USA Political heavyweights heap praise on Obama 28/08/08 18:40 CET

Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden were formally nominated on Wednesday to carry the Democrats’ White House hopes. The would-be US President made an earlier than expected appearance on stage at the party convention in Denver.

His Vice-Presidential nominee wowed delegates, telling them this ticket was a winning one.
“Let me say this as simply as I can,” Biden declared to the party faithful. “Yes, yes, I accept your nomination to run and serve with Barack Obama, the next president of the United States of America.” “The choice in this election is clear. These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader.”

Ecstatic scenes greeted the Clintons’ arrival. And it was Obama’s defeated opponent Hillary Clinton who asked delegates to suspend their roll call of states to make him the nominee by acclamation. “Let’s declare together, in one voice, right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president,” she urged.

Having dominated the party since the early 1990s, the Clintons are handing over the baton. And from a man who has held the top job in the United States there was a full-on endorsement for the Democrats’ new choice. “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,” Bill Clinton told delighted Democrats.

But it is the American people who now need to be convinced. They will deliver their verdict on Tuesday 4 November.