By Alex Lloyd Gross
it was almost like the olden days of politics today, September 13, 2016 when two people running on different tickets would campaign for the same office within walking distance. The voting public could hear them both and make up their minds who was better. Both President Obama and Donald Trump were in the area and delivered their message. Barack Obama was first ,speaking to an afternoon crowd on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. He was stumping for Hillary Clinton.
“This is not a game show:, he would say, to the packed in crowd. Obama, animated and jovial urged people to register to vote and vote for Hillary. It was a festive atmosphere, with many people taking a few hours off from work to see him. Hillary was not there. She is keeping low after her medical “episode” caused her to fall forward. It was blamed on exhaustion, dehydration and pneumonia. Obama touted Hillary Clinton’s experience in the US Senate and work as Secretary of State.
Outside of the perimeter, there were protesters, who were pissed at the US Government failure to stop oil companies from desecrating Native American land in the mid west and there were a few people who came out against Hillary.
In Aston Delaware County, about 20 miles away, Donald Trump made a stop later in the evening. He spoke to a very small crowd inside the Aston Community Center. The crowd was by invitation only and packed the area where he would be speaking. People who were hoping to hear a loud and bombastic speech were disappointed. Trump spoke with a professional tone and avoided “Crooked Hillary” comments and also avoided talk of a wall. Instead, the crowd were treated to a policy laid out to support women.
Trump, introduced by his daughter Ivanka told the crowd that under his plan, parents and deduct child care expenses from their income taxes. He put the entire plan online at his website. He even saw a small child being tended to by his mother and joked that the baby liked the plan. Trump was joined on stage by several congresswomen who are in favor of his plan. From what he spoke, it made sense, The government will match funds to help your child when you open an account and the government will pay up to $500.00. It will help lower income parents.
The crowd was reserved and quiet. Nowhere near as enthusiastic and raucous as his rally’s in other cities. When someone in the crowd would start to chant, it would die down quickly, never gaining momentum. The audience stayed seated for the remarks and clapped when appropriate. Trump never mentioned Hillary by name, only calling her “My opponent”.
Hillary had the misfortune to refer to Trump’s supporters as “A basket of deplorable s”. She quickly apologized, but the damage was done. Present at the rally were people of all colors. To generalize the entire crowd you could say they looked respectable and when you spoke with them one could ascertain them to be hard working people. Not one deplorable was there. Hillary should have never made that remark and she knows it.
Trump has come under fire for not paying his contractors.Today, in an email to the media, he as equally brought the President’s feet to the fire when he sent out a press release chastising Obama for coming to Philadelphia for a voter rally when North Korea has just developed a nuclear bomb and tested it. Trump was on stage for less than 30 minutes. He did not shake very many hands after his remarks. Instead, he greeted less than 15 people, posed with a baby and left.
Outside, there were thousands of supporters waiting to catch a glimpse of Trump. There were a few Hillary supporters that showed up as well. They chanted and shouted at each other.