As she made her way up to the podium, Sen. Barbara Boxer,
D-Calif., was handed a plastic box to stand on to boost her
4-foot-11-inch body above the podium.
“This is a real soapbox,” Boxer said jokingly, as
she used her moment on a box to emphasize the importance of voting
in the mid-term congressional elections and a need to change the
political dynamics in the legislative branch.
With less than a month before midterm elections, Boxer came to
UCLA Friday afternoon to speak to students and faculty about the
state of the current administration and the Republican majority in
both congressional houses.
Speculation about potential 2008 presidential candidates for the
Democratic party was not confirmed by Boxer, and some students said
they would have liked to have heard more concrete information about
the Democratic party’s goals.
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The senator said that with the direction the Republican party is
going in regarding issues such as the war in Iraq, stem cell
research and the environment, she believes a Democratic majority is
needed in order to redirect American politics.
“Nov. 7 will not only determine the leadership in
Congress, but the very direction of our country. Will we chose an
endless war in Iraq or a real plan to bring our troops home?”
Boxer said.
Boxer was elected as a California senator in 1992 after serving
in the House of Representatives for 10 years. Issues she has
supported as a member of Congress include women’s rights and
environmental conservation.
Barbara Nelson, dean of the UCLA School of Public Affairs, said
Boxer is “a forceful advocate for families, public education
and women’s rights, and her beloved state of
California.”
At the event, Boxer criticized the way in which the Bush
administration had pursued the war on terror and had not wisely
utilized initial sympathetic support from the international
community stemming from the events of Sept. 11.
To highlight the foreign support the United States had received
immediately following Sept. 11, Boxer asked the audience what the
headline was in a French newspaper on Sept. 12.
“”˜We are all Americans,'” an audience
member correctly replied.
“And we could’ve use that good will for great
purpose. But (Bush) turned away from Afghanistan, he turned away
from the mission we sent him on with our votes, and he went into
Iraq,” Boxer said.
Boxer also said the Republican party’s platform promoting
family values was flawed by focusing on legislating moral
questions, such as flag burning, instead of what she said she
believes are more relevant issues, such as stem cell research and
education.
“Do you have a family values agenda when you propose the
largest cuts in history to the student loan program is cut in half?
Is it family values to veto stem cell research, which can help our
families?” Boxer said.
The senator asked the audience to raise their hands if they had
known anyone in their family who had been affected by
life-threatening illnesses, provoking a response of raised hands
that filled the room.
“We’ve been touched by this. And yet they say
they’re for family values by vetoing that? I don’t
think so,” Boxer said adding stem cell research may have
prevented those illnesses.
Boxer also raised concerns about the administration’s
priorities regarding the environment. If there were to be a
Democratic majority in Congress, Boxer said she would become the
Committee on Environment chair and hopes to put global warming as a
priority in the legislature.
“We can’t do it without you, who have so much at
stake in this election. This is not a time for spectators, for
silence or indifference, this is a time for courage, a time for
action, this is your time,” Boxer said.
In a brief question-and-answer session after the speech, an
audience member asked who potential presidential Democratic
candidates might be.
Boxer did not directly answer the question, and instead
emphasized the importance of the mid-term elections, and how voters
should be more concentrated on the upcoming November election,
rather than the one two years away.
“If we can take back the House or the Senate or make good
progress, this is setting the stage. We must concentrate on
that,” Boxer said followed by applause.
Heather Cluff, a second-year psychology student, said she agreed
with Boxer about the upcoming election.
“I think a lot of America is focused on the 2008
elections, but there won’t be a future if we’re not
focused on today,” Cluff said.
But she also said she was disappointed in Boxer’s speech
in that she did not give the audience a lot of concrete answers
about the goals and ways of carrying out those goals if the
Democrats took the majority in congress.
“(The speech) was kind of disappointing, but I still think
that if she has enough passion for these issues, she can make a
difference,” Cluff said.