SC, Clyburn helped launch Biden to Democratic nomination. Now they’re featured at DNC
Just as South Carolina helped launch Joe Biden to become the Democratic presidential nominee, the Palmetto State on Monday night helped kick off the Democrats’ virtual national convention which will end with Biden accepting the party’s nomination.
Standing across the street from the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church — where nine Black churchgoers, including a state senator, were killed by a lone white supremacist in 2015 — U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn laid out his argument of why Biden can unite the country and deserves to be the next president of the United States.
He spoke about the country’s history of racial injustice, adding many Black Americans can trace their roots to slaves brought to the country through Charleston’s ports. And the Columbia Democrat highlighted the move by Charleston leaders to remove the statue of John C. Calhoun, a slavery advocate and former vice president, and the construction of the International African American History Museum in Charleston.
“The ground beneath our feet is seeded with pain that is both old and new,” Clyburn said. “But from that soil, we always find a way to grow together.”
Though acknowledging the past, Clyburn said Biden was best to unify the country and move it forward.
“Much like the country as a whole, we are stepping out from the shadows of our past and beginning to lay the groundwork for a more just future,” Clyburn said. “We can only succeed if we move forward together.”
South Carolina and Clyburn played critical roles in Biden’s path to the nomination.
Biden, who struggled in early voting states, easily won the S.C. Democratic presidential primary in February by 29 percentage points after Clyburn endorsed Biden’s campaign in the week leading up to the election and a day after the Democratic debate in Charleston.
On Monday, Clyburn called Biden an adopted son of South Carolina.
“Joe Biden is as good a man as he is a leader,” Clyburn said. “I have said before and wish to reiterate tonight, we know Joe. But more importantly Joe knows us.”
Clyburn was not the only South Carolinian featured at this week’s Democratic National Convention.
State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, joined 16 other identified rising Democratic stars Tuesday to discuss why leadership matters. And U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison also was scheduled to cast the state’s roll call vote from historically black college S.C. State University in Orangeburg, the alma mater of Clyburn and his late wife, Emily.
“I faced many challenges in my life — poverty, hunger and homelessness — but thanks to the kindness of Ms. Emily and Congressman Clyburn I was able to beat the odds,” Harrison said. “She meant so much to me, the congressman and South Carolina, and it is my pleasure to tell her story to the rest of the country.”
GOP responds in real time
Republicans will get their shot next week to formally nominate President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention.
But U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham chimed in Monday night after former First Lady Michelle Obama offered a direct rebuke of Trump.
“Whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy,” Obama said. “Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. “He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.”
In a series of tweets, Graham, R-Seneca, who is running for a fourth term, listed off his own criticisms of the Obama administration.
“I remember a slow-growth economy, a weakened military, ISIS raging, Iran emboldened, China eating our lunch, businesses struggling, and out-of-control illegal immigration,” Graham tweeted. “Those are not the good old days to go back to … President Trump has appointed conservative judges, rebuilt the military, destroyed ISIS, cut taxes and regulations, is securing the border, negotiated new trade deals, passed criminal justice reform, re-set the Middle East, (and) is standing up to China.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 10:38 PM.
