Hillary always wants to move the ball forward, that is just who she is: Bill Clinton

Delivering a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, former United States (U.S.) president Bill Clinton said his wife and Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is the 'best darn change-maker' he ever met in his entire life and has never been satisfied with the status quo on anything and who always wants to move the ball forward.

"If you were sitting where I am sitting and you have heard what I have heard at every dinner conversation, every lunch conversation, every long walk, you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything. She always wants to move the ball forward, that is just who she is," the former president said about Hillary, who made history by winning Democratic nomination for U.S. President, becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major American party.

Rebutting criticism against her, Clinton said Republicans had tried to turn his wife into a "cartoon" during their national convention last week in Cleveland. "What's the difference in what I told you and what they said? One is real and the other is made up. ... You just have to decide which is which, my fellow Americans. The GOP's only option is to create a cartoon alternative," said Clinton, who served as president from 1993 to 2001, and if Hillary is elected, they would become the first-ever husband and wife duo to serve as president.

Endorsing Hillary Clinton's nomination, the former president said, "Hillary worked to empower women and girls around the world and to help LGBT community. You should elect her because she'll never quit when the going gets tough."

Defending his wife's tenure as secretary of state, Clinton said, "She backed President Barack Obama's decision to go after Osama bin Laden and put climate change at the centre of our foreign policy."

She was instrumental in protecting American interests, combating terrorism and advancing human rights, said Clinton, who began with a story about spotting a girl named Hillary Rodham in class at Yale Law School and recounted his courtship of his wife. "In the spring of 1971, I met a girl. In 1974, when I asked her to marry me, she said she couldn't. I was trying to convince her to marry me and first proposed to her on a trip to Great Britain," he recounted.

"I married by best friend. I've lived a long, full, blessed life. It really took off when I met and fell in love with that girl. Hillary opened my eyes to a whole new world of public service. On Thursday, when daughter Chelsea speaks you'll know Hillary has done a fine job as a mother," said the former president.

Asserting that in the greatest country on the earth, Americans have always been about tomorrow, he said, "If you're a young African-American, disillusioned and afraid, Hillary Clinton will make us stronger together. If you're a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win.