Hillary Clinton was to formally end her historic quest to be the US’ first woman president yesterday, after a nominating campaign once seen as inevitable crumbled under Barack Obama’s onslaught.
Clinton’s ordeal in Washington’s National Building Museum was closely watched for the tenor of her endorsement of the presumptive Democratic nominee, after her first post-primary effort last Tuesday struck some as ungracious.
The former first lady’s rally was to be the latest attempt to unite the Democratic Party after a divisive campaign and followed a secret meeting with Obama on Thursday nigh, and speculation about her vice presidential prospects.
Clinton’s constituency of white, working class voters, women and Hispanics could play a crucial role in boosting Obama all the way to the White House, but is also seen by Republican presidential candidate John McCain as part of his own path to power.
The New York Senator’s campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said her mission now was to rally the party to defeat McCain in November’s general election and to close ranks behind Obama in his own historic White House bid.
“She will do anything, she has made that clear, she will do anything she can to help Barack Obama,” he said, as Clinton held a party at her home in an upscale Washington neighborhood to console laid-off campaign staffers.
Clinton’s speech at noon yesterday was to be the final act in a near 17-month odyssey, which has encompassed two winters, the snows of Iowa and the dry heat of Nevada, gritty towns of Pennsylvania and swank Hollywood fundraisers.
On Friday, an exuberant Obama offered a cheeky prediction he would be president in 2016, as he tried to lend his winning streak to his home city of Chicago’s Olympics bid.
Obama joked he could put his house up for rent, to make a financial killing if Chicago wins the Summer Games.
“I have to let you know in 2016, I’ll be wrapping up my second term as president,” Obama said in a surprise appearance at a rally celebrating Chicago’s selection as a finalist for the Olympics.
“So I can’t think of a better way than to be marching into Washington park ... as president of the United States and announcing to the world, let the Games begin!” he told a surprise outdoor rally downtown.
Obama will embark tomorrow on a two-week tour focusing on economic woes facing many Americans, apparently targeting blue-collar Democrats who often favored Clinton over him.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS