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Hillary Clinton

A Bernie, Now Hillary Supporter’s Message: To Win, be Bold!

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“Her campaign is in the tightest of races and there is a real danger of an unstable demagogue assuming the Presidency.”

By Ari Bennett

“Now is not the time to be attacking the Democratic Party.” — Most Democrats

Discourse within the Democratic party doesn’t have to be a love fest. We don’t have to hold hands and avoid difficult discussion. We’re adults. I think the voting age in America is 18? The truth is important, and this election year has shown that many Americans like hearing the truth. For some reason, others like Donald Trump because he instead tells the “truth,” which often simply consists of fear-inducing falsehoods.

To all those who insisted Bernie Sanders was a blind optimist with ideas too big for America (including getting money out of politics, free public college, universal healthcare, and a $15 minimum wage) that would never come to fruition: You’ve been proven wrong. His ideas may not yet have become a reality, but he knows the road toward acceptance is long and requires patience. He is a man capable of compromise. He proved it first by running for President on the Democratic ticket, which he knew, as an Independent, was not a party he fully supported, but was the best way to get his ideas the greatest exposure and widest acceptance. He again compromised by taking a stance to support Hillary Clinton, in order to take down a much greater threat. Bernie compromised by ultimately accepting a Democratic nominee who many would argue is the epitome of what his campaign fought against.

Bernie’s campaign and eventual loss was not for naught. He pushed Hillary to the left on college tuition, and she now supports free public college tuition for all families earning $125,000 or less. I believe she agrees with many more of the policies Bernie fought for, but refuses to explicitly present her positions because she deems it not the politically smart thing to do.

During the primary in New Hampshire Photo by Ari Bennett
During the primary in New Hampshire Photo by Ari Bennett

She remains purposely vague on many issues, pandering to both ends of the spectrum. If polling trends are to be believed, that is not the way to win. Look at Hillary’s choice for VP. While he gave a great acceptance speech, it was a very political decision. This is a man who, like Hillary, is a winner. He is a winner because he is political. He also happens to be white, male, and moderate. In 2005, in a radio ad for governor, he stated, “I’m conservative on issues of personal responsibility. As a former Christian missionary, faith is central to my life. I oppose gay marriage, I support restrictions on abortion — no public funding and parental consent — and I’ve worked to pass a state law banning partial-birth abortion.” This is someone who may present himself well, but by no means has a consistent progressive record.

As we dive into the cyberage, American “backroom politics” has been exposed due to leaks, and people are not happy with what they see. In perhaps any other election year, Hillary may have been the perfect candidate. More than ever, however, Americans want honesty. It’s time Hillary learns this. She needs to stop taking money from big moneyed interests and start taking clear stances on the issues.

Hillary is one of the most qualified presidential nominees in history and her intelligence is unquestionable. I truly believe her morals are in the right place and for the most part she has only the best in mind for Americans, but those morals are skewed by money and a corrupt system, both with which she has became far too comfortable.  But even at the height of my support for Bernie Sanders, I never believed Hillary was malicious; she has always projected a progressive trend. However, she needs to start playing the role of a leader, and stop taking stances only when the timing feels right.  The right time is now.

Honesty and consistency are vital this election. Now is the time for her to look deep within her heart and fully embrace stances on issues that she cares about. Her motives may still be suspect to some, but I’m convinced that each of her goals for America is what is in fact best for America. For those who desire truth and not “truth,” she must stand by the courage of her convictions. She cannot afford to dance around issues like a savvy politician. She must be bold. Her campaign is in the tightest of races and there is a real danger of an unstable demagogue assuming the Presidency. Bernie enchanted me and my peers by bringing something refreshing to politics – honesty and consistency. If Hillary is honest and forthright, and isn’t merely political in her behavior, she can save us from entering what could be the most devastating era in modern American history.

Ari Bennett is a rising Junior at Union College majoring in Math and Studio Art. He also has a passion for politics.

 

 


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The Art of Winning Hearts and Minds for Hillary

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Executive Women for Hillary Emphasizes “Curious, Creative and Collaborative” Listening

By Susan Youngwood

About 40 women crammed into the living room of a townhouse in Philadelphia last week, taking up every imaginable seating and floor space. All were eager to learn an effective method for persuading undecided voters to support Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“Our job is not to turn people who will happily vote for Donald Trump,” said Carol Evans, recent Chappaqua resident and a national co-chair of Executive Women for Hillary, who led this training. “Our job is to talk to independents, unenthusiastic Democrats and disaffected Republicans. Save your energy for the real fence sitters.”

Evans, who was founder and president of Working Mother Media, helped launch Executive Women for Hillary four months before Clinton declared her candidacy. “We started really early,” Evans explained. “We were just guessing and praying that she would run.”

Executive Women for Hillary is a national coalition of executive, entrepreneur and professional women who stand behind, support and advocate for Clinton to become the first woman president of the United States. It has about 1,450 members, all volunteer.

“We think that using our skills, networks and influence on getting Hillary elected is a winning formula,” Evans said. They call their approach Winning Hearts and Minds.

At the DNC: Co-founders of Executive Women for Hillary: Carol Evans (left) and Jennifer Allyn
At the DNC: Co-founders of Executive Women for Hillary: Carol Evans (left) and Jennifer Allyn

“We found our voice very early on” by focusing on training methodology that they rewrote for the Clinton campaign,, said Evans. “Like all executive women, we created a powerpoint.”

The group calls its training sessions salons, and they are usually held in someone’s private home. The one in Philadelphia during the Democratic National Convention was a typical gathering — it started with a social hour, as women chatted over cheese, crackers and cookies. After the group moved from the kitchen to the living room, the training began.

“The best thing is to start with an open-ended question,” Evans began. Ask, ‘How are you feeling about Hillary?’ You’ll get a lot of different responses.”

The most likely response is either ambivalence or negativity. The next step is to ask the person to talk about his or her concerns — and the key is to listen.

“Listening is not active,” instructed co-founder and national co-chair Jennifer Allyn, head of diversity for Price Waterhouse. “It’s curious, creative, collaborative.” Don’t interrupt, don’t disagree, don’t discuss their concerns one-by-one — just listen and be curious.

Then, engage them in a conversation by asking a lot of questions — questions that begin with either who, what, when, where, why or how. If the person is worried that Clinton isn’t trustworthy, ask, ‘Who do you trust? Why do you trust them. What qualities make someone trustworthy? How has trust been a factor in the past in your voting decisions? What is the one thing you do trust about Hillary?’”

“By asking those questions you are building a relationship – even if only for five minutes,” Evans said.

Then, pivot–explain why you are supporting Hillary. And finally, ask them their concerns about Donald Trump.

The goal is not to convince someone to love Hillary, but to get them to support her in November. “It’s a one-on-one game to get people to vote for Clinton,” said Evans.

This method works, said women who used it effectively in the primaries.

“I did this on my mother — who never voted Democrat in her life,” said Allyn. Allyn listened to her mother’s concerns, explained why she liked Hillary and was concerned about Trump, and convinced her mother to commit to vote for Clinton. “She even gave money!” Allyn added.

Mosemarie Boyd, an attorney from Arkansas, attended the Philadelphia session. “I met these women in Iowa in January,” she said, and signed up, becoming the co-chair for Ohio. “It brings in talented women who are top in their careers and teaches them to engage in the political process.”

The training is concise, which is attractive to women busy holding down jobs and raising families. Women busy. It also works to women’s strengths. “The most important part is to listen,” she explained.

Lisa Levey, the New Hampshire co-chair, is an organizational development consultant who has never been politically active before. The historic nature of Clinton’s campaign is a big motivating factor for her. “This is a huge deal; I can’t tell you how much that inspires me.”

She plans to organize movie screenings and debate parties for Executive Women in New Hampshire, and organize phone banks and canvassing. The key to this strategy, she said, “is understanding what the other person cares about.”

Engaging and training new members: Mosemarie Boyd (left), an attorney from Arkansas and Ohio co-chair.
Engaging members: Mosemarie Boyd (left), an attorney from Arkansas and Ohio co-chair

Twenty-eight members traveled to Philadelphia to attend the DNC, coming from around the country — Oklahoma, New Jersey, California, Washington, Virginia, to name a few places. The group plans to hold training salons in all 50 states (“We have a 50-state strategy,” Evans said), offer voter protection advice from its lawyer members, work on voter access and voter registration, and getting out the vote.

For more information on Executive Women for Hillary, go to www.executivewomenforhillary.com and follow them on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ExecutiveWomenforHillary/

 

 

 

“Results Oriented” Chappaqua Friends of Hill and Tim

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Joy-Filled Members Celebrate Hillary Clinton’s Historic Nomination

By Susan Youngwood

It started with a single Facebook post, on April 12, 2015, the day Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for president of the United States.

Dawn Evans Greenberg invited her friends in Chappaqua to join her for a drink to celebrate. A small group gathered, and decided they wanted to help the campaign. The group mushroomed, and now has 750 members ages 16 to 69. A satellite group in Rivertown has 200 participants.

Fifteen months later, after hours of making phone calls, knocking on doors and registering voters, ten members of Chappaqua Friends of Hill and Tim (the name officially changed last week) attended the Democratic National Convention to watch Clinton accept the nomination.

“Our enthusiasm carries us along,” said Greenberg.

Chappaqua Friend of HIll and Tim in the arena on Wednesday.
Chappaqua Friends of Hill and Tim  arrive for their first night in the arena on Wednesday. (L–R): Beth Sauerhaft (in orange), Julie Gaughran, Jason Lichtenthal, Dawn Evans Greenberg, Iris Weintraub Lachaud and (front, center) Randee Kessler Glazer

At the crack of dawn on Wednesday, the group set off to Philadelphia. Their first stop was a Women for Hillary Meet and Greet in the Philadelphia convention center, where they gathered buttons and encouragement. After getting their credentials (posing for a photo in front of the enormous Hillary button in the lobby) and checking into their accommodations, they headed to the Wells Fargo Center.

Settled into their seats by 3:30, they were in for a long night.

They were all pumped. This was their first political convention. “I’m still pinching myself,” said Kristen Lore, “I can’t believe I’m here.

The members discussed their efforts and motivations while waiting for the program to begin. Iris Lauchaud listed all the states they called during the primaries: Indiana, California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, West Virginia.

Randee Glazer, who worked on Wall Street but is now retired, found time to do it all — phone banking, canvassing, visibility, voter registration. “I like canvassing — I like speaking to people, telling them what I admire about Hillary. I think it really makes a difference,” she said.

Jolted by 911, Glazer was motivated to volunteer after John Kerry’s loss in 2004. “After ‘04, I realized that I can not only vote — I have to do something.” She worked on the Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012. But this campaign has a more personal touch for her.

“I met Hillary for the first time in 2005, at someone’s home for a fundraiser,” she said. “She was amazing.” Glazer’s daughter was applying to colleges, and Clinton gave her advice from her own experience with Chelsea. It was clear from that conversation, Glazer said, “how Hillary listens and how she cares. … She’s brilliant, capable and qualified.”

Thursday, July 28: Arriving early to the Wells Fargo Arena, CFOH members get ready to witness their neighbor and hometown candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton accept her party's nomination for POTUS.
Thursday, July 28: Arriving early to the Wells Fargo Arena, CFOH members get ready to witness their neighbor and hometown candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton accept her party’s nomination for POTUS. (L-R): Kristin Lore, Randee Kessler Glazer, Jason Lichtenthal, Francesca Hagadus, Holly McCall, Julie Gaughran, Dawn Evans Greenberg (behind Julie). With (far right) Grace Bennett, Inside Chappaqua Magazine

Julie Gaughran fondly remembers her phone calls to southern states. “They had such lovely accents,” she said. Her first volunteer gig for a political campaign was in 1980, for Teddy Kennedy. “I’ve always been politically active,” she said.

“I fell in love with Hillary when she was First Lady,” said Lore, a psychotherapist who specializes in eating disorders. Clinton is both “gutsy” and “really caring” — but most important, Lore said, “she fights for the kinds of values that are important to me.”

One thing that motivated them was the impressive skill set of the participants. They are “results-oriented” said one; this is not a group of ladies who lunch.

Beth Sauerhaft, who works in environmental and social sustainability, said Hillary’s strengths — her “amazing breadth and depth and … experience” inspired similarly situated people to volunteer. “We’re all a group of people with expert credentials,” she said.

“If we go to lunch,” she laughed, “we discuss this.”

“This is the greatest group,” said Gaughran. “They are warm-hearted, extremely smart, unpretentious, and funny as hell. We are doing something great and having fun as well.”

While all the members put in hours of hard work, they acknowledge their founder’s contribution. “Dawn is a force of nature,” said Gaughran.

Eventually the convention began. There was a procession of speakers, both politicians and celebrities, some well known (New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Star Jones), some not as well known. Audience members flicked through their Facebook feeds, took photos, explored the convention center.

The mood shifted at 8 p.m., when gun violence took center stage. The audience quieted down. Phones turned dark. All eyes turned to the stage as Christine Leinonen, the mother of a victim of the June 12 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, took the microphone.

Leinonen said that when she went into labor with her son, she was a Michigan state trooper and the hospital stored her gun in a safe.

“I’m glad common-sense gun policy was in place the day Christopher was born, but where was that common sense the day he died?” Leinonen asked. “I never want you to ask that question about your child. That’s why I support Hillary Clinton.”

Glazer rested her cheek on her hand, transfixed. All around, eyes twinkled with tears.

Next up was Erika Smegielski, whose mother was killed in the Newtown, Conn., shooting. As she proclaimed, “What we need is another mother, who will make this right,” Greenberg whispered, “These women are awesome.” She shook her head. “I can’t even imagine.”

Emotions flitted up and down. Joy when Broadway performers sang “What the World Needs Now.” Enthusiasm as favorite politicians took the microphone (chanting “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” for California Gov. Jerry Brown; “Joe, Joe, Joe” for Vice President Joe Biden). Laughter when former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg eviscerated Republican nominee Donald Trump (“I’m a New Yorker, I know a con when I see one.”)

The Chappaqua ten waved signs, booed when Trump’s name was mentioned, chanted “Love trumps hate.”

But no words could really capture their feelings when Obama took the stage.

“One of the single greatest moments of my life,” wrote Greenberg on Facebook. “The place seems almost levitating with love and hope for the future.”

Witnessing this live was indescribably different from seeing it on television.

“You just feel the hum in the air,” said Sauerhaft.

“You could feel the hope in the air,” said Greenberg.

“This is an historic event,” said Glazer. “We’re not just living it. We’ve been part of it.”

 

Roll Call for Hillary’s Nomination: A Moving Experience

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By Susan Youngwood

When Jerry Emmett, age 102, took the microphone during the roll call and announced that Arizona cast “51 votes for the next president of the United States of America, Hillary Rodham Clinton,” the crowd cheered and waved signs. Emmett had been born before women had the right to vote, and now was nominating a woman as president.

A lump formed in my throat.

This was really happening.

I have always loved the roll call. Snuck in between speeches and videos, no longer shown during prime time, it’s when states take a minute or two to cite some pretty funky facts before giving the vote total.

New Jersey Senator Corey Booker was transfixed too.
New Jersey Senator Corey Booker was transfixed too.

This year at the Democratic National Convention, we learned that New York is the birthplace of women’s rights. Rhode Island has the best restaurants. Connecticut is the home of pizza and hamburgers and Utah has the greatest snow on earth. It’s a moment of levity during a serious process.

Instead of watching on television, which is where I’ve always experienced this rituaI, I spent an hour on the convention floor during the roll call. There are several levels of passes at the convention — Inside Chappaqua got one pass that granted us a seat in the nosebleed section, where the speakers are a tiny speck in the distance. But we’re able to trade that seat for a floor pass for an hour, and I used my time Tuesday night during roll call.

The floor — aka the Philadelphia 76ers basketball court — is where you find the delegates. Each state sits together. Some delegates wear crazy hats and shirts adorned with flags; donkeys; red, white and blue glitter; and pithy sayings. There are  lots of buttons and hand-drawn signs.

But the delegates are only a small part of the rowdiness on the convention floor.

Media and security, officials and I don’t even know who else crowd the aisles and sit on stairs. Photographers carrying bulky cameras jostle elbows with reporters using their cell phone cameras. Security continuously shouts “keep moving” and “don’t stand there” to clear a narrow aisle for people to walk. Media interviews are happening every few feet.dnc.delegatesROLLCALL

The big media sit in 11 tiers of blue-covered tables off to the side — they have real surfaces with electric outlets.

During the roll call on Tuesday night, reporters tightly clustered in two places. One was near the New York delegation which had the best seats in the house, right in front of the podium. The other was off to the corner, and it took awhile for me to realize they wanted to be close to the Vermont delegation. Rumor was that Bernie Sanders was going to speak last. I caught a glimpse of Andrea Mitchell from NBC news.

Whenever a state’s name was called, that delegation would cheer and the audience would peer around to find their location. After announcing the vote totals, everyone waved their signs and yelled “Hillary” and “Bernie.” Some states got louder applause than others — mainly the large ones with big vote totals.

Not all was joyous. I walked by a furious argument between the delegates of one southern state as they debated which politician got the honor of standing next to the microphone. All politics is local.

As I scanned the crowd, letting the experience sink into my every pore and synapse, I noticed U.S. Senator Cory Booker. He was in the front of the New Jersey delegation, his eyes intently focused on the podium. Every now and then someone whispered to him, or asked to take a photo, and he’d smile and pose. As soon as the interaction ended, he turned to the podium, tilted his head up, and concentrated on the roll call.

There was a childlike look of wonder in his eyes. This was democracy, and he was drinking it in. He loved this and he clearly deeply believed in this process. He didn’t want to miss one one second. Watching his joy intensified my own appreciation of what I was witnessing — the peaceful change of power.

After the hour, I sprinted back to my seat in the rafters. I was sitting next to a friend, someone I had worked with in Vermont. We watched Bernie Sanders, once our U.S. senator, declare Hillary Clinton the Democratic Party nominee. We contained our tears. It was a moment that managed to be both public but acutely personal, too.

Mother of Two Lost to Gun Violence: Hillary “Strong on the Issues”

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“I live with the pain every day.”

By Susan Youngwood

Philadelphia, PA, July 24 — Jackie Rowe Adams lost two sons to gun violence. Her 17-year-old was shot 33 years ago by three men who didn’t like the way he looked at them

Sixteen years later, her 28-year-old was killed in a robbery, by a 13-year-old.“It seems like yesterday,” she said. “I live with the pain every day, every hour.”

Jackie Rowe Adams lost two sons to gun violence.
Jackie Rowe Adams lost two sons to gun violence; she is fighting for Hillary Clinton to make history.

Gun control is one reason she supports Hillary Clinton. “She is a strong strong woman. A strong lady. She’s strong on the issues.”

Rowe-Adams is on the DNC Credentials Committee. From Harlem, she is president of her local chapter of the ASME Union, District Council 37. She founded Harlem Mothers Say Stop Another Violent End, which provides support and grief counseling to survivors of gun violence.

“I’m for Hillary all the way,” she said.  “I was for Hillary from the beginning. Let me tell you. She rose to the occasion in all her positions. She did a great job.”

When Clinton accepts the nomination this week, says Rowe Adams, “I feel I’m a part of history. I’m excited because it’s her time. It’s time for the world to believe in a female. And to open doors for the younger generation.”