Originally posted at The New York Post.
Robin Hood has traded tights for a royal-blue pantsuit.
Hillary Rodham Clinton rebranded herself as an anti-Wall Street warrior who would take from the rich to give to the poor in an official presidential campaign launch Saturday on Roosevelt Island.
“Prosperity can’t be just for CEOs and hedge-fund managers. Democracy can’t just be for billionaires and corporations,” Clinton declared to 5,500 fans under blue skies at Four Freedoms Park.
It was a dramatic do-over of her April 12 Twitter announcement that she was running for the White House for a second time.
Since that launch, her campaign has struggled amid revelations that her family’s Clinton Foundation accepted questionable donations, suspicions over her use of private e-mail while secretary of state, and criticism she was ducking questions from the press and public.
Originally posted at The New York Post.
Robin Hood has traded tights for a royal-blue pantsuit.
Hillary Rodham Clinton rebranded herself as an anti-Wall Street warrior who would take from the rich to give to the poor in an official presidential campaign launch Saturday on Roosevelt Island.
“Prosperity can’t be just for CEOs and hedge-fund managers. Democracy can’t just be for billionaires and corporations,” Clinton declared to 5,500 fans under blue skies at Four Freedoms Park.
It was a dramatic do-over of her April 12 Twitter announcement that she was running for the White House for a second time.
Since that launch, her campaign has struggled amid revelations that her family’s Clinton Foundation accepted questionable donations, suspicions over her use of private e-mail while secretary of state, and criticism she was ducking questions from the press and public.
“We’ve had the spring training, and now it’s opening day,” John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, told reporters 45 minutes before she took the H-shaped stage.
Power-girl pop songs, including Katy Perry’s “Roar,” Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger,” dominated the pre-speech playlist. And Clinton took the stage to the strains
of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave.”
of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave.”
The speech presented Hillary 2.0 as a populist who champions the nurses, food servers and farmers — and criticizes the “1 percent.”
“You see corporations making record profits, with CEOs making record pay, but your paychecks have barely budged,” she said.
Echoing Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address, in which he enumerated “the four freedoms” — freedom of worship and speech and freedom from want and fear — she declared the “four fights”: building the economy, strengthening families, defending the country from global threats, and reforming government.
She also asserted, without irony, that “we have to stop the endless flow of secret, unaccountable money that is distorting our elections, corrupting our political process, and drowning out the voices of our people.”
She said she would support a constitutional amendment to undo the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which refused to restrict super-PAC political spending.
Republicans weren’t buying it.
Republicans weren’t buying it.
“Hillary becoming a populist is like Derek Jeter coming back to play for the Red Sox. It doesn’t feel right, and no one will believe it,” said GOP consultant Jessica Proud.
Clinton claimed the top 25 hedge-fund managers in the country earn more money than all of America’s kindergarten teachers combined, and often pay less taxes.
“So you have to wonder,” Clinton thundered. “When does my hard work pay off? When does my family get ahead? When?
“I say now,” she announced.
She ran through a list of ideas: rewriting the tax code to encourage US investment; paid family leave; corporate profit-sharing; and cutting student debt.
In a shout-out to the left, Clinton pushed reproductive freedom for women, equal pay, and gay marriage.
But the former New York senator remained vague on details.
She drew a straight line from FDR to her husband’s administration to President Obama, heaping praise on her Democratic predecessors.
The 67-year-old grandmother added, “I may not be the youngest candidate in this race, but I will be the youngest woman president in the history of the United States!”
Husband Bill Clinton sat proudly on the side of the stage, next to daughter Chelsea and son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky.
Candidate Clinton got personal at several points in the speech, relating how her mother was abandoned and forced to work as a maid at 14.
Critics said the speech had been touted as being more personal and emotional than it turned out to be.
“It did not meet the hype on her personal narrative. She spoke well but without any emotional connection,” said Republican strategist Susan Del Percio.
“Maybe we’ll see the passion in the relaunch of the relaunch.”
Even some supporters agreed. “I just think she needs a little bit more fire in the belly,” said Joseph Graham, 46, of Chelsea, who attended the rally and said he would vote for Clinton “no matter what.”
But, most in the crowd seemed euphoric. “I think it’s about time to have a candidate who aligns with the majority of Americans on a lot of issues … she balanced having good personal touches with actual specific policies,” said Katie Edmond, 25, from Astoria.
Read more at The New York Post.
Dinesh D’Souza’s latest #1 New York Times best selling book is “America,” a rebuttal of the progressive shame narrative of American history, now available in paperback for the first time!
http://www.dineshdsouza.com/news/new-york-post-hillary-clinton-wants-to-take-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor/
No comments:
Post a Comment