WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) said the world wants Hillary Clinton to become president because every developed nation except the U.S. has had a female president.
“I don’t know how else to say it: The whole world is counting on us to win this thing. And we owe it to them to step up,” Clinton staffer Christine Reynolds wrote in a fundraising email on Wednesday.
Honda was asked if he agreed that the world wants Clinton to become president.
“Well, we’re the only developed country that’s never had a woman as president. You know, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan now, and so it’s time for the United States to have a woman in the White House to provide that leadership,” Honda responded during an interview at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) annual awards dinner.
“She’s probably one of the most prepared persons — having sat in a lot of different seats and having been in the White House before herself, so she understands what she’s doing,” he added.
Honda said Clinton would advance the organization’s cause, which includes expanding “Asian Pacific American participation and representation at all levels of the political process from community service to elected office.”
Clinton addressed the VIP reception before the APAICS dinner.
“I want you to know I am looking forward to making sure you are well-represented in my administration if I am so fortunate enough to be your president; I’m putting you all on notice,” Clinton said. “We’re going to put a lot of folks to work to knock down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans getting ahead.”
PJM asked Honda for his reaction to Trump becoming the presumptive Republican nominee.
“You’re asking someone who already dedicated himself to making sure that Hillary becomes the person in the White House, so I think when she’s in the White House we’ll have eight more years of this kind of activity and growth and we’ll have a lot of good issues resolved within eight years,” he said.
Honda’s staff attempted to cut off the interview after PJM asked questions related to the election. When asked what Clinton has to do to beat Trump, Honda said with a smile, “Get more votes.”
In a speech at the gala, President Obama encouraged the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community to go to the polls in November.
“In 2012, just 56 percent of eligible AAPI voters were registered to vote and fewer than half of those registered actually voted. So if you’re upset with America’s immigration policy, but you’re not voting — that has to change,” Obama said.
“We got some outstanding candidates. If you are upset with Congress, but you’re not showing up to vote in midterm elections — not just presidential elections — that has to change. And if you doubt what’s at stake, I think you obviously haven’t been reading the papers,” he added.
Obama called on the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community to “push back against anti-immigrant sentiment” in all forms, “especially by those who are trying to stoke it just to seek political gain and just to try to get headlines.”
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