Clinton rallies PA women
Posted: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:06 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones
BLUE BELL, Pa. -- In the first such event in weeks, Clinton revved up the crowd at a "Women for Hillary" rally outside Philadelphia Monday.
It was of no surprise to find the gym at Montgomery County Community College populated overwhelmingly by women. They made up about 90 percent of the crowd.
It's been a while since the New York senator hoping to become the first woman president has focused on issues of specific concern to women or held a woman-specific event.
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.”
Clinton brought back lines we haven't heard in a long time, like mentioning the women who come up to her and tell her they were born before women could vote but would live long enough to see a woman president. Variations on that phrase were common in the Iowa days.
Clinton said issues like the economy and health care were of special concern to women.
"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."
She went on to give her standard stump speech before taking questions from the audience.
NBC's Lauren Appelbaum adds that at the rally, Clinton emphasized her role as a woman -- comparing the role of a caretaker of the family to that of president of the United States.
"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."
Clinton is well known for saying, "It takes a village" to raise a child. The presidential hopeful took it one step further this afternoon. "A country is like a great big family where we have to work together," she said, "because we're better off if everybody's doing better."
