You Know, This Is Really Personal For Me

That’s what Hillary had to say when someone asked her how she keeps getting up each day in this campaign. Now some of you might have heard… Hillary’s tired and (gasp!) her voice cracked a bit during that Q & A session.

Stop the presses folks! She’s HUMAN!

Kidding aside, she's been through a lot, dealing with the attacks from the from the right and now from the left, putting in 18+ hour days 7 days a week, living in a fishbowl and having the MSM jump down her throat over every word she utters – every look she gives – or even her laugh, how can anyone be surprised she let a bit of emotion and passion show through?

This lady really believes in what she’s doing. Take a look…



Ya know what? She’s right. This is personal.

Here’s a bit of what Ben Smithreported earlier today, about a campaign stop at a diner in Portsmouth, NH on how Hillary gets up every day and fights so hard in this campaign...

"It's not easy, it's not easy, and I couldn't do it if I just didn't passionately believe it was the right thing to do," she said.

"I have so many opportunities for [from] this country. I don't want to see us all fall back[wards]," she said, her voice breaking in the last phrase.

"This is very personal for me," she said to supportive applause from the small gathering, at which she'd been discussing policy around a table for an hour. "It's not just political, it's not just public — I see what's happening. We have to reverse it."

"Some people think elections are a game — it's about who's up and who's down," she said. "It's about our country's future, it's about our kids' future — it's really about all of us together."

"And some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds, and we do it each one of us because we care about our country," she said.

"Some of us are right and some of us are wrong. Some of us are ready and some of us are not. Some of us know what [we] are going to do on day one, and some of us haven't thought that through enough," she said.

"When we look at the array of problems that we have, and the potential for it really spinning out of control — this is one of the most important elections America's ever faced," she concluded.

(Emphasis mine)

The article concludes with the Mrs. Pernold (the lady who asked the question of Hillary) saying she’d gone to the event “smitten” by Obama, but that she was very moved by this exchange with Hillary and was now thinking of voting for her tomorrow.

"Showing that emotion — I really find it refreshing," she said.

One more quote from that video linked above...

“I just believe so strongly in who we are as a nation. So I’m going to do everything I can to make my case and then the voters get to decide. Thank you all.”

The NYTalso covered the visit to that diner, and I like what the lady who posed the question had to say. Take a look...

Friends of Mrs. Clinton who were here at the Portsmouth event said they were struck by the moment; one said she had only seen Mrs. Clinton tear up like this once in decades, and it happened in private.

"You saw there was a moment when it flicked inward – it was her inner being answering, `Why am I doing this?' " said the woman, Gloria Cabe, a former aide to Mrs. Clinton in Arkansas. The woman who asked the question, Mrs. Pernold, said after the event that she was moved by Mrs. Clinton's response. A television reporter asked her if she thought the tears might be manufactured ...

"I don't think she could make up it up. Could you do that? I think she really cares about us," Mrs. Pernold said.

Asked who she was going to support in Tuesday's primary, she said she was going to "make up my mind when I have some quiet time."

(Emphasis mine)

Apparently, this is turning out to be a pretty newsworthy event. I found the following footage on YouTube – check it out...



Hillary’s traveled our country for the past year, talking with voters, making her case, and listening to our stories. Those stories have stayed with her and (contrary to what they haters say) she’s running this gauntlet to make it a better world for all of us.

When Hillary said “this is very personal for me” I realized just how personal this has all been for me since I joined our local campaign. I wrote a diary back in September called Team Hillary: What’s Your Story?where I talked a little about how my involvement in Hillary’s campaign is a deeply personal thing for me. After talking with some neighbors at our debate watch party Saturday night, I’ve come to realize now more than ever that this campaign is about my children. And that’s about as personal as it can get for me.

It’s about my son – and the work Hillary’s done on behalf of him and probably millions of other special needs children & adults over the past 35 years.

It’s about my daughter – and the promise that Hillary’s rise to the presidency would mean to her and to every girl of her generation and beyond.

Take a look at what I said a few months ago...

My son was born nearly 5 years ago and by the time he was 8 weeks old, our pediatrician realized he wasn't developing at the "normal" rate. She referred us to the genetics clinic at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where they tested him for every syndrome under the sun over the next few years. His low muscle tone, delays in hitting the regular milestones such as sitting up, walking, talking, and all that other stuff prompted us to sign him up with the Infants & Toddlers program in our county. We were lucky – our son was able to get home-visits from physical therapists, speech therapists and a special ed teacher by the time he was 18 months old, and they worked with him until he turned three. After his third birthday, we signed him up with the PEP program at a local school, where he continued to work with dedicated teachers & therapists. My sweet boy is in his third year of preschool and is making REMARKABLE progress – we have no doubt that this early intervention will make all the difference in his young life to the point where he'll catch up to his peers in school.

Early in her career, Hillary spearheaded a project for the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) in New Bedford, MA to reconcile the discrepancies between the number of school-aged children and school enrollment figures. She went through a school district and knocked on doors until she got her answers. She found that children with special needs – those with physical disabilities like blindness, developmental delays (like my son's) and those in wheelchairs – were being denied schooling. She submitted the results of the survey to Congress and two years later, at the urging of the CDF, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which mandated that all children with physical, emotional and learning disabilities be educated in the public school system.

Now remember... Hillary had just graduated from one of the top law schools in the world – she could have written her own ticket – raked in the big bucks and yet she chose to go work for the CDF, knock on doors, and find out why kids like my son weren’t going to school. She’s trained in early childhood development and this lady gets it like no one elsewhen it comes to what our kids need to thrive and succeed!

THAT’s the kind of passion, laser-focus and dedication I want in our next president.

More...

As Senator, Hillary helped improve the education of children with special needs by working to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). She championed provisions to provide targeted help for children with behavioral and emotional disorders, to increase the pool of special education teachers, and to provide those teachers with additional professional development opportunities.

There was a time when children like my sweet boy would have been written off – he never would have gotten an education or any sort of help. But thanks in part to Hillary's work in the mid-70s in getting the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, and her continued support for the ADA, and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, he's been able to attend the Infants & Toddlers, and later the PEP program in our county.

If my son had been born 35 years ago, he would have been written off as retarded and that would have been that.

No testing.

No early intervention.

No physical or speech therapy.

No help in developing his cognitive skills.

No education.

No expectations that he might one day catch up to his peers.

No support or guidance for us, his parents.

No help whatsoever.

Well thankfully Hillary saw a need and she got things done. And now (thanks in no small part to her efforts) millions of families with a special needs child are reaping the benefits of her hard labors on our behalf.

More...

I also have a remarkably bright and beautiful daughter – she's six and a half and is already watching this campaign unfold. In fact, she endorsed Hillary Friday evening... I asked her if she'd vote for Hillary if she were old enough and she replied with an enthusiastic YES! When I asked her why she liked Hillary she said "she seems like a really nice lady mom". What a remarkably bright girl!

She IS a bright girl and thanks to Hillary, the sky will be the limit for her and the other girls of her generation. Girls & women who've come before (me & my mom) grew up hearing people tell us we could be whatever we wanted to be when we grew up – even president. I think we all knew what a load of bull that was – no woman has ever held that job and that sent us a serious message (it's really not possible). But my bright – no make that brilliant little girl will actually, FINALLY get to see someone make it to the top job. And what a POWERFUL message that will be – that yes, a girl really CAN grow up to be President. Once a woman (Hillary) finally shatters that glass ceiling, the sky will be the limit for the girls who'll follow.

I just thank Goddess that Hillary didn't doubt it when her dad told her she could be whatever she wanted when she grew up if she worked hard and applied herself to achieving her goals in life. Hillary's obviously set her sites high, and I'm going to do everything I can to help her make it to the top.

For our nation.

For Hillary.

For my little girl.

And as way of saying thank you to Hillary for the remarkable and dedicated work she did on behalf of children – especially children like my sweet boy.

So yeah this is personal dammit. I’m not living in a fishbowl or putting in 18+ hour days, living on the road and never seeing my family, nor have I been attacked for the past 15 years by the extreme right AND now - by other Democrats...

...and even I find that I get choked up at the thought of what’s at stake this year, and how urgently I feel the need to make things happen – NOW! There’ve been times when I’ve had tears streaming down my face at the thought of what Hillary’s done for my son – our family, and at the promise her success holds for my little girl.

I love what Hillary had to say at that diner. She spoke from the heart and that really means something to me.

This isn’t about games or politics.

This is about us.

This is about repairing the damage done to our nation and to our good name around the world.

This is about my kids and their future.

And for me...

This is about doing everything humanly possible to help ensure that the most experienced, qualified, capable, passionate and dedicated public servant is elected as our next president - Hillary Clinton.