By Mark David Blum
If you are a major albeit lackluster presidential candidate and you are making a visit to the Fairgrounds, at least make sure you have someone with you who has star power. It was almost an embarrassment to see the Senator Clinton walk through at the Fairgounds and the largest group of folks who even gave a crap were her secret service and NYSP escorts.
Yes, we fairgoers were again visited by the esteemed Senator and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. As usual, she held her ‘for snobs only’ luncheon at the Empire room and then began the mandatory trek through the fairgrounds. As I watched the event unfold, most of what I saw were State Police moving people from their sittin spots where they were relaxing to ‘make way’ for HRH that nobody gives a crap about.
This became especially notable at Chevy Court. Having camped out there for an hour or so for the afternoon concert by Blue Oyster Cult and sharing a table with a great group of teachers and administrators from Auburn school district, we were mulling over life, politics, kids, and French fries. (For the record, it seems only the Dinosaur has the best fries at the fair this year. Every fry I tasted was soggy, greasy, limp, and icky. My teacher friends shared some of the dino’s crunchy dark and very yummy French fries).
I recalled for them last year when Brother Bill Clinton joined his wife as they toured the fairgrounds. With Bill, there were throngs of people lined up for just a hope of getting a glimpse or even better shaking hands. I remember how Mrs. Clinton walked first and nobody gave her a second glance. Everybody then wanted to meet the former President. Even I felt the passion and greatness as Bill Clinton walked by.
This year, the Mrs. Clinton came by herself. With a jam packed Chevy Court and about ten minutes before concert time, State Police came through and moved people out of the way on the lawn (like she couldn’t walk a sidewalk) and set up a rope line for the candidate to walk through the grass.
She went through and nobody noticed. The concert goers barely paid her any notice and only the secret service detail seemed to have any interest in the crowd itself. From my perspective, it appeared that Hillary was more interested in being seen than in being heard. Clearly she wanted no part of the great mass of unwashed humanity that makes up her constituency.
As the teachers and I enjoyed several Hillary jokes, I managed to quip to a chorus of amens, “it is better that she is here at the fair than in Washington.”
Mrs. Clinton needs to get out of this race. It is about the future and she is a relic of the past.
