Tampa mayor on Trump: ‘Twitter is not an economic policy’ [podcast]

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn campaigned for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire during that state’s presidential primary. His support of the Clinton dates back to Bill Clinton’s first presidential race. In 1996, Buckhorn ran the Clinton campaign in Hillsborough County.

“I have been involved with the family for a long, long time and I knew when Secretary Clinton decided to run that I was going to be with her,” he said. “I think she is the candidate that we need at this point given what is going on in the country, the need for stability and a coherent policy.”

On June 26, Clinton spoke at U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting. Buckhorn, the mayor of Florida’s third largest city, attended the meeting. He said that mayors have a different perspective, less political and more focused on managing budgets and creating jobs.

“We don’t have time for the politics,” said Mayor Buckhorn. “There’s no partisan way to fill a pothole. Mayors are uniquely different in that respect.”

He said that Clinton focused predominantly on things that mayors care about and that cities need, infrastructure dollars.

“I think all of us as Americans would recognize that our infrastructure is falling apart,” said Buckhorn. “Whether it’s bridges in Pensacola or road networks in Tampa, rail, underground sewer lines, that is the life blood that drives our economy.”

He added, “That’s what mayors deal with every day. When you talk about infrastructure and investments in infrastructure you catch the mayors attention. If cities in the country are going to prosper and if we’re going to create jobs and if we’re going to get out of this recession, then we need investments in infrastructure.”

When asked about the tone of this election cycle and Donald Trump’s attacks on his own party and Clinton, Buckhorn felt most the verbal abuse was beneath the office of the presidency.

“I think it’s demeaning to the process and in many cases some of those statement are outright un-American,” the mayor said. “We are a country that was built on diversity and celebrating that diversity and to attack other groups by virtue of the god they worship or who they love or the country of their origin, I think does a disservice to who we are as a country and what we stand for.”

He added, “We don’t need to demonize other people who look differently than we do and say that’s the enemy. That is what I am so offended by some of the statements that Mr. Trump has made that I think do nothing to elevate America in the eyes of the world and do a disservice to who we are and the very basis of our constitution and our foundation.”

Mayor Buckhorn expects to see the Democrats pulled together at the Democratic National Convention and offer a unified message that speaks to the values of Americans and Floridians.

“I recognize that Secretary Clinton is not everyone’s cup of tea,” he said. “There are folks that want the system shaken up and so they rally to someone like Mr. Trump, but I think when it’s all said and done, what you will want at the end of the day is stability.”

He said, “What we want at the end of the day is coherence. Twitter is not an economic policy.”

Mayor Buckhorn said that he believes Sen. Bernie Sanders will rally around Hillary Clinton.

“I think we will go to the country with a message of hope, not negativity. I am pretty confident that the Democratic candidate will prevail in the fall.”