NEW YORK (AP) – Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling for a new era of shared prosperity, arguing that American workers can trust her to fight for them in a speech billed as her formal 2016 presidential campaign debut.
At an outdoor rally Saturday on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, Clinton will portray herself as a fierce advocate for those left behind in the post-recession economy, detailing a lifetime of work on behalf of struggling families. She says her mother’s difficult childhood inspired what she considers a calling.
Her campaign says that “tenacious fighter” message will be the foundation of her presidential bid, even as she takes pains to stay silent on political divisive issues, including two billed by Republicans as key to economic growth: a proposed trade deal with Pacific Rim nations and the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Long one of the most divisive figures in American politics, Clinton seeks to use the speech to present herself on her own terms and turn her politicized history into a strength. She lost her 2008 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination to then-Sen. Barack Obama.
“Her story, her life, is she is someone who has always been advocating and fighting for someone else,” said Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign’s communications director.