Hillary Clinton is hoping that her eight years as a senator from New York state will help her win the presidential primary here April 19. In a campaign stop in Syracuse Friday, she convened a manufacturing roundtable, made up mostly of people she dealt with as senator.
To that friendly crowd, she suggested that empty political rhetoric should not be the basis for choosing a president.
“People can tell you what they’re against all day long. What are they for? And what are they going to do? And do they have a track record of getting results? I think that should be the way people judge who the new president they want to see in the oval office is. Because at the end of the day, producing results is really what it’s all about,” said Clinton.
Clinton took credit for helping New York businesses on several fronts -- from an upstate dairy’s plunge into wine ice cream, to helping a Corning company find a market for a clean air technology.
And she said as president, she could do that again. Clinton used her Syracuse stop to talk up a new plan her campaign has unveiled, meant to spur manufacturing.
“If elected president, I’ll invest $10 billion that I’m calling ‘Make it in America.’ And that would be partnerships across the country doing what we did here in New York. Bringing together universities, businesses, local, state and federal government resources to support manufacturing and businesses.”
As one member of the manufacturing roundtable described it, “Making manufacturing sexy again.” Clinton agreed that getting more young people interested in manufacturing careers needs a public relations push.
New York has 291 delegates at stake in the primary. The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Clinton with a 12-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
