Albuquerque Discussion with Working WomenSenator Barack Obama meet with a group of working women in Albuquerque New Mexico today to talk about the issues that are facing working women here in this state. He started out the event by saying that pay parity for women is an important issue to him and when elected president he will work hard to fix the problem for all American Women. He said that he had a single mother who only had a high school degree and was raised by her and her parents. His grandmother was also a working women and he understands the value of addressing the issues that face women today in the workplace. Senator Obama was introduced to the women by New Mexico Lt. Governor Diane Denish who will be our state’s next governor in 2010.
I spoke to two of the women before the event got started and they said that both were supporters of Senator Obama. The women in the group appeared to be between 20 and 40 years old. The two women that I spoke with said that healthcare was a major issue because they could not afford it and want to be able to provide it for themselves and their families.
The first question was about education and how Senator Obama could help those working women. He said that he was in favor of making student loans more afford by lowering interest rates for college students. He also wants to do away with the middle man when it comes to government loans to cut the cost of lending money to college students.
Senator Obama is in favor of giving teachers higher wages. He would like to help pay for the education of teacher in return for them working in area where teachers are needed as a way for the teachers to repay the government for helping them get an education in the field. He wants to extend after school programs and early education for our children. He wants to extend family leave as a paid leave for Americans so that they can spend time with their children and families. He would like to see paid sick leave of at least 7 days for all Americans.
Senator Obama was asked about the roll of the Small Business Administration. He said that customer service in all areas of government were very important to him. He wants the SBA to take a more active roll in helping Americans get small businesses started.
When asked about healthcare Senator Obama would like to see all Americans have healthcare. His plan would include helping businesses offer healthcare and support those who can not pay for it on their own. He would extend a program like the one now used by the senate for people who can not get healthcare through their jobs. He would also crackdown on waste in the system to reduce the cost of providing healthcare.
When asked about crimes against women he said that he completely disapproved of the behavior and the best way to help these women would be to help them get the same treatment at work as men receive when it comes to pay so that women would be free to get themselves out of a bad situation without the problem of supporting themselves and their children.
I spoke with a few of the women after the event and they were pleased with what Senator Obama had to say on the issues. All of the women I spoke to said that they would be voting for Senator Obama.
Today's event was by invitation only for the working women. This is the time for Senator Obama and his group to decide if New Mexico is someplace where time spent would be of a benefit to his campaign for president. I can foresee him spending a lot more time in the future in our state and I hope at some point in the near future he will have a public event that is open to all of the voting public in our state.
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