NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton unleashed her starkest contrast with Republicans to date Saturday during a picturesque rally on the tip of Roosevelt Island, propelling her presidential campaign into a more aggressive phase.
“There may be some new voices in the presidential Republican choir,” she told the audience assembled before and behind her in Four Freedoms park. “But they’re all singing the same old song. A song called ‘Yesterday.'”
READ: [The Hillary Clinton Paradox]
Clinton tarred her Republican rivals for “promising lower taxes for the wealthy and fewer rules for the biggest corporations” without regard for income inequality, a problem she promised to tackle head-on if she captures the White House. She dubbed the GOP climate change deniers, charged that they would take away health insurance from millions of Americans and deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally. She said they “shame and blame” women instead of supporting their reproductive rights and “turn their backs on gay people who love each other.”
“They reject what it takes to build an inclusive economy. It takes an inclusive society,” she said.
Later in her 45-minute address, she cited her proposal for universal automatic voting registration as a way to fight GOP efforts to “disempower and disenfranchise young people, poor people, people with disabilities and people of color.”
“What part of democracy are they afraid of?” she asked.
But her own speech revealed how tricky it might be to justify electing another Democrat after two terms of Democratic rule.
[IMAGE]
Clinton invoked both the presidencies of her husband and Barack Obama as success stories, during which measurable gains were made for middle-class Americans. Yet without ever mentioning his name, she assigned the blame for much of the current economic strife to President George W. Bush’s tenure. In effect, she’s asking voters to cut Obama slack for not repairing the damage from his predecessor.
“We’re still working our way back from a crisis that happened because time-tested values were replaced by false promises,” Clinton said, referring to “trickle down economics.” “The Republicans twice cut taxes for the wealthiest, borrowed money from other countries to pay for two wars and family incomes dropped. You know where we ended up.”
Clinton appears poised to run against the era of Bush, whose brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is set to formally launch his own campaign Monday.
“We’re standing again, but we all know we’re not yet running the way America should,” she said.
READ: [Fear and Loathing Over Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton]
She used the second half of her speech to outline the remedy for this, peppering her remarks with a significant amount of populist rhetoric on economic stratification that should be music to the ears of progressives, but will open her up to familiar attacks from Republicans.
“The bottom line is a Hillary Clinton presidency would represent Barack Obama’s third term,” wrote Republican candidate Rick Perry in an e-mail to supporters following Clinton’s rally.
Clinton left most policy specifics for the coming weeks but said she her plans would include rewarding businesses that invest in “long-term value,” re-writing the tax code and making it easier to obtain a small business loan.
She said she would strive to make America “the clean energy superpower,” make pre-school and child care accessible for everyone and mandate paid family leave. She reiterated her support for a path to citizenship for immigrants who are here illegally — “not second class status” — a light jab at Jeb Bush, who favors a path to legalization.
As opposed to 2008, when she shied away from wielding her gender as an asset, Clinton embraced it throughout this speech, even with a dash of humor.
“I may not be the youngest candidate in this race, but I will be the youngest woman president,” she declared to sustained cheers from the scores of women who came to see her. “And the first grandmother as well. And one additional advantage: You won’t see my hair turn white in the White House, I’ve been coloring it for years.”
Rock Bublitz, a woman sporting a t-shirt emblazoned with the words “This is what a feminist looks like,” came from New Zealand to see Clinton in the flesh.
“I’ve been so excited. I’ve been looking at the calendar to see where she’s going,” she said, noting she timed her vacation here to coincide with the rally. “It’s important that it’s a woman to women all over the world.”
Donna Amandus trekked from Fort Madison, Iowa, Saturday, proudly wearing a pink t-shirt Clinton signed for her during her failed 2008 run.
What’s different this time?
“Last time, they weren’t ready for a woman yet, and now we’re over it,” Amandus said. “She’s the first capable woman. It’s our time.”
Clinton’s gender — once debated as a potential drawback — is now clearly a benefit.
Her vulnerabilities have already been laid plain. She’ll be attacked for a lack of transparency and accessibility. She’ll be branded a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. She’ll be questioned for cautioness and political calculation.
But, as she said Saturday as her second campaign for the presidency moves into overdrive, “I’ve been called many things by many people. ‘Quitter’ is not one of them.”
More from U.S. News
PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton Through the Years
Hillary Clinton vs. Jeb Bush Inspires Fear, Loathing
Hillary Clinton Frames Debate With Republicans In N.Y. Rally originally appeared on usnews.com
