Obama, Hillary appeal for Democratic unity

US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) greet supporters during a rally in Unity, New Hampshire on Friday. Obama said Friday that he, the Democrats and the American people need both Hillary and Bill Clinton on board to change the nation.Photo: AFP

Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Friday to turn the page on their bitter, history-making fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, declaring the next chapter is about beating Republican John McCain.
Choosing a small New Hampshire community aptly named Unity for their first joint appearance since the campaign ended, Obama and Hillary Clinton stood on a platform before thousands of cheering, shouting supporters and took turns praising each other and urging party solidarity. She called the nominee-in-waiting a standup guy and he declared: "She rocks. She rocks."
They came together in this hamlet where each won 107 votes in January's primary. Body language rivalled campaign rhetoric as attention-getter of the day. And a pair rendered distant by a marathon campaign acted like teammates, alternately exhorting the rank-and-file to put any recriminations behind them.
Hillary Clinton noted that they had stood "toe to toe" against each other in a primary season fight that began almost two years ago and declared the time has come to "stand shoulder to shoulder" against the GOP. They seemed equally determined to regain a White House that their party hasn't seen since her husband, President Clinton, left at the start of 2001.
"To anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting or voting for Sen. (John) McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider," said Hillary Clinton, beseeching her supporters to join with Obama's "to create an unstoppable force for change we can all believe in."
In turn, Obama praised both Hillary Clinton and her husband as allies and pillars of the Democratic Party.
"We need them. We need them badly," Obama said. "Not just my campaign, but the American people need their service and their vision and their wisdom in the months and years to come because that's how we're going to bring about unity in the Democratic Party. And that's how we're going to bring about unity in America."