IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Hillary Rodham Clinton said a Republican in the White House would mark a “big U-turn” for the nation and assailed the GOP presidential field’s stance on an immigration overhaul.
Asked about Jeb Bush, the Democratic presidential candidate said: “He doesn’t believe in a path to citizenship. If he did at one time, he no longer does.”
In an interview Tuesday with CNN, Clinton said the Republican presidential contenders range “across a spectrum of being either grudgingly welcome or hostile toward immigrants.”
Campaigning in one of the most liberal pockets of Iowa, Clinton offered herself up as a Democratic standard-bearer at a time when her main Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has generated big crowds and stoked interest among progressives. Clinton also addressed criticism that she has avoided scrutiny, taking questions from reporters and then sitting down for her first national television interview since starting her campaign.
Clinton cited her husband’s eight years in office as a time of strong economic growth that helped not only the wealthy but the poor as well. She said Republicans afterward left President Barack Obama to tend to an economic crisis.