Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Cary and Charlotte Friday with attendees ranging from war veterans to students.
He said the candidate will be paying special attention to North Carolina in the coming weeks.
The North Carolina Democratic Primary is May 6, and Clinton said his wife would visit the state this and every week until North Carolinians vote.
“In a way, this state is very much involved in all the promise and all the peril of what’s going on in the American economy,” Clinton said. “And it’s therefore altogether appropriate that you ought to have a big role in America’s future.”
CaryClinton spoke at the Cary Senior Center Friday afternoon, addressing a crowd composed largely of families.
Sarah Shepherd, a sophomore in polymer and color chemistry who stood outside to listen, said the event gave her a new perspective on the candidate even though she is, for now, undecided.
“It was nice listening to him, just getting to know personally about her instead of just what we hear on the news,” Shepherd said.
Clinton said his wife wants to help college students by making sure yearly increases in Pell Grants for low-income students are enough to match inflation.
He said Sen. Clinton is also trying to target college students by allowing them to repay their loans over a longer period of time in hopes they will not leave school because of financial concerns. It’s regrettable that so many students are dropping out because of their loans, he said.
“This is a very foolish decision because a college education over a lifetime is worth way over a million dollars,” Clinton said. “But $10,000 is all the money in the world when you think you’re going to have to pay it back in a couple years.”
Sen. Clinton wants a loan system that allows students to pay back their loans in smaller installments based on a percentage of their income. She also believes public servants should be able to use each year of service to pay off their loans, according to her husband.
Unfair tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans have hurt the economy, he said, adding it is not accurate to say the country is entering a recession.
“Most American families think they have been in a recession for some time,” he said.
CharlotteEarlier Friday in Charlotte, President Clinton greeted a crowd at the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Stonewall Jackson Post around 1:20 p.m.
Sen. Clinton, he said, is most prepared to address veterans’ issues such as aiding soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems associated with war.
“She’ll be the best for veterans, the best commander in chief, the best for the economy, and is the most electable,” he said. “And if North Carolina votes for her, she’ll end up this process with more popular votes, and I believe she’ll be the nominee of the party and the next president.”
With many Vietnam War veterans in the audience, Clinton promised that his wife would not repeat mistakes from that war.
“We owe it to the American people not to do what we did after Vietnam,” he said.
Robert Gallegos, a Vietnam veteran in attendance, said he agreed with Clinton’s stance on the Iraq war.
“It never should have happened, and the way it was handled was all wrong,” Gallegos said.
Clinton said his wife would be most capable of solving the nation’s economics problems, and Gallegos said he was concerned for soldiers who return home to a poor economy after wartime.
“What are we going to do with these vets when they’re discharged?” he asked. “Where are they going to go for work?”
Clinton also addressed another Vietnam veteran, presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, whom he called “an honorable man.” He said the best situation for voters would be if Sen. Clinton ran against Sen. McCain in the general election, and did not mention Democratic frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama.
“It would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country,” Clinton said. “And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics.”
If Sen. Clinton does not receive her party’s nomination, Brian Daudelin, a resident of Charlotte, said he would choose McCain over Sen. Obama because he believes Obama lacks experience.
“Obama is a good speaker and a good guy, but he’d be another Jimmy Carter,” he said.
