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Excerpt from www.washingtonexaminer.com
Democrats overlook the Clintons’ ‘problematic’ past at DNC
CHICAGO — The Obamas are not the only Democratic power couple being spotlighted at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Despite the Clintons’ complicated political and personal histories, the pair are refinding their footing and stepping up as Democratic Party elders.
Eight years after ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s surprise loss to former President Donald Trump, she delivered an impassioned convention speech on Monday predicting that Vice President Kamala Harris would be the woman who shatters the proverbial glass ceiling that she could not. Former President Bill Clinton, whose administration was marred by the Monica Lewinsky scandal before the Me Too movement of 2017, will have a prime-time speaking spot on Wednesday.
Party officials and lawmakers defended the decision to showcase them during this week’s convention despite mixed emotions from Democrats and staunch criticism from Republicans.
Justin Pearson, who rose to national prominence in 2023 after being expelled from and later reinstated to the Tennessee state legislature over his anti-gun violence protests, welcomed the Clintons’ presence in Chicago.
“The momentum that’s being built in the Democratic Party right now can’t be stopped,” Pearson told the Washington Examiner Wednesday outside state delegation breakfasts at a downtown hotel. “I also believe that we have to have the wisdom of the elders and young people’s energy. I think we need to have a combination of folks who have helped to build this party over time, and also people who are rising and growing and learning now.”
