Inside Bay Area - Clinton Promises Change at Rally

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Inside Bay Area - Clinton Promises Change at Rally

Former first lady says she is experienced enough to lead

By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND — Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton described herself to cheering thousands Sunday as the only candidate with the know-how to turn the country around.

A crowd of 14,000, by the campaign's estimate, packed into downtown Oakland's 14th Street between Clay Street and Broadway for a two-hour ''block party" featuring political speeches and musical performances that began at 4:30 p.m. and culminated with the candidate's arrival onstage at about 6:20 p.m.

"Change is just a word if you don't have thestrength and experience to make it happen," the junior senator from New York told her audience. "I believe I can find common ground, but I also know how to stand my ground."

Clinton said she aims to ensure quality affordable health care for every American, tackle global warming, eliminate America's dependence on foreign oil, appoint jurists and an attorney general who believe in the rule of law and bring U.S. troops home from Iraq while restoring America's leadership role in the world.

"If you're ready for change, I'm ready to lead, and together we will take our country back — I make that promise to you."

She vowed that the day after she's elected, she would send envoys from both political parties around the world to begin rebuilding the trust and good will squandered by the Bush administration. "The era of cowboy diplomacy is over."

Here at home, too many Americans feel "invisible" as they slip between the health care
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system's cracks, work for stagnant wages and watch the costs of college tuition and energy rise, she said. "They may call it the 'ownership society,' but what they really mean is you're on your own."

She said she's proud to have tried to reform health care when her husband was president in 1993 and 1994, ''but this time, with your help, we're going to get it done."

She also called for removing tax subsidies from Big Oil and using them instead to support research and development of greener energy technologies that will create jobs for millions of Americans.

And Clinton, scheduled to appear in Oakland again today to discuss her "urban agenda" at Laney College, also touched on issues even nearer and dearer to the oft-beleaguered city's heart: education and crime.

She called for universal pre-kindergarten education so young children get the foundation they need to achieve. And she noted that crime rates have begun to rise in cities across the nation, after "we drove the crime rate down in the'90s because we put more police on the street and took assault weapons off the street."

California Republican Party spokesman Hector Barajas issued a statement before Clinton's rally saying "Californians are looking for principled, proven leadership from those who seek to be commander-in-chief; it is clear that Clinton is nothing more than a calculating politician, unwilling to tackle the concerns of voters in this state."

But Clinton during her rally said, "Just as my husband loved California, I love California and I will be here as often as I can be." She said she already touts the state to other regions as a leader in environmentalism and other areas.

Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, and former state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, emceed the rally.

Among other speakers extolling Clinton on Sunday were Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who accompanied Clinton to the rally after hosting a $2,300-a-head fundraiser at her home minutes earlier; state Treasurer Bill Lockyer; San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom; Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente; and state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland; who announced his endorsement Sunday.

The rally was billed as a "Club44 Block Party." Club44 is the Clinton campaign's effort to mobilize women to make history by electing a woman the nation's 44th president.

Supporters who had paid $20 each were allowed into an area directly in front of the stage, which was set up at the corner of 14th and Clay streets with its back to the Elihu Harris State Office Building. Others who'd been admitted for free were held further back along 14th Street toward Broadway.

The audience was regaled by Asian lion dancers, the McClymonds High School drum line, the Castlemont High School choir, singers Dwayne Wiggins and Nya Jade and the Glide Ensemble between political orations.

Clinton summed up Sunday by saying she wants "to restart the 21st century and undo the damage that's been done ... This is not just about electing a president, this is about changing a country."

She described how former Secretary of State Madeliene Albright visited former Soviet bloc countries in the mid-'90s and saw people there waving 48-star American flags that U.S. troops had handed out as they liberated Europe during World War II.

When Albright asked these people why their families had run the risk of keeping those flags through the decades, they replied, "Because we love America, and we love America's values, and we always hoped we would be able to live in freedom like Americans," Clinton related.

That's the kind of good will she wants her presidency to engender, she said.

A few hours earlier and two blocks away, staffers for the rival presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., opened the campaign's first headquarters office outside of the four early-vote states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Oakland-based hip-hop duo Blackalicious performed outside the new office on 14th Street near Broadway as volunteers, well-wishers and curious onlookers milled around.

Mitchell Schwartz, Obama's California campaign director, acknowledged Thursday that the office's opening had been held a day earlier than initially planned in order to come before Clinton's rally. The Obama event was wrapping up as people lined up on the next block for Clinton's rally.

Volunteers holding signs for both campaigns on the corner of 14th and Broadway seemed to co-exist peacefully — at least until a reporter approached.

Jose Contreras, 20, of San Jose said he's for Obama because "he gives everybody hope" and embodies the "fundamental change," especially in foreign policy and specifically on the war in Iraq, that the nation needs.

Stuart Baimel, 20, a Stanford University student from Santa Barbara, said he's for Clinton because she's "for change and can enact it — from day one, she can hit the ground running. I want to see fundamental change but I also want to see it get done."

Contreras shot back that Bushes or Clintons have held the White House since 1989, so Clinton can't possibly embody change. A brief, civil argument ensued.

But ultimately, both said they're sure they'll support the Democratic nominee, whomever it turns out to be. "In the end, I think we all play for the same team. We don't want to have a third Republican term in the White House."

Obama's March 17 rally in downtown Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza attracted about 12,000, by his campaign's estimate.

Clinton's visit came on the final day of the fundraising quarter; she had three other private fundraising events Sunday in the Napa Valley, San Francisco and Atherton, and has two more scheduled for today in Tiburon and Lafayette.

A Public Policy Institute of California survey of the state's Democratic likely voters conducted Sept. 4-11 found Clinton supported by 41 percent; Obama by 23 percent; 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards by 14 percent; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, each by 3 percent. The poll had a five percentage point margin of error.

Newsom, firing up Clinton's crowd Sunday, said he has "never felt more proud of my support of a candidate for president than I feel today about my support of Hillary Clinton."

"But this election is not won — don't pay attention to the polls, don't take things for granted," he exhorted the crowd. "What this rally is about is not just a call for attention, but a call to action."

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