Hillary Clinton declared a historic victory for women Tuesday as she grasped the Democratic Party nomination and the chance to become America´s first female President.
“Thanks to you, we´ve reached a milestone,” an ecstatic Clinton told roaring supporters in New York, “the first time in our nation´s history that a woman will be a major party´s nominee.”
The former first lady took a monumental step back toward the White House by winning New Jersey, one of six states voting in the last major date of the 2016 primary calendar.
The triumph came almost eight years to the day since Clinton´s first bid for the Oval Office bid was spectacularly thwarted by a charismatic young Senator called Barack Obama.
Two terms later, the 68-year-old declared another glass ceiling broken and set up a monumental showdown in November with millionaire Donald Trump, the bombastic Republican flagbearer.
“We believe that we are stronger together and the stakes in this election are high, and the choice is clear,” she said — before launching into a frontal attack on her Republican rival.
“Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be President and Commander in Chief,” she said, using rhetoric that would have unthinkable before this tempestuous election season.
Clinton held a commanding lead over her Democratic Party rival Bernie Sanders even before Tuesday´s votes, having passed the magic number of 2,383 delegates required to clinch the nomination.
But like Obama before her, Clinton must now reconcile a bruised and deeply divided party and rally it behind her in the brutal match against Trump.
Sanders — who has yet to concede defeat — has harnessed a tidal wave of anger at the ruling political class.
With an insurgent campaign, he challenged Clinton harder for the party nomination than most believed was possible.
“I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for an extraordinary campaign,” Clinton said, touching on the watchwords of her rival — inequality and upward mobility.
“It never feels good to put your heart into a cause,” she said, “and to come up short.”
The drive for party unity is likely to receive another shot in the arm when Obama comes off the sidelines and offers his own endorsement of Clinton, as soon as Wednesday.
That will not come as a surprise, but it will serve to coax hardliner “Bernie or bust” fans back into the party tent.
Obama has approval ratings above 80 percent with liberal democrats who make up the bulk of Sanders´ support.
