Chair, then making that announcement by acclimation. You speak of the tradition. Its really a tradition that only goes back eight years ago. I was standing there in the new york delegation when Hillary Clinton did that for barack obama. She had of course come over and endorsed him within four days of his nailing the nomination. This was a much more protracted process, where we were into New Hampshire a couple weeks ago and he actually endorsed her. It was a very grudging speech and there was a lot of back talk about how it was not going to come together. But got to give him a lot of credit. He went to the delegation, took the abuse and the booing yesterday, he went to them one by one, went to california today which had been a hotbed of criticism and rebellion, and went and assuaged their fears that this is not over and hes going to continue. A couple of points. He is not going to raise money for her. He is not going to turn over his email list so he will still be
an independent player trying to lead this effort to change the party and change politics. You are not going to get off that easy, because in a nonpartisan way but as someone who has covered so much politics and covered so many of these and worked with so many of us and is looked up to by so many of us here, how does this moment feel, what the Democratic Party just did . Well, with all of the talk of the problems and difficulties along the way, a woman has been nominated by the Democratic Party, the first time thats happened, and it feels extraordinary. I have to say. I remember being in little rock in 1992 and seeing some of the women who were being introduced as cabinet members and thinking wow, theyre of my generation. These are women in the cabinet. And there were only a few. It was not a big number. But to see the change in politics, the aspirations that Michelle Obama spoke of
yesterday, and she praising Hillary Clinton, remember how bitter that race was in 08, praising Hillary Clinton for what she now represents to her daughters, those wonderful young women growing up in the white house. Its a Pretty Amazing role model, no matter how this turns out, all of us feel i think men and women feel very aware of the history here. Andrea mitchell, thank you very much. Channeling the birddog reporting of those who have gone before him, like andrea mitchell, you may have heard Jacob Soboroff trying in vain to get a comment out of Bernie Sanders as he made his way to the floor. Jacob has made his way to the vermont delegation. No dice as they say with Bernie Sanders. Im here with donny, who you saw sitting next to Bernie Sanders, the chair of the vermont delegation. What did he say to you . What did you say to him . He sat down, he said how are you doing. I said im doing all right. I said how are you doing . He goes me, too. How long did you know this was going to happen . I have been annoying you all day to ask will somebody move to have a vote by acclimation and you said i dont know. Be honest. How long have you known . You saw the phone. This phone right here is a phone in the booth. The white phone went blinkyblinky, stopped. And it would keep going on and off. We really didnt know until about two or three minutes beforehand. Two or three minutes before. What was it like to have that, you guys passed, you went last, then Bernie Sanders made these remarks, after all this time, after being part of this so long, how did it feel . Im relieved we are finally at a conclusion for this part of the election. We are so very, very proud of our senator Bernie Sanders, as much as we are proud of our senator leahy and representative congressman welch. The other thing Going Forward now is that the movement in the
motion and the revolution continues in our state and across the nation. We have a myriad of young adults that need to be recognized, heard and brought forward into this party with respect. Thats important. And we move forward in unification, in support of our president Hillary Clinton. Finally, one thing i wanted to ask Bernie Sanders as he walked out, he didnt want to talk to me, no offense taken, what does he say to the bernie or bust folks . I talked to a lot of folks in the arena that say they still dont want to support Hillary Clinton. What is your take on that . I think hes written in various emails, he is interested in moving on. What comes out day by day, well learn more about his message and its just up to us to be very strong democrats and move forward into the election with Hillary Clinton. Thank you. Also, special shoutout to tim
german, vice chair of the delegation. Brian, rachel, back to you from the secret white phone. Thank you. At this moment where we just in the past moment got the first female nominee for president ever in the history of the United States, we are just about to hear from the podium from the first ever female speaker of the house, nancy pelosi will be speaking joined by a number of other female democratic members of congress. The historic nature of what just happened here in terms of Hillary Clinton being the first female nominee is not lost on this crowd. But they are about to make the most of it with these Democratic Women. Led by as you said the democratic leader from the bay area, nancy pelosi. Good evening. Good evening, everyone. In 1776, not very far from here, our Founding Fathers created our nation. 96 years after americas women first won the right to vote, 96 years ago, we are preparing to shatter the highest, strongest marble ceiling in our country by electing Hillary Clinton president of the United States. Arent you proud to be part of this historic moment in our history . Hillary clinton knows that this moment is not just about one womans achievement, but about what a woman president will mean for the dreams and hopes and aspirations of every woman and
every son and every daughter across the land for generations to come. The Democratic Women of the house are leading the way to unleash the power of americas women and working families in our economy, in our society and in our democracy. Nothing is more wholesome for america than the increased participation of and leadership of women in government and politics. Here tonight, are Women Leaders who personify the integrity, imagination and idealism and indeed, the courage that will build a stronger america for hardworking families. As Hillary Clinton did, they have spent their lifetimes fighting for women and children and in november, we will affirm that great truth of our country. When women succeed, america succeeds. Hi. This is congresswoman matsui from california. This is again the collected women of the house at the front of the stage. Lets take a breath with our guests. Lawrence odonnell and our Pulitzer Prize winning the Washington Post columnist eugene robinson. What have we just witnessed . An extraordinary story in the career of a politician. To see Bernie Sanders at age 74 sitting in that chair waiting for his delegation to report the vote total and then for him to make this announcement. If you look at his life in the senate, 18 months ago, two years ago, this was completely
unpredictable. He was, because he wasnt in a party and he wasnt a power broker, one of the ignored members of the senate. His Senior Member from vermont, patrick leahy, is one of the real power brokers of the senate. The power brokers are the chairs of the big committees, the Senior Members, and to see Bernie Sanders now in this role, through this route, was something no one could predict. He started in the polls at 3 . He ended up with 43 of the votes in this primary and what he did was go out and find a voter and a way of communicating with a voter that the democrats didnt know about, that no one knew about. No one knew you could stand up and say yes, im a socialist. Now lets talk about the issues. No one knew, by the way, when you get into precedent of biographical information of candidates that a jewish candidate could get this far in a president ial race without it even being mentioned. Never he muted it to the
point of irrelevance. No one cares that the jewish candidate got this far. Its an astonishing thing that he did. No one is more surprised than all of his colleagues in the senate who will look at him as one of the new power brokers of the senate. No one knew either that you could suggest a ban on muslims coming into the United States. Its been that kind of a year. Yeah. But the Bernie Sanders drama, this is, i mean, last hurrahs are dramatic. A 74yearold politician getting any kind of hurrah is usually the last hurrah but the distance he traveled, the things he taught us. When he started at 3 i didnt think he was going to get any higher. I thought he would get to 9 , turn in a Dennis Kucinich style performance. I didnt see where he would be able to get this traction. No one predicted it. No one predicted what happened to donald trump on the other side but this story is an amazing story that has a future to it because he found a vote
and filled that room with voters who were activate bid by him an the idealism he brought out of them. Gene, you are in the newspaper business which still rises and falls by headlines. Bernie sanders calls for acclimation is the sidebar. There is a head line story. Hillary clinton nominated for president , first woman nominated by a major party, and i think we have to sit with that moment for awhile and just think about that. First time i met Hillary Clinton just to shake hands with her was in 1980, and she was the first lady of arkansas and Vice President mondale was making a Campaign Swing through i think it was hot springs, arkansas and the clintons had a reception and i shook hands with them. She could not have imagined at that moment, well, maybe she did, that she would be here today. She might have thought because a
lot of people thought that bill clinton might some day be accepting the nomination if things went right, but to think of not just how far she came, how far the nation has come since that time, its just extraordinary. Its an international moment. So many of our closest allies and the countries we think of ourselves as most like in the world passed this kind of milestone a long time ago. Ages. We have a lot of selfcongratulations about this but the real story is look how late we are, how late we were in allowing women to vote in this country, to have elective office. There are 22 countries in the world that already have a woman in this position including african countries, countries where the position of women generally is not as favorable. Argentina. Brazil. Now that we have a nominee there is still a very open and active question as to whether or not america is ready to elect a
woman now that one has been nominated. Gender factor here, yes, women are the majority of the electorate in a general election, the majority of the election in a primary. She had a hard primary against Bernie Sanders. Theres a question as to whether or not the country is ready even though we have hit this milestone today. You know my view. If this country was ready to elect a black guy whose middle name is husain well find out. There is one tiny fly in the ointment about this story we are telling about what just happened with Bernie Sanders. Which is that Bernie Sanders did not literally call for Hillary Clintons nomination to be by acclimation. Marcia fudge did. Yes. What Bernie Sanders was say thank you, madam chair, i move the convention suspend the procedural rules, i move that all votes cast by the delegates be reflected in the official record and i move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the united
states. He did not technically move for her to be nominated by acclimation which means unanimously. We will bring in Steve Kornacki into the conversation. Is this a picayune point . This is for history, this is why we just had a roll call of the states like we have never seen before on the democratic side. Funny, this is the second straight week the traditional rules for the roll call of the states have been tweaked by Convention Organizers because of the particular sensitivities of the delegates. What we saw at the rnc last week was the fear that some of those delegations would be renegades, start calling out votes against donald trump so there was a ruling that hey, we are keeping score up here at the podium no matter what you say down there on the floor. The sensitivities tonight were simple. Bernie sanders and his supporters made clear in their negotiations with the clinton side that the absolute bottom line to them was that every single delegation, every state, every territory you go through and all of the votes are cast
and that all of those votes in some way are recorded for the future so anybody looking back at this convention, 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now, will see that Bernie Sanders received 1800 plus votes for president. Now, the problem you ran into there was what do they traditionally do at these conventions. You see, traditionally, when a candidate goes over the top, when they hit the magic number as Hillary Clinton did in south dakota, they stop, they celebrate, theres confetti. We saw in 1992 bill clinton walked into the convention when he hit the magic number. They couldnt do that tonight because they did not want to insult the sanders delegates and make it seem like they were cutting short the vote that was so important to them. So what was the work around, what was the solution . I dont know if you can see this at home because if you are watching at home, you had the scoreboard on the screen the entire time. Were in a basketball arena. No one was keeping score in this arena. Not a single one of the scoreboards had the delegate count as the votes were being cast so nobody in this room except a few people maybe
checking their phone even knew when south dakota cast those votes that put Hillary Clinton over the top that she had officially become the nominee. Thats how they got through every state. When they got to the end, Bernie Sanders did as Hillary Clinton did eight years ago when she moved to nominate barack obama accept, he added that very particular language where he said i move that the vote be recorded. He does not want history saying this was simply unanimous, this was acclimation. He wants anybody in history looking back at this convention and this moment to say Bernie Sanders was there, his delegates were there and there were more than 1800 of them. In case theres any question that the clinton folks and the dnc have bent over backwards to make sure the sensitivities of the sanders folks are taken into account here, Bernie Sanders gets to have the moment which is otherwise Hillary Clintons moment of securing the nomination. Sanders does not technically move for it to be by acclimation. It does not go down as a
unanimous vote which had been the precedent in the Democratic Party. Sanders gets to move that she be nominated but when Hillary Clinton did this for barack obama in 2008 she explicitly moved that he be selected by acclimation, as in my votes dont matter. We are all behind him. We are unified. Let the record show he is our nominee. That did not happen with Bernie Sanders today. She was nominated but not in the same way that barack obama was when we saw these tables reversed. Marcia fudge proving she did not get elected as a member of congress, great use of the english language and the gavel. A break for us. We have so much ahead to show you. A night that will be keynoted at the very end by the former president of the United States, bill clinton. With the xfinity tv app,
now you can watch nbcs coverage of the rio Olympic Games live at home or on the go. Its a big night for the state of arkansas. After all, when you think that tonights bigtime speaker is going to be the former president , twoterm president bill clinton at the convention where he will be talking about the candidacy of his wife. Kristen welker is with the arkansas delegation. It is personal for so many of these delegates here with the arkansas delegation. I am with one of them. Representative eddie armstrong. Thank you for joining me this evening. You have known former president bill clinton since you were 8 years old. What are you feeling tonight . Its just a range of emotions to know that not only president clinton comes from arkansas, his wife who took a chance on him going to the university of arkansas, then teaching law school, but more importantly, to be able to know that today we have created a new normal in our society from an africanamerican president to now hopefully our first female president of the United States of america, its truly a remarkable feeling. A lot of emotions range because i can just remember the first time i grabbed her by the hand when i was 8 years old to walk her into my church in north little rock, arkansas to speak on behalf of her husband who was then running for governor and now to look many years later, im an elected official, im proud to be here this evening to represent my great state but more importantly, just proud to hold the banner up for our state and for secretary clinton and what she will be able to do for us. Seems a lot has come full circle for you. When you look at the polls, 68
of voters say they cant trust secretary clinton. Former president clinton has the just of tryijob of trying to re that trust. What does he do tonight . You have to put the polls out the window. It takes a lot of shoe leather, noi from firsthand experience. Nobody is going to work harder than secretary clinton sheech. She has a true veteran in her corner who knows how to get out there and work with everybody to make sure they believe in what shes about. Let me follow up on that point. Africanamericans key to secretary clintons victory in the primary. I have spoken to some africanamericans who say they cant take our votes for granted. What does secretary and bill clinton need to do in this general election to make sure turnout is strong . What issues do they need to be hitting hard . I think they are absolutely right. You cant take the africanamerican vote or anybodys vote for granted. They simply have to double down their efforts, get into
communities, sit down with people that have differences that arent like theirs, make certain they are truly talking about raising minimum wage, improving lives for americans in our country, then you will start to see that people will come around. Its no longer one trek poick p. We want to make sure they are touching and impacting lives. Who better has that experience than them . Thank you so much for your perspective. Brian, there are so many people in this arkansas delegation who have very personal stories about the clintons. This is an emotional night for them. Thank you, kristen. Any celebration of democrats features what we are about to see. That is a tribute to and conversation of a man who has always been and often by design a man of heart. That is former president jimmy carter. Here now, jason carter, his grandson and a Georgia State senator. Greetings from the battleground state of georgia. When my grandfather accepted the
democratic nomination for president , he stood before this group and said, it is time for america to move and to speak not with boasting and belligerence but with a quiet strength, to depend in the World Affairs not merely on the size of an arsenal but on the nobility of ideas and to govern at home not by confusion and crisis but with grace and imagination and common sense. Those words feel even more relevant today than they did 40 years ago and i promise that he is itching to get on the campaign trail and elect Hillary Clinton. This last year has been a remarkable one in our family. Almost exactly a year ago, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. He approached this diagnosis with the exact faith, dignity and strength that we have come to expect. He never stopped working for health and peace around the
world and he never stopped Teaching Sunday School at home in plains. Today, thanks to the miracles of modern science and the power of prayer, im happy to report that the cancer is gone. And not only that, but earlier this month, he and my grandmother celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. My grandparents demonstrate that theres a strength in love, humility and service that no amount of anger or pride or salesmanship can match. That principled strength is what drives them in the work that they do every day and that same principled strength will elect Hillary Clinton as our next president. Good evening, democrats. Good evening, democrats. 40 years ago in our nations bicentennial year i stood before you to accept your nomination as president. We wish we could be there with you again tonight to prepare for what will be an extremely important election, one that will define for a generation who we are as a nation and as a people. We americans have a clear choice before us. I feel proud that the two Democratic Candidates who competed throughout a long primary season, senator Bernie Sanders and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, comported themselves with dignity, talked about issues that matter and presented a vision for our nation. I thank senator sanders for energizing and bringing so many young people into the electoral process. To all of you Young Americans i say stay engaged, stay involved and be sure to vote this november. At a moment when its become more important than ever to lift people up, to offer hope and a road map to a brighter future,
instead we see a republican president ial candidate who seems to violate some of the most important moral and Ethical Principles on which our nation was founded. We can and must do better. Fortunately the democratic nominee well soon be choosing offers a stark contrast in both substance and style and also competence and experience to what the republicans have chosen. I have known Hillary Clinton for decades. When she was a young attorney, i appointed her to the Legal Services corporation, where she became the first woman chair. There, hillary fought to make sure that in our courts, those with the least were treated the same as those with the most. Since then, as you know, hillary has always demonstrated a willingness to take on the most difficult challenges and to get things done. Her life has been dedicated to advancing human rights across the globe, especially for women and children. These are perilous times. We need someone with a strong heart, a deep understanding of issues, challenges and opportunities, and a steady hand. Hillary clinton has my support. I know she will also have yours. A united Democratic Party will prevail in november. Thank you all and god bless the United States of america. Please welcome senator Chuck Schumer from new york. Former president jimmy carter at age 91. There is a photo of the living former president s just a few years back in the oval office and even in that, jimmy carter is a man apart. He is off to the side. He designed his own postpresidency which may be the model for postpresidencies forever in the future. He has always been his own man. Of course, his presidency was a singular time as well and democrats are all entitled to
their own opinions about him. Our own Chris Matthews was a very young man once and he was a white house speech writer for the man from georgia, president jimmy carter. Chris, since he is 91 years of age, having of all things, apparently stared down cancer and won, what are your reflections tonight on jimmy carter . Well, you know, its so jimmy carter to have figured out how to beat cancer. Hes a man, if you can do it yourself, he could do it. He had an organizational challenge as president but individually, things like camp david, bringing peace between egypt and israel, he would sit out there at camp david for weeks and get it right. He was an amazingly determined guy. He was also one of only three guys, really, three men, to defeat the democratic establishment going all the way back to the new deal. He, jack kennedy and barack obama are the only ones that came out of nowhere and beat the party. So he has always had sort of as
you just said, sort of a maverick streak to him. Hes not one of the boys. But look at this, 36 years since being beaten, i was on the plane when he lost. You dont know what its like to be on the plane when the president gets defeated for reelection. We knew it at midnight coming out of seattle. It was like being in a giant bird that was dying. It was a terrible experience. He came back from that and rebuilt his life and did great work for the last 36 years around the world, in africa, places like that. Amazing humanitarian work without a lot of hoopla. In a weird way, i think it was so he could prove he was right. It wasnt just that hes a good guy. He wanted to prove he was the best guy, better than reagan. So in an interesting way he was still competing and dont kid yourself, hes still competing right now with other politicians for that speech tonight. Back to you. Absolutely right. Chris matthews, thank you. Even in his selection of illnesses to try to cure in africa, river blindness, guinea worm. They were grievous illnesses, as unsexy as they come, and he chose habitat for humanity as his domestic charity. He chose africa as his adopted cause and continent. Really quite an incredible, say what you will about his presidency, what an incredible postpresidency that continues to this day. The legacy including his direct legacy having his grandson jason there. Jason a formidable candidate and politician introducing georgia as the great battleground state of georgia. Democrats hope that is true. We had a moment earlier this evening with Bernie Sanders and his brother. His brother speaking for democrats abroad. That was a very very emotional moment. In case you missed it, we jauchjust
want you to see this. Have a look at this. Democrats we are especially proud that bernard is renewing that vision. With enormous pride i cast my vote for Bernie Sanders. Thank you very much. Democrats abroad. Senator sanders getting emotional himself as his brother representing democrats abroad casts his votes for them. You dont see Bernie Sanders get emotional that often. As much as we have seen bernie, hes still enigmatic. You look at him there, theres a lot we never got to know about him. Theres a lot we never got to know about the family. In an era of oversharing,
generally. Thats right. A lot of people say his authenticity and personality is so much explains so much of his success this year but he did that without ever standing on he didnt give a lot of personal stories and family stories and interpersonal stuff from Bernie Sanders in any way but still was able to connect with people with authenticity without letting people into his personal life and into his inner life in a way that would have been i think the path other politicians would have taken. The hawaii democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in giving today his nominating speech called him often frumpy, often grumpy. Truth in advertising. Right. I remember asking senator sanders what peoples great misconception was about him. He said that im grumpy. Thats great. One of the things we are awaiting, senator Chuck Schumer is wrapping up his remarks. We are expecting the actress
Elizabeth Banks to be taking over in a sort of unprecedented role for a big portion of this evening. She will be kind of host. A host, an emcee of sorts. She will be making some of her own remarks. None of them will be at length. We will be seeing her a few times over and over over the course of the evening as she basically guides the hall and guides us here at home to a certain extent through the different segments of the program and the different themes the Clinton Campaign wants to hit over the course of the night. They are going to show the arena a video about donald trump which wont be the first time even for this gathering. Short duration. Then after that, Elizabeth Banks will come out. They have tried to put together, infuse speakers from so many walks of life tonight as the conventions do of both parties to try to push through their theme. Yes. So after, again, they will dim the lights and do something briefly on donald trump here. What we are told to expect in terms of Elizabeth Banks coming
out, she will be setting up the next thematic portion of the evening which is about kids, which is about Hillary Clintons lifelong work to promote the interests of children. But we are told to expect a little pizzases at the start. Lets see how this works. You know, i dont usually say this about donald trump but that was over the top. I confirmed it just now. The Trump Campaign is so hard up for money i just bought their fog machine on ebay for 30. I dont feel good about it. I dont. Its night two. Whos pumped up . Whos excited to pound a dozen cheesesteaks with me after this . Lets try that again. Who is ready to elect Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States . Me, too. Im Elizabeth Banks. Some of you know me from the hunger games in which i play a cruel, out of touch reality tv star who wears insane wigs while delivering longwinded speeches to a violent dystopia. So when i tuned in to cleveland
last week i was like hey, thats my act. Part of me really likes being up here joking around but the other part of me knows that this election is too important for jokes. Because when i think about what this election means for america, i think about my family. My father, a vietnam vet, worked the second and third shifts on the factory floor in my hometown of pittsfield, massachusetts. My mother worked at the library and the local bank and they worked hard. They struggled. Because like millions of american parents, they wanted to give their kids, four of us, a good life with boundless opportunities. And it is because of what democrats built, good public schools, Affordable Health care, help in the hardest times, that
they were able to do that. And their dreams and mine took me here to philadelphia. Really. Through scholarships and financial aid, i worked my way through the university of pennsylvania, i got a world class education and i met my wonderful husband and partner, max. I will never forget that day in 1992 when we went on a big romantic date, a rally for bill clinton. And it was there that i learned something really important about show business. The headliner should always watch out for someone stealing the show. Hillary clinton rocked my world. A smart, committed, successful woman and not for her own benefit, but a fighter for women and children, cops and first responders, health care and
girls around the world. Thats Hillary Clinton. And that is what tonight is all about. The fights of her life. Did you know that when Hillary Clinton graduated law school, she didnt just sell out and go work for some fancy law firm. She went to work advocating for children and families. It was one of her first fights and since then, she has never let up. One of the areas all right. This is the start of what will be an on again, off again Video Program and speakers. Again, as you heard, all of it hosted kind of subhosted by Elizabeth Banks tonight. We are going to fit in a break and when we come back, all things clinton this evening with the help of bill clintons biographer. We will talk about the role ahead and the role ahead most immediately this evening for the former president when talking about his wife, the nominee. George bush, if you wont use your power to help america, step aside. I will. After these four good hard years, i still believe in a place called hope, a place called america. We built our bridge to the 21st century. We crossed that bridge together and were not going back. The only test that matters, whether people were better off when we finished than when we started. Our way works better. Hillary told us in no Uncertain Terms that she is going to do everything she can to elect barack obama. That makes two of us. We believe that were all in this together is a far better philosophy than youre on your own. Thats your keynote speaker
for tonight, the second night of the democratic convention, bill clinton. It would be impossible to draft a history from end to end of the Democratic Party without devoting a substantial portion of that book to all things clinton. Say nothing of the books already written about them. Lets bring in clinton biographer, the Washington Post associate editor david maranes, Pulitzer Prize winner, proud detroiter and man whose head must be spinning tonight. What do you make of what we have already witnessed this evening and what you will see later this evening . What we will see this evening we never have seen before. You have seen spouses give speeches for spouses. You have seen former president s give speeches for potential future president s but you have never seen a former president who wants to be first man give a speech on behalf of a former first lady who wants to be the president. Its unprecedented. How do you think bill clinton will do in the ground game, all in, mistakefree Marketing Campaign that is what in these next hundred days a president ial campaign for family and surrogates has to become . You know, i would have to say that his performance during the primaries this year was rather subdued. He didnt have his old fire to him. He made a couple of mistakes, not as serious as in the 2008 primaries. Im not sure what the Hillary Clinton people want him to do during the campaign. I do know what they want him to do tonight which is not give the speech he gave four years ago which was quite important in terms of defining barack obama and making the case for him. He cant do that for hillary tonight, making the case for the party. He has to make the case for her personally. It has to be a very personal story. David, we are waiting to hear from jelani freeman. Lets listen in to the speech. Once she got to the senate. I spent my childhood in the new york foster care system, moving from home to home with a trash bag as my suitcase. And if youre a kid in the system who never finds a permanent home, when youre 18, youre out on your own. After my high school graduation, my social worker shook my hand and wished me luck. That was it. But hillary had this ridiculous notion that every child deserves to live up to their godgiven potential so she reserved an internship spot in her Senate Office just for former foster
youth and in 2003, i got that spot. I remember our first meeting vividly. She looked me in the eye and said jelani, im proud of you. I felt seen and heard for the first time in my life. Throughout the years, hillary has remained a source of encouragement. She has made me more mindful of my responsibility and purpose. Hillary has taught me that theres a high cost for low expectations of our kids and that you receive a blessing to become a blessing. She inspired me to become a lawyer and an advocate for children in my community. Its said that love dignifies us. It elevates us to higher
plateaus. Hillarys love did that for me. It lifted me to a place i never had the courage to imagine. And thats why im with her. Thank you, everyone. Now, that right there and the reason we wanted to hear that, jelani freeman, father in prison, mother just doesnt show up one day. Hes moved six times in foster care. Fast forward through a life that called for great strength on his part. Howard University Law school. He is now an attorney connected with the federal government. David maraniss, one last question before we go to donna brazile, and that is, how do you suspect bill clinton will come around to his role tonight in telling the story of his wife and this kind of campaign to explain her all over again . You know, i think of the speech tonight as a payback of a
long overdue promissory note. Bill clinton owes Hillary Clinton a lot over a long period of time. I think hes been saving up for this one. There are a myriad stories that have not been told before about what he has seen her do over the course of the years. And thats what hes doing to do tonight, tell that story. Clinton biographer, Washington Post journalist david maraniss. David, thank you as always for being a contributor on our broadcast, to the podium we go. Donna brazile in her second stint as interim dnc chairman. Debbie Wasserman Schultz out on the eve of this Democratic National convention. That will become official at the close of the convention. Donna brazile will then take over on an interim basis. Lets listen in. The first black president reached out and touched the face of a child like i once was. Lifting his eye s ward a Better Future. But i have never, ever in all of
my years seen a leader so committed to delivering that Better Future to americas children as Hillary Clinton. Let me tell you, arkansas, when i first met Hillary Clinton, when hillary graduated from law school, she could have gone to work for a corporation or a big law firm. Instead, she went to work for the Childrens Defense Fund. She didnt sit in the office. She traded pumps for tennis shoes. Hillary went undercover, going door to door, school to school, investigating discrimination and the treatment of children with disabilities. During that same time, donald trump was facing a federal discrimination lawsuit for refusing to rent to minority families. Hillary clinton hillary
clinton risked her own safety to seek out the truth and comfort the afflicted and to make a home for justice where there was none. It was at the Childrens Defense Fund that i met Hillary Clinton. I was 22, feisty, and ready to fight. I remember thinking immediately, heres a woman who doesnt mess around. And you know, us southern girls, we dont mess around. Steel in her spine, hillary didnt want to talk about anything other than how to make childrens lives better. Thats the hillary i know. Thats who she is. When nobody was watching, she fought hard for us. Over her career, that has never changed. She has never changed from expanding Early Childhood education as the first lady of arkansas to helping win health care for 8 million children as first lady of the United States. To standing up for women here at home and girls around the world as secretary of state. Hillary has never forgotten what she learned on that very first job. At her core, root her to this earth. The belief that every child, black or white, native born, immigrant, or undocumented. They deserve to have the opportunity to live up to their god given potential. My friends, as a child when i sat in the back of the bus, i was told time and time again that gods potential did not exist in people like me. I spent my life fighting to change that, and from the first day i met Hillary Clinton, i have known that she is someone who cares just as much and will fight just as hard for children everywhere. Poor kids, you got a champion. Kids who are living prominently, you have a champion. Kids who need help. You have a champion. As long as she is in charge, were never going back, and thats why im with her. And let me say this. As your incoming chair of the Democratic National committee, i promise you, my friends, i commit to all americans that we will have a party that you can be proud of. We will elect democrats up and down the ballot, and we will celebrate together the inaugurate of president Hillary Clinton in january 2017. God bless you and god bless america. Donna brazile, the pride of louisiana. Born in kenner, louisiana. One of nine kids. One of i see her dancing offstage. Closest thing the democratic
party has to an institution in some ways. She worked on the Jesse Jackson campaign, the Michael Dukakis campaign. She was the first africanamerican Campaign Manager when she did that job for al gore. She is now the dnc vice chair, but shell be the interim chair of the party as debbie Wasserman Schultz steps down at the close of this convention. She told Stephen Colbert in 2008, look, im a woman, so i like hillary. Im black so i like obama, but im also grumpy so i like john mccain. She spoke emotionally yesterday what it was like when the Jesse JacksonCampaign Came to an end and it became time to move on. A break here. Well be back at the top of the hour. Were just Getting Started on our live coverage from philadelphia. Big night tonight