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Chelsea says her mom has record of standing up for what’s right
YOUNGSTOWN
“Everything I care about most is at risk” in the year’s presidential election, Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky told a standing-room-only crowd downtown Saturday.
Chelsea, 36, the only child of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, spoke for about an hour to about 150 who crammed into the Youngstown State University Community Room at the Covelli Centre.
A number of her comments, the Stanford University grad said, came from her perspective as the “relatively new mother” of 2-year-old Charlotte and 3-month-old Aidan Clinton Mezvinsky.
Lending star-power to the event was Oscar-winning actress Sally Field, who starred in numerous television shows and movies, including “Smoky and the Bandit,” “Murphy’s Romance” and “Forest Gump.”
Field credited doing summer stock theater in Ohio with helping her transition from television sitcoms such as “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun” to more serious roles, such as “Norma Rae,” for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
“You gave me strength and support then, and that is what Hillary needs now: Your strength and support. You are the heart of America” she said to cheers and applause.
“Hillary Clinton’s experience as first lady and secretary of state makes her the most qualified presidential candidate in the history of the nation,” she said, comparing her with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, whom she called “a huckster and a fraud.”
“If you care about progressive ideas such as justice reform and affordable health care and education,” then vote for Hillary, Field said.
In introducing Chelsea, Field, a mother of three sons, said: “If I had a daughter, I would paint her to look and act like this lady.”
“Everything I care about most is at risk in this presidential election,” said Clinton.
“I feel passionately about this election. It is personal to me because I am a parent and a woman. There are a couple of things I’m focused on,” she said.
Women’s rights are at stake.
“My mother advocates three months’ paid family leave, whether birth is by the traditional method, or adoption or gay couples, or if there is someone in the family who needs care,” she said.
“It matters to me when my mom talks about raising the minimum wage for everyone, including women and the disabled. We can’t have legal wage discrimination in the United States, as there is for the disabled,” Chelsea said.
“Women’s rights is also an economic issue,” she said.
“My mother has a long track record of standing up for what’s right and against bullies,” she said.
Referring to Trump’s campaign style, Chelsea said: “I never thought I’d see it in my life: the hate speech and mocking of veterans and people with disabilities ... and Gold Star parents. It’s unacceptable.”
Chelsea said her mother supports giving Medicare the right to negotiate with pharmaceutical firms over the price of prescription drugs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has that power, and drugs through the VA are much cheaper, she said.
Electing her mother would help protect the Affordable Care Act, but “fix the affordable part,’’ she added.
Answering an audience question about gun control, Chelsea said her mother has never said she favors taking people’s guns away.
What she does favor, she said, is closing the loophole in the background check to purchase a gun.
Right now, if a background check is not completed within three days, the applicant is automatically approved. The applicant should not be automatically approved, no matter how long it takes, she said.
“There are things I think those of us who own guns, and those who don’t, can agree on: People on the terrorist watch list should not be able to get a gun,” Chelsea said.
‘WEST WING’ CAMPAIGNERS
Also on Saturday, four cast members from the television series “West Wing” about life in the White House campaigned for Hillary Clinton at her Mahoning County headquarters on Market Street in Boardman.
The actors from the series that ran from 1999 to 2006 who made the Boardman stop included Richard Schiff who played Communications Director Toby Ziegler; Bradley Whitford who played White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman; Joshua Malina who portrayed Will Bailey; and Mary McCormack who played Kate Harper.
Other “West Wing” actors toured other parts of Ohio on Saturday.