‘Moment of reckoning’ as Clinton formally claims Democrats’ nomination | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Hillary Clinton offered herself to the nation as a dedicated public servant and tested leader best equipped to face a “moment of reckoning” and bring Americans together to solve the enduring problems of economic and national security.

Clinton acknowledged the continued turmoil in the United States and across the world that has led to fear and anxiety but pledged to help Americans recover from the sluggish economy and keep them safe from terrorist threats.

“America is once again at a moment of reckoning,” Clinton said as she accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination at its national convention. “Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. And just as with our founders there are no guarantees. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we’re going to work together so we can all rise together.”

The crowd waved American flags and chanted “Hillary!” so loudly that they, at times, drowned her out. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, watched from the audience.

Clinton had a difficult task to both appeal to left-leaning Democrats, many of whom passionately prefer her rival, Bernie Sanders, as well as moderates and independents who are still undecided.

Recent national polls show Clinton locked in a tight race with Republican Donald Trump with voters questioning her likeability and honesty. The race has tightened over the summer and is now a virtual dead heat.

Trump appealed to emotion and fear last week at the Republican convention. On Thursday, Clinton tried to persuade voters with detail and practicality. She filled her speech with some of the dozens of policy proposals she has rolled out during the last year, everything from repairing roads to combating Alzheimer’s disease.

“I want to tell you tonight how we’re going to empower all Americans to live better lives,” she said. “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. 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 tried to do what her husband did for her in his own address Tuesday night — humanize herself by telling personal stories and showing her own personality. She shared an often-not seen personal side, talking about her late mother, her daughter and grandchildren and shared anecdotes about being a working mother and a grandmother.

Though she’s one of the most famous women in the world, Clinton has struggled with relating to everyday Americans on the campaign trail after years of being criticized as an out-of-touch wealthy Washington insider.

“The truth is, through all these years of public service, the `service’ part has always come easier to me than the ‘public’ part,” she said. “I get it that some people just don’t know what to make of me. So let me tell you.”

Clinton also fought back against Republicans who wrongly suggest she wants to strip Americans of their legal weapons and to wipe out the Second Amendment. “I’m not here to take your guns,” she said.

Chelsea speaks

Like Trump, she was introduced by her adult daughter, Chelsea Clinton, who called her a “kind, thoughtful and hilarious mother” who didn’t miss a soccer game or dance recital when she was growing up and now will “drop everything” for a few minutes of blowing kisses with her granddaughter. “That’s who my mom is: a listener and a doer, a woman driven by compassion, by faith, by kindness, a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love,” Chelsea Clinton said.

Clinton was also not shy about referencing her place in history as the first woman to secure a major party’s nomination for president, calling it “a milestone in our nation’s march toward a more perfect union.”

“Standing here as my mother’s daughter, and my daughter’s mother, I’m so happy this day has come,” she said. “Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. 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.”

Her speech, which closed out the four-day event in Philadelphia, came after well-received speeches by her husband and President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, all of whom are considered talented story tellers.

Their speeches were meant to contrast with Trump’s dark speech last week at the Republican convention in Cleveland, where he accused Clinton of a legacy of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness” and vowed to crack down on crime and illegal immigration.

Like Obama, Clinton forcefully defended America from a pessimistic Republican view. “We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against,” Clinton said. “But we are not afraid. We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.”

And she sought to undermine Trump’s calling card as a successful business man, repeatedly noting his bankruptcies and failure to release his income tax returns — as every other presidential candidate has done since Richard Nixon.

Bus tour begins

Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, will embark on a three-day bus tour today with stops in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Her husband and his running mate, Al Gore, similarly embarked on a bus tour immediately after their nomination in 1992.

Clinton began thinking about her speech several weeks ago, sending ideas and suggestions to aides at various points during the writing process, according to her campaign. She continued to work on it Thursday.

Campaign manager Robby Mook said the speech was designed to pull together themes of Clinton’s story, contrasting it with Trump’s.

“This election is really a moment of reckoning for the voters,” Mook said. “Are we going to succumb to some very powerful forces that are dividing us or are we going to come together to solve problems?”

To show the constancy of this theme in her life, she invoked her 1996 book, It Takes a Village, a story about the people that impact children, which her campaign says was the forerunner to her campaign theme of “Stronger Together.”

“Every generation of Americans has come together to make our country freer, fairer, and stronger,” she said. “None of us can do it alone. That’s why we are stronger together.”

Trump fires back

Trump, meanwhile, responded Thursday to scorching attacks by President Barack Obama and others at the Democratic convention by saying they were “not talking about the real world” of Islamic terrorism, unchecked illegal immigration, rampant crime, a depleted military and U.S. jobs “pouring into Mexico.”

“Boy, am I getting hit,” the Republican presidential nominee said to supporters at a rally in Davenport, Iowa.

Trump denied accusations that he’d outlined a dark vision of America last week at the GOP convention in Cleveland, saying he had offered a “very optimistic” prescription for overcoming the nation’s troubles.

The normally unbridled New York businessman was relatively subdued at the first of two Iowa campaign stops. He said he’d resisted the temptation to respond “viciously” to those attacking him at the Democratic gathering this week in Philadelphia.

“I was going to hit one guy in particular — a very little guy,” he said in an apparent reference to Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and political independent who branded Trump a “con” in a speech to Democratic delegates on Wednesday. “I was going to hit this guy so hard, his head would spin. He wouldn’t know what the hell happened.”

Trump said he was heeding an unidentified governor’s advice to stay focused on attacking Hillary Clinton.

“I was going to hit a number of those speakers so hard, their heads would spin,” he said. “They’d never recover. That’s why I still don’t have certain people endorsing me. They still haven’t recovered.”

Staff writer John Gravois contributed to this report, which contains material from the Los Angeles Times.