October 14, 2008
Clinton, Obama pay tributes to servicemen, women
PONCE, Puerto Rico - Hillary Rodham Clinton ended a
three-day campaign swing across Puerto Rico like many Americans mark Memorial Day - with family and friends and a salute to the sacrifices of military men and women.
Clinton, who is chasing Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, visited with Laura Santiago Suárez and Carlos Rivera Figueroa. Residents of a public housing project in Bayamón, the couple talked about their 21-year-old son, Jonathan, a soldier awaiting redeployment for another tour in Iraq.
Clinton said that once she is president she will end the war so "you will not have to worry about him going back to Iraq." She also talked about the high cost of electricity and gas, and said she wanted to see the island use solar and wind energy.
Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton also reunited with a family that received federal aid after Hurricane Georges in 1998. As first lady, Hillary Clinton had visited them to see how the storm affected Puerto Ricans.
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It is the Clintons' long history with Puerto Rico - and Hispanic voters in general - that gives Clinton a decided edge in the island's presidential primary on June 1. Her home state of New York also has approximately 1 million Puerto Ricans.
Puerto Rico has 55 delegates in its primary, but Obama had a total of 1,977 to Clinton's 1,779, according to the latest Associated Press tally. He is 49 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination.
Obama marked Memorial Day in New Mexico, where he told a group of veterans that he cannot know what it's like to walk into battle or lose a child in combat, since he has experienced neither, but he said he is committed to strengthening the military and improving veterans' services.
"As president of the United States, I will not let you down," he promised.
Obama said President George W. Bush is asking troops to do too much with too little, such as interacting with civilians without translators and handling nation-building tasks that could be done by the State Department and other agencies.
"We're asking them to be teachers, social workers, engineers, diplomats. That's not what they're trained to do," the Illinois senator said at a meeting at the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces.
Heavy use of private contractors, such as Blackwater, also hurts troops, Obama said. Contractors are paid many times what U.S. personnel make, but aren't subject to the same rules and their misconduct inflames anti-American sentiment, he said. And when troops return home, the Bush administration doesn't do enough to help those suffering from combat stress or to help them get civilian jobs, Obama said.
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