Hillary Leaves No Stone Unturned

All were included at the Democratic National Convention: individuals with disabilities, individuals with mental illnesses, children of undocumented immigrants, minorities, Bernie Sanders supporters, Bill Clinton supporters and Obama supporters. Hillary hit the bullseye and played all the cards in her hands, giving a vigorous response to the Republican National Convention.

The hacking of the emails certainly initially created a troublesome ambiance for the Democratic National Convention. The hacks of the Democratic National Committee’s emails revealed the methods that the Clinton campaign used to coax major donors into supporting her. This leak harmed her campaign as the media and voters saw it as “big money at work.” According to CNN, the Clinton campaign placed the blame on Russia for the breach and accused Trump’s team for encouraging Russia to do that. While foreign hacks and collection of information on US elections are common, the fact that the information was revealed so close to the convention certainly alluded to the involvement of parties closer to home as they would be the major beneficiaries of such an action.

According to the New York Times, the hacking also revealed that the Democratic National Committee may have derided Bernie Sanders campaign. In one email, Mark Paustenbach, a committee communications official, wrote about possibly encouraging reporters to criticize Sanders’ campaign by calling it “a mess.” This garnered massive outrage from Bernie supporters, who showed up at the convention simply to protest. With “Lock her up” trending on social media just the week before due to the RNC and then the email leak, the Democratic National Convention certainly had most – if not all-odds placed against it.

However, leave it to Hillary Clinton to turn the tables around. The campaign began with the DNC issuing an apology to Sanders. With Bernie Sanders on Hillary’s side, not only did she try to win over his constituency, but she also made the DNC’s dulcet speeches target every group that felt ostracized by Trump. The rhetoric of freedom and equity for all that the party emphasized at the convention, was based on principles and ideas that laid the foundation of the United States. With endorsements from Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders and Demi Lovato, it is clear that Hillary left no stone unturned to turn the odds in her favor.

Nonetheless, Hillary still has a long way to go in order to truly win over Sanders’ constituency since the wounds from the email leaks are still fresh. In addition, the larger concern of democratic and independent voters, who don’t want to vote for either candidate or are opting to use this election to finally vote for a third party candidate, remains. This is certainly troublesome for her as any sit out on voting or  third party candidate voting will prove to be a vote for Trump.

However, with this convention, the Democrats definitely managed to show more of a united front than the Republicans did. Albeit, this is only a small victory on the larger scale and both candidates still have a long way to go, this convention proved to be historic with Hillary’s victory. While it is important to not diminish her victory to solely her gender, it is extremely crucial to recognize what her victory means in the realm of binary gender: her victory, undeniably, is a testament to the empowerment of females after centuries of struggle.

Overall, garnering the attention of about 26 million viewers on the first night and producing the first woman to win the major party nomination for president, it is fair to say that the DNC gave not only a robust response to the RNC, but also a robust start to the general elections.  

Featured Image via Wikimedia