Plan B Forum

Big RR wrote:I agree on both counts BSG. I think Bernie is dedicated to making sure Trump doesn't win by making sure Hillary does. I hope most of his supporters follow this lead.

Democrats Struggle for Unity on First Day of Convention

PHILADELPHIA — Democratic Party leaders scrambled on Monday night to rescue their convention from political bedlam as supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders erupted in boos, jeers and protests against Hillary Clinton after an email leak showed that party officials had sought to undermine Mr. Sanders in their race for the nomination.

Mr. Sanders, whose speech was shifted to a more prominent time in hopes of soothing delegates, struggled to unify the convention. His full-throated endorsement of Mrs. Clinton drew scattered boos, and his valedictory tone left some supporters in tears rather than rallying around the Democratic nominee. Another speaker, Michelle Obama, was far more electrifying, but while she drew affection from the crowd, her remarks did little to heal the lingering primary wounds.

The venting among Sanders supporters reflected months of pent-up frustration after he lost the nomination to Mrs. Clinton, whom they see as too accommodating to big business and Republicans. Mr. Sanders tried to intervene by sending a text message asking delegates “to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor,” while Clinton and Sanders campaign officials worked on the convention floor to mollify delegates who might be disruptive.

The tension reverberated from the floor of the hall to the stage. By 9:30 p.m., the outbursts were so loud and persistent that the comedian Sarah Silverman scolded the Sanders supporters who were shouting over her remarks.

“Can I just say to the Bernie-or-bust people,” she said, adopting their own nickname, “you are being ridiculous.”

As delegates streamed out, a handful of Mr. Sanders’s most dedicated supporters held up his signs and chanted, “Hey, hey, D.N.C., we won’t vote for Hillary.”

Clinton campaign officials, in another bid to placate the party’s left wing, picked Senator Elizabeth Warren to deliver the keynote address on Monday night, hoping that her searing denunciations of Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, would unify the delegates in the hall. Mrs. Clinton had privately chosen Ms. Warren days ago, campaign officials said, but announced her on Monday morning to try to set a positive tone for the first day of the convention and start closing ranks against Mr. Trump.

Mr. Sanders, who took the stage here at about 10:50 p.m. to a thundering three-minute ovation and chants of “Bernie, Bernie,” acknowledged the disappointment of his supporters and said, “It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues.”

But he said the choice between his onetime rival and Mr. Trump was “not even close.” “Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her here tonight,” Mr. Sanders said as his supporters waved his blue campaign signs.

Ms. Warren opened her remarks with a warm nod to Mr. Sanders, saying his campaign had advanced liberal causes and helped show that the political and economic systems were “rigged” in favor of the powerful.

“Bernie reminds us what Democrats fight for every day,” Ms. Warren said. ‘Thank you, Bernie.”

Yet even after Ms. Warren was well into her remarks, a handful of determined supporters of Mr. Sanders tried to interrupt her. “We trusted you!” they yelled, suggesting that she had betrayed them by supporting Mrs. Clinton.

These catcalls, as well as the images of delegates in Sanders T-shirts waving placards that read “Hill No,” were not the sort of messages that the Clinton campaign wanted. Mrs. Clinton, who had a hand in choosing the speakers, had hoped that the convention would be the picture of unity, in contrast to the Republican convention last week. Instead, she was reminded that many Americans, including some die-hard Democrats, do not like her or believe that she will bring significant change to the government.

The only speaker who brought the entire hall together in spellbinding fashion was Michelle Obama, who seemed to pour out feelings she had been keeping under wraps. She delivered an unusually pointed speech targeting Mr. Trump without mentioning him by name.

“The issues the president faces are not black and white, and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters,” she said, taking a crowd-pleasing shot at Mr. Trump’s penchant for Twitter messages.

She alluded to those who have questioned Mr. Obama’s “citizenship or faith” and scorned Mr. Trump’s slogan. “Don’t let anyone tell you that this country isn’t great,” she said. But she also turned emotional, her voice cracking, when she spoke of what Mrs. Clinton’s election would mean.

Throughout the day, more than 1,000 supporters of Mr. Sanders took to the scalding streets of Philadelphia to vent their frustration. Some targeted Mrs. Clinton with a taunting chant from last week’s Republican convention: “Lock her up!” Other protesters gathered outside the downtown Ritz-Carlton, where many major donors to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign were staying, and attacked her use of a “super PAC” and her reliance on big fund-raising events.

Even Mr. Sanders, who has vowed to do whatever it takes to stop Mr. Trump from winning, had little luck making the case to his followers that they should vote for Mrs. Clinton. In a rare display of rebellion at a lunchtime gathering of his delegates, he was drowned out by boos when he mentioned Mrs. Clinton, and seemed jarred by the response.

“We have got to defeat Donald Trump, and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” he said to a round of jeers.

Several veterans of Democratic conventions said they had not seen anything at recent gatherings like Monday’s disruptions. From the moment the gavel fell to open the convention at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday afternoon, Mr. Sanders’s supporters let out boos and jeers at almost any mention of Mrs. Clinton’s name.

Some Democratic officials said the fury was an illustration of the work that still needed to be done to unify the party behind Mrs. Clinton, as well as a sign of the dedication Mr. Sanders engendered over the last year.

The Sanders supporters’ scorn was enough to prompt some of the speakers to gently scold them.

“They both deserve our cheers,” said former Mayor Wellington E. Webb of Denver, repeating the phrase twice more to make his point to the crowd.