Hillary pledges steady leadership

Philadelphia, July 29

Declaring that the US is at a “moment of reckoning”, Hillary Clinton today attacked her Republican rival Donald Trump for his “bigotry and bombast” while pitching herself to be a steady leader.

Clinton, who is vying to be the first woman elected US President, called her nomination “a milestone”.

Presenting her vision of inclusive growth for America that maintains its global leadership and military power, the Democratic presidential nominee warned voters that a man who could be baited with a tweet cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons.

“He (Trump) loses his cool at the slightest provocation. When he’s gotten a tough question from a reporter. When he’s challenged in a debate. When he sees a protester at a rally. Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons,” the 68-year-old former secretary of state told fellow Americans while accepting the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

“Ask yourself: Does Donald Trump has the temperament to be Commander-in-Chief?” she said.

Clinton, in her nearly hour-long address, said the nation is facing a serious “moment of reckoning” from economic pain, violence and terror.

“America is once again at a moment of reckoning. Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. And just as with our founders there are no guarantees. It’s truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we’re going to work together so we can all rise together,” she said.

Clinton said she would build an economy that gives jobs to everyone and not a few and a country where “love trumps hate”.

That is the country, Clinton said, she is fighting for.

“It is with humility, determination and boundless confidence in America’s promise that I accept your nomination for president,” Clinton said as thousands of party delegates, leaders and supporters at the Wells Fargo Center erupted in cheers and applause.

The former first lady, senator and secretary of state set her sights on the White House and blasted Trump, portraying him as a small man, who got rich by stiffing workers, peddles fear and lacks the temperament to be commander-in-chief. — PTI

Sikh Army veteran hogs the limelight

An Indian American, Major Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, stood out in his pink turban among a group of US military veterans at the convention stage to root for Hillary Clinton as the party’s presidential nominee. Kalsi accompanied retired General John Allen on the stage along with a group of military veterans at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia on Thursday. Standing behind Allen as he spoke, Major Kalsi's pink turban grabbed eyeballs. Kalsi, an emergency room doctor, served 15 years in the US Army, some of it in the “very violent and bloody theatre” of the war in Afghanistan, according to News India-Times newspaper. There he had treated many victims of improvised explosive devices, the crude home-made bombs. In 2009, he became the first Sikh in the US military to receive permission to wear a beard and turban, according to The New York Times. IANS

Indian-American girl is youngest delegate 

An 18-year-old Indian-American girl has become the youngest delegate at the Democratic National Convention. Sruthi Palaniappan from Cedar Rapids and a student of the Harvard University is a big supporter of Clinton. Her father Palaniappan Andiappan is also attending the convention as a member of credentials panel. She has been the centre of attraction among the media and the delegates along with a 102-year-old delegate from Arizona, Jerry Emmett, who is the oldest delegate at the convention. PTI