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Today’s Hillary News & Views begins with Clinton’s open letter to millennials, which was followed by a campaign rally designed around outreach to this demographic.
Hillary Clinton writes for Mic:
We've seen the rise of a presidential candidate who pits Americans against each other and traffics in prejudice and paranoia. I've heard how uneasy this race has made many of you feel — how chilling it is to see protesters beaten at political rallies while the candidate eggs them on. When he talks about making America great again, it's code for taking America back to a time when many of us — women, people of color, immigrants, LGBT Americans, people with disabilities — were marginalized, ostracized and treated as less-than.
But that's not what our country is made of. And it's not what I see when I look to your generation. In large part because of all of you, I am convinced that America's best days are ahead of us.
There's a lot that needs fixing — and we're going to fix it together.
To make it happen, we need to change both hearts and laws. Starting with my first job at the Children's Defense Fund, I've learned that if you want to help the greatest number of people in our democracy, you have to push for reform from both the outside in and the inside out. So we need activists and advocates, entrepreneurs and innovators, teachers and mentors, and everyone who changes lives every day in a million quiet ways. But we also need to do the slow, hard business of governing. We need to win elections, write laws, allocate resources and find common ground. Doing both is the secret to making change…
Many of you have shared with me that it feels like you're out there on your own — like no one has your back. It shouldn't be that way. If I'm fortunate enough to be elected, you will always have a champion in the White House. But I can't do it on my own. I need you to work with me, keep fighting for what you believe, hold me accountable. I can't promise we'll win every fight on our first try. But I can promise you this: I'll never stop fighting for you.
So let's stand together to show the world what our country, and your generation, really stands for. Let's overwhelm division and intolerance with compassion, understanding and unity. Let's make clear that Love Trumps Hate — not just this November, but always.
The Daily Beast reports:
The Clinton campaign is making no secret that Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, another progressive Democratic darling, are integral to their strategy of wooing away a younger generation of voters who are wary of the former Secretary of State. Some of the students in the crowd admittedly said they first backed Sanders in the Democratic primary but emerged with a clearer picture of Clinton.
For some in attendance, simply hearing her in person started to make the difference.
“My main reason for coming here was to become more informed because I feel like I don’t really know a whole lot about her,” Audrey Bristol-Evans, a linguistic major at Temple University, told The Daily Beast. She previously voted for Sanders in the primary but said that she’d be backing Clinton now.
“I looked up some of their policies and there are some things I like about them,” Bristol-Evans said of Johnson and Stein. “But overall, the fact that [Clinton] is the Democratic nominee, and also her general policies, is a much better option for America."
Bristol-Evans, like Mike McDermott, a 20-year-old economics and Spanish double major, seemed to feel confident about Clinton after hearing actual policies.
“I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary,” McDermott said. “I jumped right to Hillary when she got the nomination.” And hearing her proposals in person was important for him to put in perspective against what he characterized as Trump’s “incoherent solutions.”
“I think Hillary’s really knowledgeable and that’s going to give her a huge, huge edge when she actually goes against Trump head to head.”
Slate reports:
It never would have worked for Clinton to come out and promise millennials she’s something she’s not. She’s not a good-government, authentic transparency diehard who promises to cleanse the nation’s capital of corruption or transform the system. She’s not selling revolution. She’s a mainstream Democrat, a liberal with caveats, and she harbors no illusions about changing Washington. Instead what her speech sought to do in its most, dare we say, authentic moment was to persuade young people (and anyone else with the same concerns) of her view: that politics is a slog and always will be, and one that requires the work of both insiders and outsiders working mutually, over lifetimes, to make change.
“I’ve learned in a democracy,” she said, “if you want to help the greatest number of people, you have to push for reform from both the outside in and the inside out. We need activists and advocates, entrepreneurs and innovators, teachers and mentors, people who change lives every day in a million quiet ways.”
“We also need strong principled leaders,” she continued, “who can win votes, write laws, allocate resources, and do the slow, hard business of governing.”
This is any honest person’s acknowledgement of how American politics works, barring the drafting of a new constitution. Activists organize coalitions to push insiders roughly aligned with them into action, and it doesn’t happen overnight. You vote for the candidate closest to your views who has a chance of winning and then pressure that person into action.
This is exactly how Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, or Hillary Clinton would operate if he or she became that insider, because it’s what the office is. Of the four, Clinton is viewed as the least authentic by the voters to whom authenticity is so critical, but she’s by far the most honest candidate about the way change happens. Monday’s speech was an effort to show these reluctant voters that they mostly share the same policy views—and to shift their understanding of authenticity so that Clinton can make the case that she’s one of the most authentic politicians around.
Kevin Drum writes for Mother Jones:
The liberal case for Clinton remains pretty overwhelming. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but here it is:
- In 1995, despite strong pressure from diplomats and White House aides to remain low-key, she went to China and said, "Human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights."
- She worked her heart out for health care reform in 1993.
- She now supports Obamacare, and supports expanding it.
- She supports increasing the federal minimum wage to $12 per hour. This is good for workers, but less likely to have downsides than a national level of $15.
- She supported comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 and continues to support it.
- She was a prime mover behind the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and was a key figure in finding compromises that allowed it to pass after partisan bickering nearly sank it.
- Sen. Sherrod Brown: "As much as we want to move this country forward, you gotta cajole, persuade, work with, whatever it takes. And I think she does that better than about anybody I know."
- She supports LGBT rights.
- She worked with Attorney General Janet Reno to create the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women.
- She was one of the prime movers behind SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, eventually signed into law by Bill Clinton.
- She pushed the Adoption and Safe Families Act through Congress.
- She was instrumental in the founding of the Center for American Progress.
The list has another 72 entries!
Melissa McEwan writes for Shakesville:
Student loan debt is a major economic concern across generations—and Clinton's plan addresses many of those concerns. And yet on the day it was made public, the media were primarily concerned about "transparency" around her having pneumonia—a temporary illness for which she received treatment before returning to the campaign trail days later.
It was not an unusual day.
In fact, the media's disproportionate focus on "optics"—whether it's email, the Clinton Foundation, or health disclosures—has left many people accusing them of abandoning policy analysis altogether.
It certainly seems that way. But if the plentiful policies that Clinton had released were not solid, practical, and achievable plans, we'd be hearing about it.
The truth is, it's only because Clinton's policies are as strong as they are that we're not hearing about policy at all. If they were a vulnerability for her, the press would be all over them. But they cannot be exploited to give her bad headlines, so they are of no use to media determined to try to derail her candidacy.
Thus, it's not strictly true that the media has abandoned policy analysis. They've certainly scrutinized Clinton's policies—and found them to be of no use in coverage designed to harm her.
Via Shakesville, Jillian Stacia writes for Thirty on Tap:
When people tell me Hillary doesn’t smile enough, I’m reminded of all the times I’ve been told to “cheer up” when I’m not grinning like a buffoon. I’m reminded of when my first internship told me to control my facial expressions, because apparently PR girls can’t do much beside smile and nod. I’m reminded of the “resting bitch face” phenomenon and how annoying it is that the default for women is happy and chipper, even when life is not especially happy or chipper in that particular moment.
When people make fun of Hillary’s clothes, I’m reminded of all the times I’ve been embarrassed of my own outfits. I think about shopping for my first big girl job and searching desperately for clothes that made me look professional, yet stylish. My attire needed to be young, but mature. It needed to be flattering, but not revealing. Of course it shouldn’t be too bold or bright, but boring and beige wasn’t acceptable either. And certainly, for the love of God, not a pantsuit.
When people make fun of Hillary’s voice, I’m reminded of my male friends poking fun at me and asking why I always yell when I get “fired up” about certain issues and topics. “This isn’t yelling,” I’d retort. “This is the tone women take when they have shit to say. You don’t recognize it because we’re constantly underselling our opinions, but this is what an authoritative, passionate woman sounds like.”
When people worry about Hillary’s health and criticize her for campaigning with pneumonia, I think about how I’ve gone to work sick as a dog, afraid to be seen as weak or fragile or not able to cut it. I think about my stupid office air conditioning that always gives me a summer cold. I think about my mother taking care of two toddlers when she herself is sick with the flu. I think about woman after woman, decade after decade, tirelessly doing what needed to be done regardless of their physical, mental, and spiritual health. I think about how strong that is. How that’s truly what it means to be a woman – getting up and doing the work regardless. And then I think about how Hillary was criticized for that very fact. How, through the right lens, even raw strength can be twisted into a woman’s failure.
Clinton and Trump meet with world leaders for different reasons, reports CNN:
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will both met with world leaders in town for the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, but the two presidential contenders did so with vastly different goals.
Clinton used the meetings with the three world leaders, in contrast, to stress her facility with high-level diplomacy gained by years of experience on the world stage. Her meetings are also certain to be watched in various parts of the world for signs of how she would direct US foreign policy as president.
Clinton addressed prickly topics with each world leader, according to aides in the room. Clinton touched on North Korea and the rise of China with Japan's Abe, while Clinton addressing the need for a more vibrant -- and free -- civil society with Egypt while she met with Sisi.
While reporters were in the room, Clinton told Sisi that she looked forward to talking about the "path we are taking in order to build up a new civil society, a new modern country that upholds the rule of law, that respects human rights and liberties."
The Mothers of the Movement continue to stand behind Clinton.
The special guests, all three mothers to black women and men who have either been killed by gun violence or in the custody of police, were making their first trip of the general election, campaigning in North Carolina on behalf of Clinton.
"This is not just about us," Reed-Veal said. "It's about the masses of folks who want change."
The women touted the Democratic presidential candidate as being committed to creating equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation.
Like the others, Carr pointed out how Clinton had taken the time to sit and visit with her. She said she has a personal relationship with Clinton, and that Clinton understands that the criminal justice system needs to be reformed.
From what they had to say, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump didn't seem to be an option.
"We got a situation here," Carr said, pausing briefly for effect. "We got stupidity on the ballot. Money do not buy class."
Again, the crowd loved it.
Clinton spoke passionately about security and American values in the wake of the terrorist attacks this weekend.
Hillary Clinton on Monday warned Americans not to get “distracted” by Donald Trump’s "irresponsible, reckless rhetoric” about refugees and the threat of terrorist attacks after a weekend that saw explosives set in three U.S. cities and a stabbing attack at a Minnesota mall.
“There are millions and millions of naturalized citizens in America from all over the world,” Clinton told reporters at a press conference held on the tarmac of Westchester County Airport. “There are millions of law-abiding peaceful Muslim Americans. This is the kind of challenge that law enforcement can be and is prepared to address, namely, going after anyone who would threaten the United States.”
“Let's remember 9/11,” she said. “These were not refugees who got into airplanes who attacked our city and our country. Let's not get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear coming from the other side.”
In brief remarks before she took questions from the press, Clinton acknowledged the legitimate threat posed by these random acts of violence but cautioned against giving into paranoia or fear-mongering.
“This threat is real but so is our resolve,” she said. “Americans will not cower. We will prevail.”
The Washington Post Editorial Board weighs in:
In commending law enforcement and counterterrorism officials, President Obama on Monday stressed the importance of letting them do their jobs so as to prevent false reports or incomplete information. The obvious need for such prudence sadly — but not surprisingly — did not seem to matter to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Before there was any determination of the Chelsea explosion’s source, Mr. Trump nonetheless proclaimed at a campaign stop in Colorado that a bomb had gone off. He may have guessed right, but that would be a reckless way to do business in the Oval Office.
Equally disturbing was Mr. Trump’s bombast about how he would approach terrorism — “knock the hell out of ’em” — and maybe use racial profiling. By contrast, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wanted to know the facts, and called for the support of first responders and prayers for the injured. It was the kind of calm and caution one naturally expects from a leader.
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Crossposted at HillaryHQ, an independent, progressive blog committed to the electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.