Summary
It’s time to say goodbye. Here, then, is a quick summary of Clinton’s agenda as outlined in her speech:
- Clinton is running to make US economy work for every American – from nurses to truck drivers to veterans and small business owners – and to end the top-down economic policies “that failed us before”.
- She wants to make the middle class mean something again and to give the poor a chance to work their way into it.
- She promises to end the gridlock in Washington and work with Congress.
- She promises to listen to scientists on climate change, to reign in banks that are “still too risky” and to give “law-abiding immigrant families a path to citizenship”.
- She proposes making preschool and quality childcare available to every child in America and providing paid sick days, paid family leave, equal pay and a higher minimum wage.
- She promises to keep Americans safe:
I’ve stood up to adversaries like Putin and reinforced allies like Israel. I was in the situation room on the day we got bin Laden. But, I know – I know we have to be smart as well as strong.
- She is also calling for a constitutional amendment to undo the supreme court’s decision in Citizens United. She also proposes universal, automatic registration and expanded early voting.
That makes for quite the progressive checklist. In the upcoming months, we can expect to hear more specifics on number of those issues at more small and big events. According to Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, she is going to continue doing smaller events like those she did during the first two months of her campaign.
“[Clinton] is still going to do small events like that. She is also going to do bigger events. You are going to see a variety of different kind of events, which we are excited about,” Mook said the evening before the rally.
And with that, we are done.
If you want to read more about Hillary Clinton’s rally, here is a report by the Guardian’s Sabrina Siddiqui and Lauren Gambino, who were reporting live from the Roosevelt Island, New York:
Updated
“Let’s make college affordable and available to all … and lift the crushing burden of student debt,” Clinton said today.
While Clinton’s speech is a “much better than the direction Republicans offer America,” it is not “the bold economic vision that most Americans want and need”, said Adam Green, co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee. PCCC has been pushing for Clinton to make debt-free college a key campaign issue of 2016.
Green said that while Clinton’s speech showed that Democratic party is moving away from corporate Democrat priorities toward populist ideas, it lacked specifics.
Clinton’s allusions to reining in Wall Street, ending corporate tax havens, and addressing inequality open the door to a corporate accountability agenda -- but Americans need to see specifics. We need a Democratic nominee ready to take on the powerful financial interests that keep our economy down.
Others might have heard the specifics they wanted in Clinton’s speech.
“Over the past few months, Hillary Clinton has really engaged with voters. I saw it first hand in our meeting with her a few weeks ago,” Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation of Teachers, told the Guardian.
She listened to what was on people’s minds and heard what was in our hearts, about our members and our union being real partners in making a difference in the lives of kids, families and communities. So, I expect that this speech will be about a vision for America – a vision inspired by the aspirations of those she’s met on the campaign trail.
One of the more specific parts of Clinton’s speech was when she talked about providing preschool and quality childcare to every child in America.
“One thing I’ve learned is that talent is universal – you can find it anywhere – but opportunity is not. Too many of our kids never have the chance to learn and thrive as they should and as we need them to,” said Clinton, who pointed to research that shows that 80% of the brain is developed by age three. “Our country won’t be competitive or fair if we don’t help more families give their kids the best possible start in life.”
A lot has been written about women’s reproductive rights this past week from two Senate bills to get women over-the-counter birth control to the court ruling that upheld a Texas abortion law that could leave state with only seven clinics.
Women’s reproductive rights came up in Clinton’s speech, when she said Republicans “shame and blame women, rather than respect our right to make our own reproductive health decisions”.
“Hillary Clinton is a strong and steadfast advocate for women’s health and rights and we look forward to a robust conversation about how access to family planning and birth control provides economic opportunity for women,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told the Guardian.
There is no candidate for president with a stronger commitment to women or a clearer record on behalf of women’s health and rights.
Hillary Clinton’s unwavering commitment to empowering women and girls is in stark contrast to the majority of GOP presidential contenders so far who have records of attempting to restrict access to safe and legal abortion, affordable birth control, and women’s health care providers like Planned Parenthood, which would prevent millions of low-income women from getting cancer screenings, birth control, and other basic healthcare.
Or as Guardian’s Jessica Valenti puts it:
shorter #Hillary2016 speech pic.twitter.com/eSFqTnuo6p
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 13, 2015
Here are some photos from the scene in Four Freedoms Park.
One of the biggest applause lines in Clinton’s speech today came when she said that if needed, she would support a constitutional amendment to overturn the supreme court decision on campaign funding in Citizens United.
It was one of a number of lines – including the one about dyeing her hair – that Clinton had said before on the campaign trail. When she visited Iowa in April, the candidate said: “We need to fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all – even if that takes a constitutional amendment.”
In May, Clinton told a group of fundraisers that if she was elected president, her nominees to the supreme court would have to share her belief that Citizens United must be overturned, according to the Washington Post.
Bernie Sanders, who is also running for president as Democrat, took a similar stand recently, when he appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation”:
If elected president, I will have a litmus test in terms of my nominee to be a supreme court justice. And that nominee will say that we are all going to overturn this disastrous supreme court decision on Citizens United because that decision is undermining American democracy. I do not believe that billionaires should be able to buy politicians.
Updated
Before Clinton’s speech, the Guardian heard from Sabaah Jordan, 24, who is an activist with the Black Lives Matter movement. Here is what she wanted Clinton to talk about today:
I would like to see her address the brutality within prisons. I would like to see her address the fact that the conditions of poverty are causing mental illness in our communities at alarming rates and we are currently using brutality and the caging of human beings to treat illness caused by negligent policies.
I would like her to put a stop to the impunity that the financial elite enjoy as their mistakes cost millions of families their livelihoods. I would also like to see her address the fact they so many cities have financial incentives to ticket, arrest and incarcerate people, and it is the poor black communities that face the consequences of profit driven policing.
In her speech, Clinton skimmed over the issues of mental health and income inequality, and did not speak about police brutality at all.
On Friday, Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, said campaigning was a good thing for candidates, because it “helps them meet a broad variety of people.”
“For example, one of the things that [Clinton] really discovered on the campaign trail was mental illness and drug abuse and the real human toll that was having in a lot of communities,” he said, at a Politico event. “Obviously, it’s an issue that we are all aware of, but it really stood out to her how many people that was impacting on the campaign trail.”
Jordan, meanwhile, was not the only person waiting to see if Clinton would speak on the issue of police brutality. Activist DeRay McKesson tweeted his thoughts:
.@HillaryClinton's campaign invited me to the launch today on Roosevelt Island. I'm here to hear what she has to say.
— deray mckesson (@deray) June 13, 2015
So, @HillaryClinton's speech has ended. I heard a lot of things. And nothing directly about black folk. Coded language won't cut it.
— deray mckesson (@deray) June 13, 2015
It is important that political leaders acknowledge race and police reform if they expect any modicum of support from black folk.
— deray mckesson (@deray) June 13, 2015
I worry that some candidates who need the black vote to win don't quite understand how deep the distrust runs, especially in the right now.
— deray mckesson (@deray) June 13, 2015
Speech over
Clinton says she wishes her mother was still alive to see Chelsea and Clinton’s own granddaughter, Charlotte.
“I wish she could’ve seen the America we are going to build”, an America where no one is left behind, says Clinton. She says this will be an America “where a father tells his daughter, you can be anything you want to be, even a president of United States of America”.
And that’s a wrap.
Updated
“I won’t get everything right,” Clinton says, adding that she has made a number of mistakes and that there is no shortage of people pointing them out. Leadership is about perseverance and hard choices, she says.
“I have been called many things by many people. ‘Quitter’ is not one of them. Like many things, I got that from my mother.”
To deliver on these four issues, Clinton says we all have to do our part in the voting booth and by donating to her campaign.
She also says she is running against some strong voices. Or perhaps some strong forces. To be honest, it sounded a bit like she said she would be running against some strong horses.
It’s been a long speech, for her and for those reporting on her. Possibly recognising this, Clinton says: “I know how hard this job is. I’ve seen it up close and personal.”
And here comes the line about her coloring her hair …
I will be the youngest woman president in the history of the United States … You won’t see my hair turn white in the White House. I’ve been coloring my hair for years.
Updated
Clinton is now calling for mandatory voter registration and early voting.
And now we are onto the second pillar: strengthening US families and communities
Here are some of the things Clinton is proposing:
- paid sick leave
- paid family leave
- equal pay
- ending discrimination against LGBT members of society
When talking about equal pay, Clinton points out that women of color earn even less than their white counterparts
[Equal pay] is not a women’s issue, this is a family issue.
Other issues that are a family issues, according to Clinton, are: declining marriage rates, incarceration rates and mental health issues.
Clinton now highlights the first of the four pillars of her campaign agenda: making the economy work for every day Americans, not just those on the top. She wants to give the poor a chance to work their way into middle class, she says.
“The middle class needs more growth and fairness,” she says, adding that the two go hand in hand.
“Do I think it will be easy? Of course not,” she says, adding that there are allies who want to help battle income inequality like public officials and business owners. Clinton says she will rewrite the tax code so it rewards hard work and investments in America and give new incentives to companies that give employees “their fair share of the profits that their hard work earns”.
She then segues into renewable energy and the global fight against climate change, which she says will create jobs.
Clinton says that building a strong economy takes an investment in people. She is proposing free pre-school for all US children, making higher education affordable and providing workers with life long learning.
“Americans have come too far to see our progress ripped away,” says Clinton, before launching an attack on her Republican opponents. She says the new voices in the “Republican presidential choir” are all singing the “same old song, called Yesterday”.
You know the one: all our troubles look as if they are here to stay and we need to hide away.
She then hits the rapidly expanding Republican field: on the following issues:
Income inequality: wanting to lower taxes for the healthy and corporation without any regard for how this would make income inequality any worse.
Climate change: Republicans’ defense on climate change is: “I am not a scientist”. Says Clinton: “Well, why don’t they start to listen to those who are?”
Wall Street: Republicans would allow banks, she says, to remain “too risky, courting future failure”. She accuses such politicians of mass amnesia regarding the crash of 2008.
Health care: She says Republicans want to take insurance away without providing an alternative and accuses them of attempting to limit women’s reproductive rights.
Same-sex marriage: Republicans have turned their back on gay people who love each other, Clinton says, concluding:
They reject what it takes to build an inclusive economy, [what] it takes an inclusive society, what I called a village
Updated
Clinton ticks down a list of the people who she hopes to advocate for during her campaign:
- nurses who work the night shift
- truckers who drive for hours
- farmers who feed us
- veterans who served the country
- small business owners
She also criticizes Wall Street and the financial industry for putting too much emphasis on short-term profit and trading schemes.
Clinton takes a stand against the “trickle down” economy. To present herself as the champions of the middle class, she speaks of Americans who take extra shifts, find second jobs, and postpone house repairs in order to make ends meet.
She points out that top 25 hedge fun managers make more than all US kindergarden teachers combined:
“You have to wonder: when does my hard work pay off? When does my family get ahead? I say: now. That’s why I am running for president of United States.”
Clinton is now speaking.
At the beginning of her speech, she thanked New Yorkers for giving her the honor of representing them in US Senate for eight years.
She then spoke of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and presidents who followed him, like Barack Obama, who were “guided by the fundamental American belief that real and lasting prosperity must be built by all and shared by all”.
Clinton highlighted the following issues fought for by Roosevelt: equality of opportunity, jobs for those who work, security who need it, preservation of civil liberties for all, a wider and constantly rising standard of living.
“That still sounds good to me,” she said. “It’s America’s basic bargain: if you do your part, you ought to be able to get ahead.”
Updated
Katy Perry, on the other hand, is a fan:
Your official invitation to join the sisterhood of the traveling pantsuit is right here: http://t.co/dGOsvVNQbJ #Hillary2016
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) June 13, 2015
(h/t @bencjacobs)
Perry has also offered to write a “theme” song for Clinton’s campaign, an offer to which Clinton responded:
.@katyperry Well that’s not a Hard Choice. You already did! Keep letting us hear you Roar.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 22, 2014
Not everyone on the Roosevelt Island is a fan of Clinton, it seems.
So far the sole protester at the event. Said he was a HRC supporter in 2006 but disagrees with her foreign policy pic.twitter.com/PyizcJlvJr
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) June 13, 2015
.@gop out in force #stophillary pic.twitter.com/P7WVzbe8Br
— Raffi Williams (@Raffiwilliams) June 13, 2015
At Clinton rally staff tried to kick me out for wearing a #StopHillary shirt
— Raffi Williams (@Raffiwilliams) June 13, 2015
And before Clinton could lay out her campaign’s agenda, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, a leading Republican contender despite not actually having said he is running for the White House, issued the following statement:
Hillary Clinton’s re-launch of her campaign doesn’t change that her views are out-of-touch with mainstream America. We don’t need Washington telling us what to do; we need to build the economy from the ground up with government getting out of the way. Clinton would be a third term of Obama’s failed policies. Instead, we need new, fresh solutions.
There is one person who has not made it out to Roosevelt Island: New York mayor Bill de Blasio, a prominent Democrat who has yet to endorse Clinton.
De Blasio was a campaign manager for Clinton in 2000, when she ran for and won a US Senate seat in New York, and campaigned for her as a “surrogate” in the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I am very impressed by the comments she has given on a host of issues,” he said at a press conference Wednesday. “I thought her speech on voting rights was very powerful. I thought her vision for that was exactly right. I am very impressed by her criminal justice reform speech, by her innovation reform speech.”
De Blasio added that he was still waiting to hear about Clinton’s plan to fight income inequality and to raise wages and benefits.
“It’s June. The election is next year. There is a plenty of time, but that’s what I am listening for,” he said. “I think it’s best to hear the ideas and then make a decision.”
When asked what he thought of Bernie Sanders, the independent, self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont who is also running for the Democratic nomination in 2016, de Blasio laughed and said: “I’ve always like what I’ve heard from Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a great senator and a great voice for a fair society and a fair economy.”
Clinton is scheduled to speak at 11.45 am ET, but her supporters have already gathered at the Roosevelt Island.
First rally of @HillaryClinton campaign pic.twitter.com/RRwr30MkY3
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) June 13, 2015
If cuteness could qualify you to vote ...#Hillary2016 pic.twitter.com/spbA2OHBOr
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) June 13, 2015
Among those who made it out to the rally is John Podesta, the chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
Rare sighting: Podesta family at #Hillary2016 pic.twitter.com/IV3sNvpmaY
— John Podesta (@johnpodesta) June 13, 2015
Get your #Hillary2016 swag and a pretty sweet view pic.twitter.com/VoZmANBhNj
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) June 13, 2015
Yes that is former Olympic ice skater Michelle Kwan. #Hillary2016 pic.twitter.com/Wc8wKtKoqh
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) June 13, 2015
While we wait, here’s a slice of a great piece by the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs on Clinton’s unpaid intern limbo:
Clinton’s camp has made headlines about its frugality and a hard sell on its fellowship program, which allows aspiring politicos between the ages of 18 and 24 to spend this summer as full-time campaign volunteers. The result, however, is the human-resources reality of a campaign – one scheduled to hold at least 26 fundraisers this month alone – that isn’t just taking on college students with political science degrees but expecting political veterans to gamble their careers on her without pay.
On Friday night, speaking at a Politico event, Hillary for America director of communications Jennifer Palmieri said Robby Mook, the campaign manager, is so “cheap” that he won’t allow the campaign to buy a refrigerator for its HQ.
According to Mook, one was donated two weeks later.
Updated
Here is a quick preview of what’s to come, as reported by Lauren and Sabrina yesterday:
During the speech, Clinton is expected to signal that she can be a champion for the middle classes, set out an economic vision, and evoke the Roosevelts’ progressive beliefs as she pitches herself as the person to lead the country forward.
Clinton is expected to evoke her political heroine, Eleanor Roosevelt, and to draw inspiration from her late mother, Dorothy Rodham. You can read more about that here.
Also on today’s program:
- Timothy Kelly, a native of Pennsylvania, will sing the national anthem. He is a vocalist, studying music at Temple University. As Lauren points out, Kelly is no stranger to crowds and has been quite a star in Philadelphia. By the time he was 10, Kelly had sung the national anthem at Eagles games as well as at the inauguration of former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell.
- Also performing today will be Echosmith, a rock and pop band from California, and the Brooklyn Express Drumline. According to the campaign: “The drumline was developed by Brooklyn youth as a project designed to provide positive alternative programming for young people of color in some of Brooklyn’s most underserved neighborhoods”.
- The event will be emceed by Marlon Marshall, Hillary for America’s director of early states and political engagement. Andrea Gonzales, a DREAMer from Houston, Texas, will also deliver remarks.
You can watch the live stream of Clinton’s speech here.
Also, the campaign has just introduced the official campaign playlist. (h/t @megancarpentier)
Now playing: The official #Hillary2016 @Spotify playlist! Listen here → http://t.co/dL7vGv4gGi pic.twitter.com/ETfaTkPj8F
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 13, 2015
What to expect
Hillary Clinton will officially launch her campaign (again) on Saturday, with a big rally and speech at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The event comes two months after Clinton announced that she was running for president in 2016 and launched her campaign website, hillaryclinton.com.
I'm running for president. Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion. –H https://t.co/w8Hoe1pbtC
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 12, 2015
Clinton has spent the last two months traveling the US, meeting voters. Now it’s her turn to outline her plans for the nation and to position herself as the champion for the middle class.
After launching her campaign, Clinton highlighted four issues that she hoped to campaign on. The four issues, which have been described as a progressive checklist, include: campaign finance reform, reviving the US economy, strengthening families and communities and protecting the US from threats. Recently, Clinton also delivered a speech on voting rights in which she called for mandatory voter registration and early voting.
Follow along with us this soggy Saturday morning as we bring you regular updates from Four Freedoms Park, where reporters Lauren Gambino and Sabrina Siddiqui are currently awaiting Clinton’s speech.
