FORUM
A Real Standup Person
Ernie
Pitt
A
This & That
Last week, I attended a
reception for Lt. Gov. Bev
Perdue, who is running for
Governor of the state. The
reception was made up of
African American business
leaders whose main interests
consisted of economics and job
creation.
First of all, 1 was quite
impressed with the fact that the
Lt. Gov. would agree to such a
small gathering on such a short
notice: but she did. She was
very gracious, cordial and
entertaining. She was also
down-to-earth, as we found out
during the hour and a half gath
ering. She engaged practically
every attendee individually,
gave a little talk and then field
ed questions from the group.
in addition to her extensive
experience, her workable pro
posals for health care, job cre
ation, budgetary constraints,
her ideas on free community
college education along with
other assistance, makes her a
credible and attractive candi
date.
However, what struck me
most of all about the Lt. Gov.
was her candidness and hon
esty in responding to a tough
and sensitive question from one
of the attendees. The question
was about minimum wage.
This employer had some 500
employees who mostly made
File Photo
Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue is trying to become North Carolina's first
female governor.
minimum wage. His question
was the affordability of paying
increased wages to so many
people. She supports increas
ing the minimum wage.
Lt. Gov. Perdue responded
by empathizing with the
employer while at the same
time explaining how tough it is
for a family of four to make a
decent living earning the cur
rent minimum wage. She went
on to say that she was willing
to work with businesses to help
them in other ways that may
create for them the ability to
absorb the increase in wages.
She even said that it was a bit
ter pill to swallow but people
needed to eam enough money
to keep them above the poverty
line.
That was a tough stance to
take while looking this employ
er straight in the eye. I thought
it took a lot of guts for her to do
that. She had empathy for him
but stood her ground on help
ing families earn enough to
take care of their families and
put bread on the table. 1 could
tell that the employer appreci
ated her candor and her hon
esty. She did not hem and haw
nor did she duck and dodge. I
certainly appreciate politicians
who tackle issues head on.
She's a tough cookie. 1 like
that about her.
She is also aware of the
great influx of people that will
enlarge the state's inhabitants
in the next decade We must
have enough jobs, access to
education and the necessary
training opportunities to pro
vide for this increase. 1 haven't
heard anyone else mentioning
this nor much of anything else
except nasty criticisms of her
proposals. She has answers;
the other candidates are mostly
attacking her plans. 1 dare say
that what she is trying to do is a
lot harder than what the others
are not doing.
Anyway, I think she
impressed some people who
are hard to impress, it wasn't
easy, but I think she handled
herself extremely well.
Ernie Pitt is the publisher
and co-founder of The
Chronicle. Reach him at
erpitt@ wschronicle .com .
It's Time for Hillary to Quit
George
Curry
Guest
Columnist
If Barack Obama were trail
ing in popular votes, behind in
the delegate count, widely
viewed as a divisive public fig
ure and didn't have a mathemat
ical chance of becoming his
party's presidential nominee,
he'd be pressured out of the race
quicker than you can say
Monica Lewinsky.
Yet, Hillary Clinton contin
ues to march down a road that
leads to nowhere and claim that
she is acting in the best interest
of democracy. She is acting in
the best interest of the
Republican Party but the
Clinton arrogance and sense of
privilege (yes, Hillary and Bill)
won't let them see beyond their
own short-sighted obsession.
Not only are the Clintons
sore losers, Hillary asks to be
treated the same as the "big
boys" that have been in the race
yet falls back on the gender card
whenever the numbers are not
falling her way. According to
the New York Times, "Mrs.
Clinton told aides that she
would not be 'bullied out' of the
race... She compared the situa
tion to the 'big boys' trying to
bully a woman."
And Bill Clinton, who
knows a thin^ or two about
girls, weighed in: "Apparently
it's OK to say bad things about a
girl. It's OK. The only thing that
matters is what happens to you.
That's all that matters. If a
politician doesn't want to get
beat up, you shouldn't run for
office."
He should be saying that to
his wife, not Obama.
In an interview with the
Washington Post, Clinton said
she stands a better chance of
defeating McCain in November,
though most polls give the edge
to Obama. Waving the gender
card, she said, "You cannot as a
Democrat win the White House
without a very big "women's
vote. What I believe is that
women will turn out for me."
Some critics argue that the
issue is larger than that.
Appearing Sunday on "Meet
the Press." New York Times
columnist David Brooks said, "I
think she should slow down the
campaign, run what Mike
Huckabee ran, a dignified cam
paign, not attacking her oppo
nents, go through North
Carolina and then get out."
Brooks explained, "She real
ly has very little opportunity <o
win. The Jeremiah Wright thing
was big. the big scandal, the
biggest thing Barack Obama's
faced really in months. It didn't
hurt him. We now have the
polling results from poll after
poll. It's clear that it didn't hurt
him. The voters were not shaken
off him. Michigan and Florida
are not going to revote, the super
delegates are never going to
overrule the pledged delegates,
so her chances are really small."
Her chances of winning are
small , because voters dislike
Hillary Clinton, the person.
This is the way "Meet the
Press" moderator Tim Russert
summed it up:
RUSSERT: Here's the latest
NBC News/Wall Street Journal
poll. Head to head, Clinton,
Obama, 45-45. It's a pick 'em.
In the general election, McCain
over Clinton, 46- 44. Obama
over McCain, 44-42. Both with
in the margin of error.
"Here's the favorable, unfa''
vorable. Hillary Clinton. It is
now 37 positive, negative 48.
Just two weeks ago, Clinton was
at 45-43. She's dropped 8 points
with her positive rating in two
weeks. And look at the break
down by party. Republicans, 10
positive, 79 negative; independ
ents, just 24 percent positive, 56
percent negative; Democrats
split 66, 17.
"Obama, his positive is 49
32. Two weeks ago, it was 51
28. A modest drop in two weeks
during the whole Reverend
Wright controversy. Here's
breakdown by party. His posi
tive amongst Republicans is 19.
Remember, Clinton's was 10.
Independents, it's 49. Clinton's
was 24. Democrats, it's 71.
Clinton's was 66. Who can unite
the country? This is all voters.
Democrats, Republicans, inde
pendents. Obama, 60 to 34;
McCain, 58-35; Clinton, 46 to
50."
RUSSERT: Who do the
Republicans want to run
against?
BROOKS: I think they still
want to run against Hillary.
Not because she is a "girl,"
but because she is the weakest
of the two remaining
Democratic candidates.
Democratic National
Committee Howard Dean's pro
posed solution to this mess is to
have super delegates make up
their minds by July 1. Why
should the party's eventual
nominee be forced to slug this
out for another three months? If
we don't know Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton by now, we
won't ever know them.
Democrats need to act now.
In even more crushing news
for the Clinton camp, weekend
caucus voting in Texas gave
Obama a clear victory and pos
sibly a win for the entire state. In
the second phase of what is
called the Texas 2-Step - which
is actually a three-step process -
representatives of both Obama
and Clinton agree that Obama
won the balloting on Saturday
and Sunday, giving him a over
all lead in the state.
Though Clinton won the
popular vote on March 4 over
Obama with a 65-61 delegate
lead, Obama won 38-29 among
at-large delegates over the
weekend, giving him a 5-point
total delegate lead. The third and
final step comes June 6 when
super delegates vote in Austin.
If Obama escapes with a win
in Texas - a state Bill Clinton
said Hillary must win in order to
continue in the race - no one
expects Hillary to suddenly
withdraw. Neither she nor Bill
has demonstrated that much
class.
George E. Curry, former
editor-in-chief of Emerge maga
zine and the NNPA News
Service, is a keynote speaker,
moderator, and media coach.
He can be reached through his
Web site, www.georgecurry.com.
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