We are facing a tremendous challenge in upstate New York to educate our citizens about Barak Obama. As we all know, Hillary Clinton has a significant following in this region as well as a seasoned political machine. Our challenge is to create some buzz for Barak. In looking at the outcome of the New Hampshire primary, we have learned that the Clinton camp will play every card in the deck to win. We saw them play the gender card, the fear card, the experience card, the pity card and bully card to great effect. There’s no use condemning these tactics after the fact. What we need to do is take the gloves off ourselves.
We need to band together and highlight the differences between the two campaigns. Rochester and upstate NY voters need to know that there is a choice and that Obama represents a better direction for America and New York. Hillary likes to point to her record and her experience to make the case that she would be the best candidate for president so we need to ask the public how that record and experience has translated to make life better for them and their communities. New York is experiencing continued job losses, increased medical, energy and social support costs while jobs are leaving the state at a record rate. We need to ask how Hillary’s record has benefited us and the nation.
The Clinton attack machine is quick to point out that she is prepared to be president from day one and yet to quote Bill Clinton, “where’s the beef?” What can Hillary point to that is substantive to support that claim? The voters need to think about how being the first lady of Arkansas or the US equates to being the chief executive. How does her lackluster record in the Senate make her uniquely qualified to lead. Has her time in the Senate contributed to the quality of life of the average upstate NY voter? What has she accomplished for us? We are still at war and sending our men and women to Iraq and Afghanistan. We are still watching well paying jobs move out of the state to off-shore locations or states where they would enjoy more favorable tax breaks. We are still seeing the cost of medical coverage rise. We are still struggling to improve the quality of our schools and to give our young people hope for a better life.
We have a short window to draw these contrasts before Super Tuesday. Let’s get together to discuss practical actions we can take to make a difference. Let’s believe that “Yes we can!”
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