2008年8月27日，伊利诺伊州参议员巴拉克•奥巴马在民主党全国代表大会上获得提名，并于次日发表演说，正式成为美国历史上第一位主流政党的非裔总统候选人。其之前的党内竞争对手希拉里以及前总统克林顿分别发表演说力挺奥巴马。同一天，美国特拉华州联邦参议员约瑟夫•拜登接受民主党副总统候选人提名。

Barack Obama became the first black to be nominated by a major US party as its presidential candidate on Wednesday night.

Democrats¹ formally named Obama as their presidential nominee², putting their hopes of ending eight years of Republican control of the White House in his hands.

The Democratic National Convention saw some real-life drama as former rival Hillary Clinton interrupted a state-by-state roll call vote to ask delegates to make Obama's selection unanimous "in the spirit of unity³, with the goal of victory". They agreed, with a roar.

Hours later, her husband and former US president Bill Clinton added his backing.

He told delegates and a national television audience that Obama "is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world".

Obama, who was across town as the delegates he won in months of primaries sealed his victory, visited the convention to thank his supporters. His formal acceptance speech on Thursday night (Friday morning Beijing time) was expected to draw a crowd of 75,000 at an outdoor stadium.

Though the convention vote offered no surprises, its historical importance was undeniable. It capped the longest, closest US primary race in memory as Obama, a 47-year-old political newcomer, defeated Clinton, the former first lady whose victory once seemed all but assured. It also meant that Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, is now one victory from becoming president of a nation where just more than four decades ago many blacks were denied the vote.

But Obama's prospects⁴ in the Nov 4 election are still uncertain.

He is in a tight race with Republican John McCain, a veteran senator and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, who has attacked him for his lack of experience.

Obama has had to fend⁵ off questions about his patriotism⁶ and rumors⁷ that he is a Muslim. And then, no one knows how many Americans would simply not vote for a black candidate.

The first-term Illinois senator also needs to unite a party fractured by the long and bitter primary campaign. That process received a boost on Tuesday with an enthusiastic speech by Hillary Clinton, who said Obama is "my candidate, and he must be our president".

Bill Clinton echoed his wife's words. Saying she had told the convention that she would do everything possible to get Obama elected, he roared: "That makes two of us."

He was greeted with a long, huge ovation⁸ and interrupted with applause as he lauded⁹ Obama.

"Everything I've learned in my eight years as president and the work I've done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job," he said.

Obama decided¹⁰ to name Senator Joe Biden instead of Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential running mate. Biden too received the nomination¹¹ through acclamation. In his acceptance speech, he praised Obama as the leader the US needs during tough economic times. He said he learned the quality of Obama's character while campaigning against him for the presidential nomination. "I watched how Barack touched people, how he inspired them. I realized he had tapped into the oldest American belief of all: We don't have to accept a situation we cannot bear. We have the power to change it," he said.

Vocabulary:

roll call: 点名

acceptance speech: 总统候选人所做的提名演讲