Hillary's Visit to Cooperative Middle School
Tonight I went to hear Sen. Hillary Clinton speak at our town's middle school. My 8-year-old daughter came along willingly -- more or less -- intrigued by the notion that she was seeing the future president of the United States.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I'm just now paying close attention to the presidential primary. As a Democrat, I'm happy to have, for the first time since I've been eligible to vote, decent choices among the candidates. So I went to the Clinton event wondering why I wouldn't support her.
The event had a decent turn-out; it was definitely a partisan crowd. I recognized many people from my community, which is a distinctly New Hampshire experience. I was amused to see a large press contingent, who appeared bored and looked as though they'd been spending a lot of time indoors (i.e., pale-faced). Among the press was ABC's George Stephanopoulos. I wonder if he chose to follow Sen. Clinton -- he owes his entire career to the Clintons yet he can't seem to embrace them anymore.
Anyway, Sen. Clinton was accompanied by her mother and daughter, neither of whom spoke, our state senator, Maggie Hassan, and two New York constituents who told personal stories of how Clinton helped them during her time in office (one, a Wall Street executive, told a compelling story about being involved in 9/11. Several years later, he was stuck in a New Orleans hotel during Hurricane Katrina and contacted Sen. Clinton's office to help get him and his family out of the city). When Sen. Clinton spoke, she spoke without a lecturn, and appeared relaxed and at ease. If you believe some of the media coverage about Clinton, you'd expect to see a tightly-wrapped "politician" schmoozing and working the room. I actually found her warm and intelligent -- perhaps not a speaking dynamo -- but certainly Presidential. I suspect this is what her campaign hopes to achieve with their "I know Hillary" approach in their direct mail pieces and campaign ads.
Sen. Clinton focused her remarks on universal health care, Iraq, increasing veterans' benefits, and getting rid of No Child Left Behind. I was happy to hear her say it was time to rid the country of the "fear and fatalism" that seems to be a trademark of our current administration. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the question and answer period because my daughter's patience had just about worn out. I wanted to hear more specifics. But I heard nothing that would keep me from supporting Sen. Clinton.