In between four interruptions Sunday, Nov. 2, at Bridgeport Central High School, President Obama put the spotlight on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s handling of gun-control measures, minimum wage increases, and affordable health care as positive influences on the state during the incumbent’s first four years in Hartford.
At the end of the day, Obama said, the governor’s race in Connecticut is one between challenger Republican Tom Foley supporting corporations and the incumbent supporting the rights of everyday people.
“The biggest corporations don’t need another champion. The wealthiest Americans don’t need another champion,” he said. “You do.”
On economics, the president said Malloy understands better than Foley that the “trickle-down” theory of American achievement is false.
“Looser rules on big banks, cutting the safety net for people. We tried all that stuff, and it did not work,” Obama said. “We don’t want to go back to that vision. Dan has a very different vision that is rooted in a conviction that in America prosperity never trickles down from the top, it grows on a rising tide of equality.”
A large emphasis of his address also focused on women’s issues, stressing the Democratic governor has the best chance to strengthen women’s rights in the state.
“We need leaders with a 21st century mindset. If you ask [Republicants] about climate change, they say they aren’t scientists. But, when you ask them if a woman has a right to make their own healthcare choices, they’re all doctors. When women succeed, America succeeds,” the president said.