Women for Hillary Clinton - Democratic Underground

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Mon Mar-24-08 04:52 PM
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Women for Hillary Clinton

Edited on Mon Mar-24-08 05:37 PM by bigtree

(http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/24/801672.aspx)

BLUE BELL, Pa. -- In the first such event in weeks, Clinton revved up the crowd at a "Women for Hillary" rally outside Philadelphia Monday.

She spent some time talking about the changing attitudes in the country and the erosion of barriers holding back women and others. She said the changes had allowed her and Obama to run for the Democratic nomination.

"I think that says a lot,” she said. It says a lot about who we are as a party and who we are as a country.”

"Women make most of the healthcare decisions in America," she said. "For women, healthcare is a constant worry. You never can have it far from your mind, can you? Because you think about it all the time, 'What happens if--?' You know, I'm the designated worrier in my family and most women I know assume that role and the piece of mind that is never there because, can you let your son or your daughter play sports if you don't have health insurance? What if something happens?"

And the senator brought up the issue of equal pay, which she mentioned last week in West Virginia. She said April 22, the date of the Pennsylvania primary, was national "Equal Pay Day."

"I think it's pretty well-accepted that, still, women are not paid equally with men for doing the same jobs in America," she said, noting the average American woman made about 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. "This is a law that goes back to the early 1960s. This was signed by President Kennedy, and so, we need to finally, once and for all, say in America equality is important, and we're going to finally have equal pay for equal work in every job."

"Marian Tasco, Connie Williams, and Allyson Schwartz]know that the stakes are so high in this election because they work hard everyday to make a difference," Clinton said after the Philadelphia city councilwoman, state senator, and congresswoman introduced her. "It's kind of like what we try to do in our families, where each and every one of us gets up and does the best we can -- sometimes against some pretty daunting odds. Sometimes it's a problem you have to deal with. Sometimes it's an economic downturn or a health crisis."

More than 3,000 people turned out to hear Hillary Clinton Monday as she addressed an enthusiastic crowd at Montgomery County Community College in Whitpain.

Sen. Clinton laid out a plan Monday to stem the growing housing crisis, calling for greater lender transparency and assistance for individual homeowners and communities to prevent more foreclosures. (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/24/in_pa_address_clinton_homes_in.html?hpid=topnews)

Clinton said that just as the federal government bailed out Bear Stearns, so too should it assist regular people. "Let's be clear: when families are losing their homes, that's also a financial crisis," Clinton said today in a speech at the University of Pennsylvania.

Clinton has lashed herself to the issue of homeowner insecurity in recent weeks as part of a strategy to sell herself as the only candidate with a grasp of bread-and-butter matters important to downscale voters. That approach, which helped her win Ohio, is the core of her method in Pennsylvania as she struggles to overtake Sen. Barack Obama in the popular vote in the contests ahead.

Clinton called for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures on owner-occupied houses purchased with subprime loans. She would also freeze subprime adjustable-rate mortgages in place for as long as five years, or until the mortgages can be converted into affordable, fixed loans.

Another piece of Clinton's program is the establishment of a high-level emergency working group to show the government is "taking our economic crisis seriously."

"The solution I've proposed is a sensible way for everyone -- lenders, investors, mortgage companies and borrowers -- to share responsibility, keep families in their homes, and stabilize our communities and our economy," she said in Philadelphia.

Clinton called for the extension of the Federal Housing Administration's ability to guarantee restructured mortgages -- proposed by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. -- among other things.

Her proposal also includes steps to help homeowners restructure mortgages and to ease legal liability for mortgage service companies, Clinton wrote on her Web site. It also would provide an additional $30 billion to help states and localities fight foreclosures.

"Over the past week, we've seen unprecedented action to maintain confidence in our credit markets and head off a crisis for Wall Street banks," she said of the Federal Reserve's financial assistance in the sale of Bears Stearns to JP Morgan. "It's now time for equally aggressive action to help families avoid foreclosure and keep communities across this country from spiraling into recession."

Clinton was asked by a voter here Monday about the increasingly contentious race, and whether Democrats can manage to come together in the general election. Clinton re-emphasized that Democrats must unite after the primary battle. (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/24/clinton-stresses-party-unity-in-pennsylvania/)

"I think we will have a unified Democratic party once we have a nominee, we will go into fall election very committed to taking back the White House," she said. "None of the things I talk about will happen if Sen. McCain is elected."

She praised McCain and their work in Senate together, but added, "As he himself has said, he doesn’t know much about the economy."

The mostly female audience laughed as she ribbed McCain over his economic credentials, but she was serious as she urged Democrats to put aside their differences to defeat the presumptive GOP nominee.

"I think that people that who would have voted for either me or Sen. Obama are going to ask themselves, 'Wait a minute, there are really big differences between the Democrats and the Republicans.' And let’s have a unified party and elect a Democratic president."