Clinton: "This Is A Moment...To Be Doers"
COMPTON, CALIF. -- During a visit to a Baptist Church in the predominantly African-American city of Compton, Hillary Clinton took several veiled digs at Barack Obama, continuing to push the theme that she has the most experience to be president.
"This is a moment for us to be doers, not just hearers or talkers," Clinton said when laying out her plan to help lower-income Americans.
Clinton later took another jab at Obama going after his campaign theme of "hope."
"I pledge to you that I will do everything in my power as a senator, as a president to make sure that we do deliver on the dream that all of us know should be a reality and not just hope," Clinton said to a thunderous applause.
The former First Lady spoke to a packed church at the Citizens of Zion Missionary Baptist Church in downtown Compton, California (Feb. 5 primary). She focused on issues that are important to African-Americans like voting rights and reincorporating many young African-American men into their communites after serving time in prison. Clinton pointed out that many of these young men disproportionately make up the majority of the population in American prisons.
"I want to spend $200 million over 5 years to fund local partnerships to help ex-offenders transition back into the community," Clinton said. "They don't belong there. They're not violent offenders they have not been given the support they need when they get in trouble the first time."
Clinton added, "I believe strongly that when someone has served his or her time her debt or his debt to society they ought to have their slate wiped clean. They ought to be able to vote, they ought to be able to find a job. And I've been around long enough to know that you don't make things disappear by just talking about it. You've gotta have action, you've gotta have a committed program and the leadership to actually bring it into a reality."