Clinton: 'We Will Rise To The Challenge'
PHILADELPHIA (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Hillary Clinton told a nationally televised audience during her historic speech at the Democratic National Convention that "America is once again at a moment of reckoning."
Clinton became the first woman to accept the nomination for president of a major political party on Thursday night, coming out on stage to chants of "Hillary! Hillary!"
"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," Clinton said to roaring applause.
PHOTOS: 2016 Democratic National Convention: Night 4
During her speech, Clinton touched on the divisions facing America.
COMPLETE CAMPAIGN 2016 COVERAGE
"Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying," Clinton said. "And just as with our founders, there are no guarantees. It's truly up to us. We have to decide whether we're going to work together so we can all rise together."
Clinton laid out her plan for America as president.
"My primary mission as president will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States, from my first day in office to my last, especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind," Clinton said. "From our inner cities to our small towns, Indian country to coal country. From the industrial Midwest to the Mississippi Delta to the Rio Grande Valley."
Clinton touched on national security and what the world is facing from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, saying that Americans are "looking for steady leadership."
"The choice we face is just as stark when it comes to our national security. Anyone reading the news can see the threats and turbulence we face," the Democratic nominee said. "From Baghdad to Kabul, to Nice and Paris and Brussels, to San Bernardino and Orlando, we're dealing with determined enemies that must be defeated. No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance, looking for steady leadership."
She continued, "I've laid out my strategy for defeating ISIS. 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. We will disrupt their efforts online to reach and radicalize young people in our country. It won't be easy or quick, but make no mistake -- we will prevail."
The former secretary of state said that America is ready for the challenge.
"We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against, but we are not afraid," she will say. "We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have," Clinton stated.
In an effort to get supporters of Bernie Sanders to back her campaign, Clinton thanked the Vermont senator for inspiring millions of Americans during his campaign.
She said she needs his supporters to help make real change happen.
"To all of your supporters here and around the country, I want you to know, I've heard you," she said to shouts of "Bernie, Bernie" ringing throughout the arena. "Your cause is our cause. Our country needs your ideas, energy, and passion. That is the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America. We wrote it together -- now let's go out and make it happen together."
Clinton added that she and Sanders will work together to make college tuition free for the middle class.
However, while she was talking, supporters had to drown out hecklers with "Hillary" chants several times. CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported around 300 Sanders supporters wore glow in the dark shirts. Some of them turned their backs while Clinton was speaking, while others walked out.
She said her Republican opponent Donald Trump is looking to instill fear in Americans.
"He wants to divide us from the rest of the world, and from each other. He's betting that the perils of today's world will blind us to its unlimited promise. He's taken the Republican Party a long way -- from 'Morning in America' to 'Midnight in America,'" Clinton said. "He wants us to fear the future and fear each other."
She said no one should trust a person who said, "I alone can fix it," as Trump said during his speech at the Republican National Convention.
"They should set off alarm bells for all of us," Clinton said, calling his RNC speech "odd."
"He offered zero solutions, but we already know he doesn't believe these things. No wonder he doesn't like talking about his plans," Clinton said.
"Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis," she said. "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."
Clinton reflected on her past as first lady, senator and secretary of state during her speech and sought to tell Americans about what type of family she came from.
She talked about how she came from a family of builders, but "no one had their name on big buildings."
"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. That's what we need to do together as a nation," Clinton said.
She said she will be a president for all, no matter what political affiliation.
"For the struggling, the striving and the successful. For those who vote for me and those who don't. For all Americans," she said.
Trump took to Twitter following Clinton's speech, criticizing her for not saying "radical Islam" during her address.
"Our way of life is under threat by Radical Islam and Hillary Clinton cannot even bring herself to say the words," Trump said.
Trump also tweeted: "Hillary's vision is a borderless world where working people have no power, no jobs, no safety."
Clinton was introduced by her daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
"As her daughter, I've had a special window into how she serves. I've seen her holding the hands of mothers worrying about how they'll feed their kids; worrying about how they'll get that health care they need. I've seen my mother promising to do everything she could to help," she said.
Clinton's four-day convention began with efforts to shore up liberals who backed Sanders in the Democratic primary and it ended with an outstretched hand to Republicans and independents unnerved by Trump. A parade of military leaders, law enforcement officials and Republicans took the stage ahead of Clinton to endorse her in the general election contest with Trump.
"This is the moment, this is the opportunity for our future," said retired Marine Gen. John R. Allen, a former commander in Afghanistan. "We must seize this moment to elect Hillary Clinton as president of the United States of America."
American flags waved in the stands of the packed convention hall and the crowd broke into chants of "U-S-A!" drowning out scattered calls of "No more war."
The Democratic nomination now officially hers, Clinton has just over three months to persuade Americans Trump is unqualified for the Oval Office and overcome the visceral connection he has with some voters in a way the Democratic nominee does not.
Campaigning in Iowa Thursday, Trump said there were "a lot of lies being told" at Clinton's convention. In an earlier statement, he accused Democrats of living in a "fantasy world," ignoring economic and security troubles as well as Clinton's controversial email use at the State Department.
"At Hillary Clinton's convention this week, Democrats have been speaking about a world that doesn't exist. A world where America has full employment, where there's no such thing as radical Islamic terrorism, where the border is totally secured, and where thousands of innocent Americans have not suffered from rising crime in cities like Baltimore and Chicago," Trump said.
The FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of a private internet server didn't result in criminal charges, but it did appear to deepen voters' concerns with her honesty and trustworthiness. A separate pre-convention controversy over hacked Democratic Party emails showing favoritism for Clinton in the primary threatens to deepen the perception that Clinton prefers to play by her own rules.
Through four nights of polished convention pageantry, Democratic heavyweights told a different story about Clinton. The most powerful validation came Wednesday night from President Barack Obama, her victorious primary rival in 2008. Obama declared Clinton not only can defeat Trump's "deeply pessimistic vision" but also realize the "promise of this great nation."
Seeking to offset possible weariness with a politician who has been in the spotlight for decades, he said of Clinton: "She's been there for us, even if we haven't always noticed."
A studious wonk who prefers policy discussions to soaring oratory, Clinton has acknowledged she struggles with the flourishes that seem to come naturally to Obama and her husband. She leaned heavily on her "stronger together" campaign theme, invoking her 1996 book "It Takes a Village."
Indeed, the Democratic convention has been a visual ode those mantras: The first African-American president symbolically seeking to hand the weightiest baton in the free world to a woman. A parade of speakers -- gay and straight, young and old, white, black and Hispanic -- cast Trump as out-of-touch with a diverse and fast-changing nation.
Khizr Khan, an American Muslim whose son was killed in military service, emotionally implored voters to stop Trump, who has called for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration.
"Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with their future," Khan said. "Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy."
The program paid tribute to law enforcement officers killed on duty, including five who died in Dallas earlier this month in retaliation for officer-involved shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.
"Violence is not the answer," Dallas Sheriff Lupe Valdez said. "Yelling, screaming and calling each other names is not going to do it."
On the convention's closing night, Clinton sought to reach beyond the Democratic base, particularly to moderate Republicans unnerved by Trump.
Former Reagan administration official Doug Elmets announced he was casting his first vote for a Democrat in November, and urged other Republicans who "believe loyalty to our country is more important than loyalty to party" to do the same.
Following reports Russia hacked Democratic Party emails, Trump said he'd like to see Moscow find the thousands of emails Clinton deleted from the account she used as secretary of state. Hours later, Trump told Fox News he was being "sarcastic" although shortly after his remarks on Wednesday, he tweeted that Russia should share the emails with the FBI.
A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll finds her numbers slipping. Trump is now a few points ahead in a match up against Clinton with about 13 percent of those surveyed saying that they wouldn't vote for either candidate, CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported.
CBS2's Kramer reported the latest CBS News poll revealed Clinton had an unfavorable rating of 56 percent, and just a 31 percent favorable rating. Trump is also dealing with the same issue, as he has a 53 percent unfavorable rating and a 34 percent favorable rating.
However, a recent Suffolk University poll shows Clinton holds a nine-point lead over Trump in the swing state of Pennsylvania — 50 to 41 percent.
"Hillary Clinton is flirting with 50 thanks to Philly," said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Research Center in Boston. "At this point Clinton's large lead in the Philadelphia area is offsetting losses to Trump in other parts of the state. She also is amassing the support of women and thus drowning out Trump's marginal lead among men."
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
