Sen. Hillary Clinton made her first public appearance as a surrogate for Barack Obama on Thursday, in the process made a strong case to the Latino-American audience to which she spoke that the man who vanquished her in the Democratic primary was now the best choice to be elected president.

Appearing before the National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials (NALEO), Clinton did not even mention Obama's opponent, John McCain. Instead she laid out a comprehensive case for why the Illinois Democrat was best suited to advance the issues of the Latino community, in the process evoking her own campaign experience.

"I know this was a hard fought primary campaign, and I am very grateful for the passion and determination of those who supported me," she said as an audience member screamed, "we love you Hillary!"

"But every issue you care about personally," she continued, "every issue your constituents care about and every issue NALEO is fighting for is really at risk. We cannot afford four more years of the same. It wouldn't be good for us. We have to chart a new course and we cannot do that without electing Senator Obama our next president."

"I know Senator Obama," Clinton said. "I have served with him now for four years in the Senate I campaigned with him for 16 months on the campaign trail I have stood on the stage for 22 debates, but who is counting? ... In his own life he has lived the American dream and as a community organizer, state senator, and U.S. Senator he has worked to make that dream possible for others."

She went on: "Your passionate engagement moved our nation forward and I don't want to see that forgotten or overlooked I want to see participation by Latino voters continue to grow and more Hispanics join the ranks as elected members. I believe firmly the best way to continue this fight is to elect Barack Obama as our next president. The Latino community has felt the effects of the policies of the past eight years, president bush has set our nation backwards."