Former president makes stop in city
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 26, 2016 10:13 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Former President Bill Clinton speaks to a crowd of Hillary Clinton supporters in the John Street parking lot downtown on Tuesday afternoon.
They came by the hundreds.
Throngs filled the John Street parking lot Tuesday afternoon; some carried signs others brandished cell phones.
They'd come to hear a seasoned orator and to experience his trademark personable style of campaigning.
In both cases former President Bill Clinton did not disappoint.
Former Gov. Jim Hunt of Wilson County, the patriarch of Democratic politics in the state, traveled with Clinton as did Congressman G.K. Butterfield, of Wilson, who introduced Clinton as he kicked off his wife's Stronger Together Bus Tour with stops across eastern North Carolina.
He first laid out his wife's plans to build an economy that works for everyone and promoted her vision of an America made stronger by people working together.
The plan includes freeing up money for small towns and rural areas and making higher education affordable and debt free.
Clinton said his wife has been endorsed by major Republican-leaning newspapers that have not endorsed a Democratic candidate in 75 to 100 years.
"Their (Trump's) response is, 'What do you expect? The whole system is rigged against us.'"
One side says the country is going downhill and wants to return America to greatness, he said referring to Trump's linchpin slogan.
What they are saying is they will move you back up on the social totem pole at someone else's expense, Clinton said.
"That is a terrible idea because 50 years ago it wasn't so good for African-Americans, Hispanics, first-generation immigrants, for people of minority religions of all kinds," Clinton said. "So you've got a choice."
He said the nation has just had its 79th month of job growth, something his presidency, lauded for its economic achievements if nothing else, was never able to accomplish.
"Even when I was president and we all rose together for the first time in 50 years and even then we didn't have 79 months where you had more jobs than the month before."
So five years from now even his harshest critics will start giving President Obama higher marks for his economic work, he added.
He then waded into the crowd spending just as much time with supporters as he did speaking to shake hands, chat, sign autographs and take selfies.
Mrs. Clinton's Republican opponent Donald Trump was never mentioned by name as Clinton and Butterfield encouraged voters to vote early.
"North Carolina fought back when they tried to restrict your voting rights," he said to the cheers of the crowd gathered in the parking lot next to the Wayne County Democratic Party headquarters on North Center Street. "I am very proud of that.
"This is a historic election. You don't want to miss out on this election. Sixty percent of North Carolinians voted early last time. You went through the hurricane, and I feel terrible for you. But that is a reason to vote, not a reason not to vote."