Hillary Rodham
Clinton suspended her pioneering campaign for the
presidency on Saturday and summoned supporters to use ''our
energy, our passion, our strength'' to put Barack
Obama in the White House.
''I endorse him
and throw my full support behind him,'' said the former
first lady, delivering the strong affirmation that her
onetime rival and other Democratic leaders hoped to
hear after a bruising campaign.
Amid tears from
her supporters, Clinton issued a call for unity that
emphasized the cultural and political milestones that she
and Obama, the first black to secure a presidential
nomination, represent.
''Children today
will grow up taking for granted that an African-American
or a woman can, yes, become the president of the United
States,'' she said.
For Clinton and
her backers, it was a poignant moment, the end of an
extraordinary run that began with an air of inevitability
and certain victory. About 18 million people voted for
her; it was the closest a woman has come to capturing
a nomination.
''Although we
weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling
this time, thanks to you, it has about 18 million cracks in
it and the light is shining through like never
before,'' she said in a speech before cheering
supporters packed into the ornate National Building Museum,
not far from the White House she longed to occupy, as
president this time.
Indeed, her
speech repeatedly returned to the new threshold her
candidacy had set for women. In primary after primary,
her support among women was a solid bloc of her
coalition. She noted that she had received the support
of women born before women could even vote.
But her main goal
was to heal the rift in the party -- one that cleaved
Democrats in part by class, by gender, and by race.
''The way to
continue our fight now to accomplish the goals for which we
stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and
do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next
president of the United States,'' she said.
''Today as I
suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he
has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him
and throw my full support behind him and I ask of you
to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you
have for me,'' the New York senator said in her
28-minute address. Loud boos competed with applause.
With that and 13
other mentions of his name, Clinton placed herself
solidly behind her Senate colleague from Illinois, who
awaits Arizona senator John McCain in the general
election. ''We may have started on separate journeys
but today, our paths have merged,'' Clinton said.
Obama, in a
statement from Chicago where he was spending the weekend,
declared himself ''thrilled and honored'' to have Clinton's
support.
''I honor her
today for the valiant and historic campaign she has run,''
he said. ''She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters
and women everywhere, who now know that there are no
limits to their dreams. And she inspired millions with
her strength, courage and unyielding commitment to the
cause of working Americans.''
Obama secured the
2,118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination Tuesday
after primaries in South Dakota and Montana. Aides said
Obama watched Clinton's speech live on the Internet.
His campaign put a photo of the New York senator on
its Web site and urged supporters to send her a
message of thanks. Likewise, Clinton's Web site thanked her
backers. ''Support Senator Obama today,'' her Web page
said. ''Sign up now and together we can write the next
chapter in America's story.''
Party leaders
welcomed the new alliance.
''As you may
know, I was a boxer. And I've seen many fights go the
distance,'' said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of
Nevada. ''But never have I seen one where everyone
came out stronger _ until now. Because of the
unprecedented number of new voters and the tremendous
amount of enthusiastic supporters all the Democrats brought
to the primary process, we stand ready to win the
White House in 2008.''
Both Obama and
Clinton stood to gain from the new collaboration.
Obama could use
the women and blue-collar voters who flocked to Clinton's
campaign. She could benefit from his prodigious fund-raising
to help retire a debt of as much as $30 million.
Clinton loaned her campaign at least $11.4 million; by
law only, she has until the summer Democratic
convention to recoup it.
Clinton also has
told colleagues she would be interested in joining Obama
as his running mate. On Saturday the Reverend Jesse Jackson,
an Obama supporter, said she had made ''a powerful
case for her eligibility'' to be on the ticket.
Joining Clinton
onstage Saturday were her husband, the former president,
and their daughter, Chelsea, to loud cheers from the crowd.
When she spoke, they stepped away. Her mother, Dorothy
Rodham, watched from the floor to the side of the
stage and wiped away a tear.
In deciding to
suspend her campaign, Clinton kept some options open. She
gets to retain her delegates to the nominating convention
this summer and she can continue to raise money. It
also means she could reopen her campaign if
circumstances change before the Denver convention, but she
gave no indication that was her intention.
As soon as
Clinton finished speaking, some of the nearly 300 Democratic
party leaders and elected officials across the country who
had pledged their support to her as superdelegates
released statements announcing they now back Obama.
The switchers included some of Clinton's most
high-profile supporters, including Michigan governor
Jennifer Granholm, Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski,
and Maine governor John Baldacci.
Clinton
supporters began lining up at dawn to attend the farewell
address. A smattering of Obama backers showed up as well,
saying they did so as a gesture of party unity.
As they awaited
her arrival, campaign staffers milled the room,
exchanging hugs and saying goodbye.
Clinton seemed
almost buoyant in her address, feeding off the energy of a
loud and appreciative crowd.
''Well, this
isn't exactly the party I planned but I sure like the
company,'' she said as she opened her speech.
Clinton backers
described themselves as sad and resigned. ''This is a
somber day,'' said Jon Cardinal, one of the first in line.
Cardinal said he planned, reluctantly, to support
Obama in the general election. ''It's going to be
tough after being against Obama for so long,'' he said.
Republicans
quickly launched a ''Clinton vs. Obama'' page on the
Republican National Committee's Web site drawing attention
to her criticism of Obama during the campaign.
President Bush
praised the symbolism of the 2008 field.
''I thought it
was a really good statement, powerful moment when a major
political party nominates an African-American man to be
their standard-bearer,'' he said in an interview
Friday with an Italian journalist. ''And it's good for
our democracy that that happened. And we also had a
major contender being a woman. Obviously Hillary Clinton was
a major contender. So I think it's a good sign for
American democracy.'' (Beth Fouhy, AP)