Hillary Clinton Roosevelt Island Rally Forces Cancellation Of Kids’ Event And Blood Drive
Hillary Clinton’s campaign reboot today has reportedly also “booted” a children’s event called Imagination Playground from Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island in New York City where she delivered her speech.
In a metaphorical sense, Team Clinton apparently voted the kids off the island.
Mrs. Clinton’s presidential bid has encountered some significant headwinds in the last few months, including the controversies over her use of a private email server while she was an Obama administration official and millions in cash contributions to the Clinton Foundation from multinational corporations and foreign countries lobbying the U.S. government.
A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll taken at the end of May suggested that Hillary Clinton’s favorability rating dropped to a record low, 50 percent unfavorable, which perhaps suggests why the campaign appears to be attempting a restart or relaunch at Roosevelt Island today featuring a speech by the Democrat 2016 presidential candidate.
“The island, named after former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was chosen for the event because the Democratic frontrunner’s career has been inspired by Roosevelt’s belief that ‘America is stronger when we summon the work and talents of all Americans,’ according to a campaign official. And Clinton has long considered former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt a role model, the campaign said,” Fox News explained.
Roosevelt Island was formerly called Welfare Island before it was renamed in 1971.
The New York Post contends that the Clinton campaign allegedly did not give advance notice to community representatives in the small enclave located between Manhattan and Queens when it settled on Roosevelt Island — which has only one main road — for today’s major campaign kickoff, a ceremony which has necessitated the rescheduling of other long-planned activities.
“According to the park’s website, a specially planned event for tots called Imagination Playground — which features unique blue building blocks — has been canceled to accommodate the Democratic front-runner for president. Also at risk of major inconvenience: an annual celebration called Roosevelt Island Day, which features a blood drive, hot dog stands and free rides for kids.”
The head of the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy has vowed to reschedule the popular Imagination Playground event for another weekend this summer.
Overflow area at the Hillary Clinton rally, sans overflow pic.twitter.com/0VSu0zpKAE
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) June 13, 2015
Said one community leader about today’s Hillary 2016 political rally, “We are not just a memorial and a park. We’re a thriving community of 14,000 people. It’s just tone-deaf to ignore that.”
According to the Weekly Standard, several yoga classes — including kids and family yoga — were canceled to apparently make way for the Hillary Clinton 2016 relaunch.
“Mrs. Clinton herself is apparently a yoga enthusiast, having remarked at a March press conference that some of the thousands of ‘personal’ emails she chose to delete rather than turn over to the State Department involved discussions of ‘yoga routines.'”
[Photo by Thomas Shea/Getty Images News]
Added: Here are some clips from the media reaction to the Hillary Clinton Roosevelt Island campaign rally.
