Jodi Kantor writes in today’s NY Times that every speech Hillary Clinton gave in Indiana on Friday and Saturday had the same topic sentence. “My campaign is about jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs,” she said, always to thunderous applause.
In Bloomington, Kantor said Clinton promised to bring nothing less than economic revolution to the decaying Rust Belt. But in Fort Wayne, linking the economy to environmental concerns, she told her listeners, “We’re going to create green-collar jobs.”
Kantor noted, “Mrs. Clinton has a reputation as an effective listener, and she is finally putting that skill to full use in her appearances, showing her audiences how closely she tracks their concerns.”
On outsourcing in Gary, Kantor said Clinton made her case with an updated version of Martin Niemöller’s poem about the victims of the Nazis; Clinton told her listeners:
“They came for the steel companies and nobody said anything. They came for the auto companies and nobody said anything. They came for the office companies, people who did white-collar service jobs, and no one said anything. And they came for the professional jobs that could be outsourced and nobody said anything. So this is not just about steel,” she finished.
Kantor reported that nearly all of Clinton’s crowds in Indiana were large and “noisily appreciative.”
Clinton stayed to greet ardent supporters after the event in Fort Wayne, and fans snapped her picture with camera phones or the disposable variety, Kantor said, adding that “One fan locked eyes with the candidate and mouthed a message: You’re going to win.”
