Tuesday, September 04, 2007

hillary's happy hour

Tonight I had the unique opportunity to meet the next president of the United States.

Say what you will about her, you won't soon forget your experience if you're ever within twenty feet of Sen. Hillary Clinton while she lays out her plans to lead this country in a new direction.

She came to a venue in Northeast DC called Ibiza. I had never heard of it before, but it seemed kind of like a night club. The owner was there and said that he had opened it for top-notch entertainment and special events, so apparently it was a pretty classy place.

I stood in line for a few minutes, but because I was already on the guest list I was whisked to a different line where I was patted down by Secret Service. Then they let me inside and I went to find a nice place to stand, because I knew that it would be crowded.

Soon, her campaign manager Terry McAuliffe came on stage and gave a rousing introduction. He said that the polls show that Hillary Clinton will not only win the states that Al Gore and John Kerry won, but she'll win other key states like Florida, Nevada, etc. After rattling off more of her credentials, he introduced her and musical performer Mya.

It was very much a stump speech from the presidential hopeful, but I was moved and motivated nonetheless as she detailed why she should be the next president and what she would do if elected.

She promised universal health care for all Americans, an end to the war in Iraq and real support for our returning veterans, an end to the war on science and a new dawn for research, specifically life-saving studies of stem cells.

She recalled when she was going off to college: her dad paid for tuition and room and board, but she was delegated the task of buying her own books. But she had to pay her own way through law school. She earned scholarships and worked, but she said she was also lucky enough to be able to borrow money from the federal government with only 2% interest. She said we need to end the days of soaring tuition prices that cause students to get led astray by private lenders that they become indebted to for much of their adult lives.

She also brought up Hurricane Katrina and how a natural disaster became "a national disgrace and an international embarrassment." She said she had a unique idea involving the appointments of competent people to important positions, which drew laughter and applause from the crowd of over 1,000 supporters.

She ended the speech with a story that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once told her about visiting "behind the Iron Curtain" for a WWII memorial: she saw many American flags with only 48 stars. When President Clinton's cabinet member asked them why they had these old flags, it was explained to her that they were family heirlooms that were first given to them by American soldiers. The flags, in pristine condition, represented freedom that many of these people could only ever hope for.

Not only did Sen. Clinton say that this sentiment should still be felt abroad, but she said that she wants us to be able to feel it about ourselves, as well. We should be proud to be Americans, where we value liberty and democracy.

Under a Hillary Clinton administration, we will be.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Bradley,

Wondering how it went -- had a ticket, but couldn't make it that Tuesday evening.

Are you in the dc or dallas area?

Unknown said...

Univeral Health Care

Did Hillary sell out????

"for her silence, Hillary was rewarded. And she has been the second-largest recipient in the Senate of healthcare industry contributions."