remained her friend for the rest of his life. This will be the only campaign of hers he ever missed.</p>
<p id="pxxyEY">When she got to college, her opposition to the Vietnam War compelled her to change parties and become a Democrat. And then between college and law school, on a total lark, she went alone to Alaska and spent time sliming fish.</p>
<p>More to the point, by the time I met her she had already been involved in the law school's legal services project and she had been influenced by Marian Wright Edelman. She took a summer internship interviewing workers in migrant camps for Sen. Walter Mondale’s subcommittee. She had also begun working in the Yale New Haven hospital to develop procedures to handle suspected child abuse cases.</p>
<p id="D4sfSe">She got so involved in children's issues that she actually took an extra year in law school working at the child studies center to learn what more could be done to improve the lives and futures of poor children. She was already determined to figure out how to make things better.</p>
<p id="sfTf3o">Hillary opened my eyes to a whole new world of public service by private citizens. In the summer of 1972, she went to Dothan, Alabama, to visit one of those segregated academies that enrolled over a half a million white kids in the South. The only way the economics worked was if they claimed federal tax exemptions to which they were not legally entitled. She got sent to prove they weren't.</p>
<p>So she sauntered into one of these academies all by herself, pretending to be a housewife that just moved to town and needed to find a school for her son. And they exchange pleasantries and finally, she said, "Look, let's get to the bottom line. If I enroll my son in this school, will he be in a segregated school? Yes or no?" And the guy said "Absolutely." She had him. I’ve seen it a thousand times since.</p>
<p>And she went back and her encounter was part of a report that gave Marian Wright Edelman the force they needed to keep working to get the Nixon administration to take those tax exemptions away and give our kids access to an equal education.</p>
<p id="oj9yj7">Then she went down to South Texas, where she met one of the nicest fellows I ever met, the wonderful union leader Franklin Garcia, and he helped her register Mexican-American voters. I think some of them are still around to vote for her in 2016. And then, in our last year in law school, Hillary kept up this work. She went to South Carolina to see why so many young African-American boys — I mean, <i>young</i> teenagers — were being jailed for years with adults in men's prisons. She filed a report on that, which led to some changes too. Always making things better.</p>
<p id="s5Ghsw">Meanwhile, let's get back to business. I was trying to convince her to marry me. I first proposed to her on a trip to Great Britain, the first time she'd ever been overseas. We were on the shoreline of this wonderful lake, Lake Ennerdale. I asked her to marry me and she said, "I can't do it."</p>
<p id="VA3rzd">So in 1974, I went home to teach in law school and Hillary moved to Massachusetts to keep working on children's issues. This time, trying to figure out why so many kids counted in the census weren't enrolled in school.</p>
<p>She found one of them sitting alone on her porch in a wheelchair. Once more, she filed a report about these kids and that helped influence ultimately the Congress to adopt the proposition that children with disabilities, physical or otherwise, should have equal access to public education. You saw the result of that last night when Anastasia Somoza talked. She never made fun of people with disabilities. She tried to empower them based on their abilities.</p>
<p id="FrCtJ1">Meanwhile, I was still trying to get her to marry me. The second time I asked, I tried a different tactic. I said, "I really want you to marry me, but you shouldn't do it." She smiled and looked at me like what is this boy up to. She said, "That is not a very good sales pitch." I said, "I know but it's true." And I meant it. It was true. I said, "I know most of the young Democrats our age who want to go into politics, they mean well and they speak well, but none of them is as good as you are at actually doing things to make positive changes in people's lives."</p>
<p>So I suggested she go home to Illinois or move to New York and look for a chance to run for office. She laughed and said, "Are you out of your mind? Nobody would ever vote for me." So I finally got her to come visit me in Arkansas. And when she did, the people at the law school were so impressed, they offered her a teaching position. And she decided to take a huge chance.</p>
<p id="6wPrUl">She moved to a strange place, more rural and conservative than anywhere she had been. Where she knew good and well that people were wondering what in the world she was like and whether they could or should accept her. Didn't take them long to find out what she was like.</p>
<p id="1pajwK">She loved her teaching. She got frustrated when one of her students said, "What do you expect, I'm just from Arkansas." She said, "Don’t tell me that. You’re as smart as anybody. You just have to believe in yourself and work for it and set high goals." She believed anyone could make it. She also started the first legal aid clinic in northwest Arkansas, providing legal aid services to poor people who couldn't pay for them.</p>
<p id="IZJetd">One day, I was driving her to the airport to fly back to Chicago when we passed this little brick house that had a for-sale sign on it and she said, "Boy, that's a pretty house." It had 1,100 square feet, an attic fan and no air conditioner in hot Arkansas, and a screened-in porch. Hillary commented on what a uniquely designed and beautiful house it was.</p>
<p>So I took a big chance. I bought the house. My mortgage was $175 a month. When she came back, I picked her up and said, "You remember that house you like?" I said, "While you were gone, I bought it, and you have to marry me now." The third time was the charm. We were married in that little house on October 11, 1975. I married my best friend.</p>
<p id="SadPPG">I was still in awe after more than four years of being around her at how smart, and strong, and loving, and caring she was, and I really hoped that her choosing me and rejecting my advice to pursue her own career was a decision she would never regret. A little over a year later, we moved to Little Rock when I became attorney general and she joined the oldest law firm west of the Mississippi. She started Arkansas Advocates for Family and Children. It's a group that is still active today.</p>
<p id="dyx7fY">In 1979, just after I became governor, I asked Hillary to chair a local health committee to help expand health care to isolated mountain areas. They recommended to do that partly by deploying trained nurse practitioners in places with no doctors to provide primary care that they were trying to provide.</p>
<p>It was a big deal then — highly controversial and very important. And I got the feeling that what she did for the rest of her life, she was doing there. She just went out and figured out what would help people and if it was controversial, she just tried to persuade people it was the right thing to do. It wasn't the only big thing that happened that spring, my first year as governor. We found out we were going to be parents.</p>
<p id="h7gDSe">And time passed. On February 27, 1980, 15 minutes after I got home from the National Governors’ Conference in Washington, Hillary's water broke, and off we went to the hospital. Chelsea was born just before midnight. And it was the greatest moment of my life. The miracle of a new beginning. The hole filled for me because my own father died before I was born and I had the absolute conviction that my daughter had the best mother in the whole world.</p>
<p id="ZZ9TgP">Through nursing school, kindergarten, T-ball, soccer, volleyball, and her passion for ballet. Through sleepovers, summer camps, family vacations, and Chelsea's own very ambitious excursions, from Halloween parties in the neighborhood to a Viennese waltz gala in the White House, Hillary first and foremost was a mother. She became, as she often said, our family’s designated worrier. Born with an extra responsibility gene.</p>
<p>We rarely disagreed on parenting ,although she did believe that I had gone a little over the top when I took a couple days off with Chelsea to watch all six <i>Police Academy</i> movies back to back. When Chelsea was 9 months old, I was defeated for reelection in the Reagan landslide and I became overnight, I think, the youngest former governor in the history of the country. We only had two-year terms back then.</p>
<p id="qourwo">Hillary was great. Immediately she said, "What are we gonna do? Here is what we are going to do: We’re gonna get a house, you’re gonna get a job, we’re gonna enjoy being Chelsea’s parents, and if you want to run again you have to go talk to people and figure out why you lost, tell them you got the message, and show them you still have good ideas." I followed her advice.</p>
<p id="dEh2nj">Within two days we had a house. I soon had a job. We had two fabulous years with Chelsea and in 1982, I became the first governor in the history of our state to become elected, defeated, and elected again. My experience is, it’s a pretty good thing to follow her advice.</p>
<p id="y1HpnD">The rest of the decade flew by it as our lives settled into a rhythm of family and work and friends. In 1983, Hillary chaired a committee to recommend new education standards for us in response to a court order to equalize school funding.</p>
<p id="M6y8r1">And a report by national experts said our woefully underfunded schools were the worst in America. Typical Hillary, she held listening tours in all 75 counties with our committee. She came up with really ambitious recommendations. For example, that we be the first state in America to require elementary counselors in every school because so many kids were having trouble at home and they needed it.</p>
<p>So I called the legislature into session, hoping to pass the standards, pass the pay rate for teachers, and raise the sales tax to pay for it all. I knew it would be hard to pass, but it got easier after Hillary headed the education committee and the chairman, a plainspoken farmer, said, "It looks to me like we elected the wrong Clinton."</p>
<p id="WQHGcA">Well, by the time I ran for president nine years later, the same expert who said we had the worst schools in America said that our state was one of the two most improved states in America — and that is because of those standards that Hillary recommended.</p>
<p id="vaRYk4">Now, two years later, Hillary told me about a preschool program developed in Israel, called HIPPY: Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters. The idea was to teach low-income parents, even those who couldn’t read, to be their children's first teachers. She said she thought it would work in Arkansas. I said, "That’s great, what are we going to do about it?" She said, "I already did it. I called the woman in Israel and she’ll be here in about 10 days to help us get started."</p>
<p>Next thing you know, I’m being dragged around to all these little preschool graduations. Keep in mind this is before many states even had universal kindergarten, and I’m being dragged to preschool graduations, watching these poor parents with tears in their eyes because they never thought they would be able to help their kids learn.</p>
<p id="yf4KQq">Twenty years of research has shown how well this program works to improve readiness for schools and academic achievement. There are a lot of young adults in America who have no idea Hillary had anything to do with it, but are enjoying better lives because they were in that program.</p>
<p>She did all of this while being a full-time worker, a mother, and enjoying our life. Why? Well, she is insatiably curious, she’s a natural leader, she’s a good organizer, and she’s the best darn change-maker I have ever met in my entire life.</p>
<p id="D0zn7F">So, look, this is a really important point for you to take out of this convention. If you believe in making change from the bottom up, if you believe the measure of change is how many lives are bettered, you know it is hard and some people think it is boring. Speeches like this are fun. Actually doing the work is hard. So people say, well, we need to change.</p>
<p id="elD2Ie">She has been around a long time. She sure has. And she has sure been worth every single year she has put into making people's lives better. I can tell you this — if you were sitting where I am sitting and you heard what I have heard and at every dinner conversation, every lunch conversation, on every long walk, you would say, "This woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything." She always wants to move the ball forward. That is just who she is.</p>
<p id="RPy8sI">When I became president with a commitment to reform health care, Hillary was a natural head to the health care task force. You all know we failed because we couldn’t break a Senate filibuster. Hillary immediately went to work on solving the problems the bill sought to address one by one.</p>
<p>The most important goal was to get more children with health insurance. In 1997, Congress passed the Children's Health Insurance Program, still an important part of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. It insures more than 8 million kids. There are a lot of other things in that bill she got done piece by piece, pushing the rock up the hill.</p>
<p id="EjKkLs">In 1997, she also teamed with the House minority leader, Tom DeLay, who maybe disliked me more than any of Newt Gingrich’s crowd. They worked on a build together to increase adoptions of children out of foster care. She wanted to do it because she knew that Tom, for all of our differences, was an adopted parent and she honored him for doing that. The bill that they worked on was passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority and led to a big increase of children out of foster care, including not infant kids and special needs kids. It made life better, because she is a change-maker. That is what she does.</p>
<p id="gZjsJq">Now, when you are doing all of this, real life does not stop. 1997 was the year Chelsea finished high school and went to college. We were happy for her but sad for us to see her go. I will never forget moving her into her dorm room at Stanford. It would have been a great little reality flick. There I was, in a trance, just staring out the window trying not to cry, and there was Hillary on her hands and knees, desperately looking for one more drawer to put that liner paper in. Finally, Chelsea took charge and told us ever so gently that it was time for us to go. So, we closed a big chapter in the most important work of our lives. As you will see Thursday night, when Chelsea speaks, Hillary has done a pretty fine job of being a mother. And as you saw last night beyond a shadow of a doubt, so has Michelle Obama.</p>
<p id="Ak3oFh">Now fast-forward, in 1999, congressman Charlie Rangel and other Democrats urged Hillary to run for the seat of retiring senator Pat Moynihan. We had always intended to go to New York after I left office and commute to Arkansas, but this had never occurred to either one of us. Hillary had never run for office before but she decided to give it a try. She began her campaign the way she always does things, by listening and learning. And after a tough battle, New York elected her to the seat once held by another outsider, Robert Kennedy.</p>
<p id="q29AQK">And she did not let him down. Her early years were dominated by 9/11. By working to find the recovery. Then monitoring the health of and providing compensation to victims and first- and second-responders. She and Sen. Shuman were tireless and so were the house members.</p>
<p id="a3xB3j">In 2003, partly spurred on by what they were going through, she became the first senator in the history of New York ever to serve on the Armed Services Committee. So she tried to make sure people on the battlefield had proper equipment. She tried to expand, and did expand, health care coverage to members of the National Guard. She got longer family leave working with Senator Dodd for people caring for wounded servicemembers and she worked for more extensive care for people with traumatic brain injury.</p>
<p id="TRPpqR">She also served on a special Pentagon commission to propose changes necessary to meet our new security challenges. Newt Gingrich was on that commission. He told me what a good job she had done. I say that because nobody who has seriously dealt with the men and women in today’s military believes they are a "disaster." They are a national treasure of all races, all religions, all walks of life.</p>
<p id="Os4w96">Now, meanwhile, she compiled a really solid record, totally progressive, on economic and social issues. She voted for him against a proposed trade deal. She became the de facto economic development officer for the area outside of New York City. She worked for farmers, for winemakers, for small businesses and manufacturers. For upstate cities and rural areas that needed more ideas and more new investment to create new jobs. Something we have to do again in small town and rural America, in neighborhoods that of been left behind to our cities, in Indian country, and, yes, in coal country.</p>
<p id="GuVdzY">When she lost the hard-fought contest to President Obama in 2008, she worked for his election hard. But she hesitated to say yes when he asked her to join his Cabinet, because she so loved being a senator from New York. So like me, in a different context, he had to keep asking. But as we all saw and heard from Madeleine Albright, it was worth the effort and worth the wait.</p>
<p id="pB9HG7">As secretary of state, she worked hard to get strong sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. And in what the Wall Street Journal called a "half-court shot at the buzzer," she got Russia and China to support them. Her team negotiated the new START treaty with Russia to reduce nuclear weapons and establish inspections. And she got enough Republican support to get two thirds of the senate, the vote necessary to ratify the treaty.</p>
<p id="EtF5Na">She flew all night long from Cambodia to the Middle East to get a ceasefire that would avoid a full-out shooting war between Hamas and Gaza, to protect the peace of the region. She backed President Obama's decision to go after Osama bin Laden. She launched a team — and this is really important today — she launched a team to fight back against terrorists online and built a new global counterterrorism effort. We have got to win this battle. In the mine field.</p>
<p id="316lCE">She put climate change at the center of our foreign policy. She negotiated the first agreement ever with China and India, officially committed to reduce their emissions.</p>
<p id="3n6ujL">And as she had been doing since she went to Beijing in 1995 and said, "Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights," she worked to empower women and girls around the world and to make the same exact declaration on behalf of the LGBT community in America and around the world.</p>
<p id="gQebCF">And, nobody ever talks about this much — nobody ever talks about this much, but it is important to me. She tripled the number of people with AIDS in four countries whose lives are being saved with your tax dollars. Most of them in Africa, going from 1.7 million lives to 5.1 million lives and it did not cost you any more money. She just bought available FDA-approved generic drugs, something we need to do for the American people more.</p>
<p>Now, you do not know any of these people. You don't know any of these 3.4 million people, but I guarantee, they know you. They know you because they see you as thinking their lives matter. They know you, and that’s one reason the approval of the United States was 20 points higher when she left the Secretary of State's office than when she took it.</p>
<p id="RUqIhr">Now, how does this square? How does this square with the things that you heard at the Republican convention? What is the difference in what I told you and what they said? How do you square it? You can’t. One is real, the other is made up.</p>
<p id="9cnJta">And you just have to decide which is which, my fellow Americans. The real one had done more positive change-making before she was 30-years-old than most politicians do with a lifetime in office. The real one, if you saw her friend Betsy Ebeling from Illinois today, has friends from childhood through Arkansas, where she has not lived for more than 20 years, who have gone all across America at their own expense to fight for the person they know.</p>
<p id="wONA3o">The real one has earned the loyalty and respect and the fervent support of people who have worked with her in every stage of her life, including leaders around the world who know her to be able, straightforward, and completely trustworthy. The real one calls you when you're sick, when your kid’s in trouble, or when there is a death in the family. The real one repeatedly drew praise from prominent Republicans when she was a senator and secretary of state.</p>
<p id="CCuVmh">So what is up with this? Well, if you win elections, on the theory the government is always bad and will mess up a two-car parade — a real change-maker represents a real threat. So your only option is to create a cartoon. A cartoon alternative. Then run against the cartoon. Cartoons are two-dimensional. They’re easy to absorb. Life in the world is complicated and real change is hard. And a lot of people even think it is boring. Good for you, because earlier today you nominated the real one.</p>
<p id="fh7AAb">We have to get back on schedule — look, I have lived a long, full, blessed life. It really took off when I met and fell in love with that girl in the spring of 1971. When I was president I worked hard to give you peace and shared prosperity, to give you an America where nobody is invisible or counted out. But, for this time, Hillary is uniquely qualified to seize the opportunities and reduce the risks we face and she is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known.</p>
<p id="cf6ZGL">You could drop her in any trouble spot. Pick one. Come back in a month and somehow, some way, she will have made it better. That is just who she is. There are clear, achievable, affordable responses to our challenges. But we will not get to them if America makes the wrong choice in this election. That is why you should elect her.</p>
<p id="JUiPW2">And you should elect her because she will never quit when the going gets tough. She will never quit on you. She sent me in this primary to West Virginia, where she knew we were going to lose, to look those coal miners in the eye and say, "I am down here because Hillary sent me to tell you that if you really think you can get the economy back that you had 50 years ago, have at it, vote for whoever you want to. But if she wins, she is coming back for you to take you along on the ride to America's future."</p>
<p id="Jnb584">And so I say to you, if you love this country and are working hard, are paying taxes, and obeying the law, and you’d like to become a citizen, you should choose immigration reform over somebody who wants to send you back. If you are a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make the future together.</p>
<p>We want you. If you are a young African American disillusioned and afraid, we saw in Dallas how great our police officers can be. Help us build a future where nobody is afraid to walk outside, including the people who wear blue to protect our future.</p>
<p id="xc89I0">Hillary will make us stronger together. You know it because she spent a lifetime doing it. I hope you will do it. I hope you will elect her. Those of us who have more yesterdays than tomorrows tend to care more about our children and grandchildren. The reason you should elect her is that in the greatest country on Earth, we have always been about tomorrow. Your children and grandchildren will bless you forever if you do. God bless you. Thank you.</p>
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12294106/bill-clinton-full-speech-dncKatie Hicks