Clintons give up the fight as Obama gets his nomination

Peace finally broke out at the Democratic convention in Denver yesterday as the Clintons gave up the fight to get back to the White House - in this election, if not in 2012 - and Barack Obama became the first African-American to be nominated by a major party for the US presidency.

In a carefully staged moment of unity - achieved after weeks of negotiation between the Obama and Clinton camps, and timed to coincide with the evening news broadcasts - Hillary Clinton entered the Pepsi Center and called a halt to the roll call which, until that moment, had required each state's delegates to give their numbers, reminding one and all that the former First Lady had enjoyed huge support in the primaries.

The balloting stood at 1,549 for Obama and 341 for Clinton - with 2,210 delegates needed to clinch the nomination - when it came to the Illinois delegates' turn. Chicago Mayor Richard M Daley passed on behalf of the state delegation and the count skipped to New York.

Then Hillary made her entrance - to a standing ovation - and dramatically stopped the roll call, urging delegates to declare by acclamation "together in one voice, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president". Thousands of delegates roared their approval.

Later, Bill Clinton, too, put aside his differences with Obama. Having continually refused during the primaries, under direct questioning, to say Obama was prepared for the job, he finally declared: "Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I have done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job."

Dealing with the jibes from the Republicans that Obama is too inexperienced a politician to take on the White House, Clinton said: "Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history."

Obama's newly appointed running mate, Senator Joe Biden, echoed Clinton's praise in accepting his vice-presidential nomination. "Barack Obama gets it," he said. "The choice in this election is clear. These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader, a leader who can deliver change."

Obama, who had not been not expected to join the delegates before his acceptance speech on Thursday night at the Denver Broncos' football stadium, made a surprise appearance with Biden on stage. To applause, he said wryly, "I think this convention's gone pretty well so far."

Yes and no. Opinion polls show that Obama has received little or no 'bounce' from Denver - despite his wife Michelle's polished performance on Monday - or from picking Biden as his vice-presidential candidate. The Gallup daily tracking poll still had the Republicans' John McCain ahead by two points nationally on Tuesday. As US political commentators constantly remind each other, no one knows how many Americans simply will not vote for a black candidate.

FIRST POSTED AUGUST 28, 2008