CLINTON’S MESSAGE: TIME TO ACT ON GUNS
Democratic presidential hopeful hits key points at college rally
DAVIE — Hillary Clinton delivered a passionate punch of politics and policy Friday that had her most ardent supporters cheering and clapping, even after waiting for hours for her to take the stage in a sweltering college gymnasium.
Speaking to an audience of about 1,200 at Broward College one day after a massacre at a community college in Oregon, the Democratic presidential candidate declared the time has come for “new, effective gun control measures.”
“It is just heartbreaking, it is sickening to see another massacre. People should not be afraid to go to a college like this one or to go to the movie theater or go to Bible study. What is wrong with us that we can’t stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers?”
Her promise to fight for gun control drew cheers from the crowd gathered for a rally for her presidential campaign. “This is not just tragic. We don’t just need to pray for people. We need to act,” she said.
Clinton raised a long list of issues, touching on just about every conceivable
Democratic priority and constituency group during her 29-minute speech: college affordability, early childhood education, drug dependency, women’s rights, gay rights, abortion rights, Planned Parenthood, voting rights, immigration reformand criminal justice reform.
Besides guns, Clinton devoted major parts of her speech to the economy and Obamacare.
“The economy works better for America and Americans whenwe have a Democrat in the White House,” she said. She pledged to raise the minimum wage, to make sure workers share in more of the profits that go to corporate CEOs and to ensure women get equal pay for equal work.
She said she’d defend Obamacare from Republican attempts to dismantle it, but also said it needs to be improved, especially by bringing down prescription drug costs.
Clinton criticized Republicans who control Florida government — “your governor and the Republicans in Tallahassee”— for refusing to expand the Medicaid health program for the poor. “They said no to savings, no to families, no to fairness,” she said. “Because they said no to Medicaid, people are suffering, particularly working people, people of color, people who are disproportionately left out.”
And she criticized Republican presidential candidates who respond to questions about climate change by saying they aren’t scientists. But she didn’t critcize any by name.
Clinton said as president she’d push to transition to clean energy jobs as a way to combat climate change and help the economy.
“If anybody should be supportive of this, it ought to be the people of Florida. You all are on the front lines of all these weather-related events,” she said.
Clinton also criticized Republicans on guns. She said it is “infuriating” that every time there is another massacre “Republicans and the NRA say, ‘Now is not the time to talk about guns.’ Yes it is. But more than talk, it is time to act,” she said.
She said Republican politicians “put the NRA ahead of American families. It is wrong and we need to make every politician who sides with them look into the eyes of parents whose children have been murdered and explain why they listen to the gun lobby instead.”
Clinton said change on guns is achievable, and reflects what the majority of Americanswant.
Florida is moving in the opposite direction. Legislation that would allow the concealed carry of firearms on college campuses has already been approved by the Florida House and Senate criminal justice committees in advance of next year’s session.
Doles Jadotte liked what Clinton said on the issue.
“I thought what she said was really specific in the way she addressed gun control and tied it to mental health. How can we as a society come up with a balanced policy keeping our right to own guns while also protecting people?” Jadotte said.
Maria Vale, West Palm Beach
If the response at the rally in heavily Democratic South Florida could guarantee election outcomes, she’d have the Democratic nomination and the presidency all but locked up.
“Look at the line of people waiting to get in. They’re thrilled to be here. They’re thrilled to support her,” said U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat who represents southwest Palm Beach County and northwest Broward. “In South Florida, Hillary has always been a favorite and continues to be.”
Deutch and a handful of other politicians watched from the balcony, but none was onstage with Clinton, who used a hand-held microphone and stepped away from the lectern for her speech. Clinton was introduced by Darnel Joseph, president of the Honors Student Committee at Broward College.
Joseph, who went to South Plantation High School, said he turned 18 last year so he’ll be able to vote for Clinton next year.
Verna Johnson of Lauderhill, whowas at the African-Americans for Hillary tent, said Clinton “stands for the middle class and civil rights. She’d be the best candidate.”
But not everyone sees her as the best. Clinton’s poll numbers have been falling. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, has been surging. And Vice President Joe Biden is waiting in the wings, deciding whether he’ll seek the Democratic nomination.
At Clinton’s rally, the gym wasn’t filled, some people left before she finished speaking and not everyone was as enthusiastic as Deutch, Joseph and Johnson.
“I don’t really like anyone. I’m not really sure,” said Verisha Afzal, 17, of Pembroke Pines. “I think if Joe Biden were to run, I’d vote for him. I like him as a person. I think he’s more trustworthy.”
Afzal will turn 18 by year’s end, so she can vote in the March primary. She said she might vote for Clinton.
Joan Shapiro, 60, of West Palm Beach, said she, too, wasn’t sure. She called Clinton “a brilliant woman” but isn’t yet soldon her candidacy. “She needs to redeem herself. She cannot be running the country from the bootstraps of her husband.”
Maria Vale of West Palm Beach said she’s been a Clinton supporter since she lived in New York and Clinton ran for the U.S. Senate. “I love Hillary,” she said. “She has my vote, but Bernie excites me.”
About 10 college-aged men and women greeted people exiting the venue with signs bearing anti-Clinton slogans.
“I’m upset with Hillary’s pandering to young people as a demographic,” said University of Miami graduate student Lauren Cooley. “At this point, I’m standing back and looking for a candidate who stands for limited government.”
Another protester, Josh Thifault, identified himself as the South Florida director of a group called Turning Point USA.
“We don’t necessarily go for or against candidates, but we do go against ideas, and she stands for everything we’re against.”
After the Davie rally, Clinton was scheduled to attend a fundraiser at the Fort Lauderdale home of lawyers Mitchell and Sharon Berger before heading to another fundraiser in Miami Beach. Earlier, she raised money in North Palm Beach.
“I love Hillary. She has my vote, but Bernie excites me.”