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By Rama K. Ramaswamy
Over 175 people registered prior to the event, but by the time Susan Sarandon showed up, after getting stuck in Wellesley traffic, with standing room only, the auditorium exceeded 210 people, unofficially.
One young lady sitting there, who was not a current Wellesley student, but rather a recent Princeton graduate returning home to deliberate upon “what’s next,” said, “well, the battle for Millennial women is on!”
Apparently, for current seniors, voting for Wellesley College alum and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn’t a foregone conclusion.
One Wellesley College senior, while studying for her physics exam and waiting for Susan Sarandon, said, “I used to really be for Hillary but the more I listen to what Bernie is saying, the more I see myself reflected in his words.”
The National Nurses United Registered Nurses Co-President Karen Higgins as well as Julie Pinkham, RN Executive Director, Massachusetts Nurse’s Association, said they had been stumping for Bernie “all over the country.”
Higgins was one of the introductory speakers for the Wellesley College event, who emphasized that the “nurses were the first to endorse Bernie” as was a National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials representative, who made introductory remarks about how Bernie Sanders is “pro-women and pro-minority.”
Susan Sarandon was, as one Wellesley College student put it, “feisty.” A senior, due to graduate this spring, she added, “Susan Sarandon’s not what I expected- she’s pretty smart and quick.”
Joanna Brandt, a Wellesley resident in attendance, said about Sarandon, “[She has] such a great attitude and willingness to travel on behalf of someone she believes in so deeply. I love any woman with that much conviction.”
Among Sarandon’s punch lines that really struck her audience, a mix of the “famous Bernie supporting under 25-year olds” as well as those 45 and older, were lines such as, “do we want a woman president- yes we want a woman president, but the right woman president… we want to tell our daughters they don’t have to be millionaires or married to an ex-president to be president.”
While she spoke about how and at which precise moment she went all in favor of Bernie Sanders for the next U.S. President, she commented that “President Obama dropped his grass roots right on the lawn of the White House…” and that she has faith that Bernie wouldn’t do the same.
All throughout the 12-minute Sarandon speech, students waved signs that read, “Students for Bernie, paid for by Bernie 2016, not the billionaires.”
Sarandon took questions from students, seniors, Wellesley residents and even one Hillary Clinton supporter in the audience who asked her what Tim Robbins thinks of her stumping for Hillary?
To which she had a speedy retort: “Tim’s great,” she said, “he’s voting for Bernie.”
To see Susan Sarandon’s Wellesley College speech, visit https://youtu.be/7Etcu5u5ODI.
Rama K. Ramaswamy writes for Hometown Weekly. She can be reached at news@hometownweekly.net.
