Hillary Clinton said no to going to Mexico
Mr. Trump said yes. Mrs. Clinton said no.
We learned that Mrs Clinton is not going to Mexico before the election. She wants to stay home and work on the campaign, as reported at the New York Times:
In an interview with ABC News, Mrs. Clinton said she was declining the invitation from the Mexican president so that she could “focus on that we’re doing to create jobs here at home, what we’re doing to make sure Americans have the best possible opportunities in the future.”
Her decision is sure to prolong the condemnation that Mr. Peña Nieto has faced for his decision to meet Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who has made criticism of Mexicans and Mexico a focus of his campaign.
Mr. Peña Nieto has struggled to portray the visit as a part of an evenhanded attempt to explain to both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, his Democratic opponent, how important Mexico is to the United States.
Wonder how President Peña-Nieto feels about that. Wonder if the hysterical anti-Trump Mexican media will ask whether or not Mrs. Clinton cares about Mexico after all.
Clinton's refusal to go raises a few questions:
First, is she avoiding the illegal immigration issue? Does her campaign even have an illegal immigration plan beyond the meaningless calls for immigration reform? Shouldn't we hear the details of what Mrs. Clinton's immigration reform is? Does it really include the legalization of 11 million people? What is it? Aren't voters supposed to know?
Second, her refusal also reveals the fears over NAFTA. At one time, Clinton was all in for NAFTA. As with the Iraq War, she was all for it until it became inconvenient to win her party's nomination. What is her position now? We need to know. Mr. Trump wants to renegotiate NAFTA. Are we to assume that Mrs. Clinton wants to leave it as is?
Third, her campaign may be betting on the Hispanic vote being locked up because of Trump's poor image. My sense is that NAFTA is not that major a deal with Hispanics, unless they are engaged in businesses that do business with Mexico.
Fourth, and it must be mentioned, maybe she does not want to travel for health reasons. Her last coughing fit was incredibly difficult to watch. Is it fair to ask if she has health problems? It's completely fair, and both sides should release medical records.
Last week, President Peña-Nieto was catching you know what for inviting Mr. Trump. This week, Mrs. Clinton declines to go. Wonder what the media will say here and south of the border!
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