Hillary makes history with more history in offing

Washington: Four years shy of a century since women gained the right to vote in America, Hillary Clinton formally wrapped up the Democratic Presidential nomination on Tuesday, to set up an unprecedented match-up for the White House against Donald Trump, a maverick real estate mogul from New York.
She is the first woman nominated to run for president in the country’s electoral history, he’s the first candidate with no experience in electoral politics or political executive, and whichever way the results go, America will witness history on November 8.
Some of that history has already been written after Clinton won four of the six party primaries, including the weighty state of California (56-43), to decisively end the challenge of her rival Bernie Sanders, although the leftist Senator said he will fight on till the bitter end, with the concluding primary in the District of Columbia next week. But the capital has already signed off on Hillary, with President Obama, who vanquished her for the nomination in 2008, phoning to congratulate her for winning the nomination. A formal endorsement in said to be in the offing.
Obama also congratulated Sanders for putting up a terrific fight and elevating the debate, and the expectation now is that he will call for truce and healing in the Democratic Party as somewhat of a senior statesman (although he is only 55). Asked in an interview if he would campaign, the president said he is rusty and a little ''out of practice,'' but he has already voiced his deep reservation about and disapproval of Trump.
But Tuesday night belonged to Hillary Clinton as she exulted in a victory that kept more than just the Democratic feminists in thrall for the kind of milestone it marked. ''Tonight caps an amazing journey- a long, long journey,'' she told a rally in Brooklyn amid chants of ''Hillary! Hillary!'' as she recalled her late mother. ''I wish she could see her daughter become the Democratic nominee.''
Dorothy Rodham was born on June 4, 1919, when the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution granting American women the right to vote—a right known as woman suffrage – was passed. On Facebook, Hillary posted a photo of a young black girl greeting her with a message: To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want—even president. Tonight is for you.
Of course, there are exactly six months of brutal campaigning to go before she returns to the place where she was the First Lady (which would set another record) from 1992 to 2000, but the signs are propitious as of now. She held out an olive branch to Sanders, as she turned up the heat on Trump, saying they should now work together against a ''bully'' who was ''unfit'' for office. Polls show she has reclaimed lead against Donald Trump, even as the Republican Party is showing signs of continuing dissent and differences.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Paul Ryan, agreed that Trump remarks about a US Judge of Mexican heritage was explicitly racist, although he (Ryan) would continue to back the man who had captured the votes of the party rank-and-file.