AP News, September 3rd, 2007
Democrat Hillary Clinton courted labor activists with a sharply populist theme, making the argument that the party must focus on results, not rhetoric, and that she's the candidate best able to change the nation's course.
Drawing a clear distinction with her Democratic rivals, the New York senator brought her former president husband along for a Labor Day swing underscoring her experience.
"Change is just a word if you don't have the strength and experience to make it happen," Clinton said. "I bring 35 years of experience to make the changes I think we need to make in America."
She sounded her theme before more than 2,000 activists at a Labor Day picnic in Sioux City.
Clinton said she would hit the ground running, acting even before sworn into office. The day after winning election, Clinton said, "I'm going to ask distinguished Americans of both parties, including my husband" to begin traveling the globe with the message: `America is back.'"
The fight for the Democratic nomination has focused on which candidate is most likely to bring fundamental change to a country that all argue is off course. Rivals Barack Obama and John Edwards contend that Clinton is a creature of Washington who ultimately will bring business as usual to the White House.
In what she billed as the formal opening of her fall campaign, Clinton sought to turn that argument on its ear, saying her experience means she is best qualified to bring about change.
"We need to focus on results, not rhetoric, people not process," said Clinton. "You have to go into the Oval Office on day one and start making change. I want to start even before I'm inaugurated."
In seeking distinction with rivals like Edwards and Obama, Clinton and her backers argue that Obama of Illinois is in his first term in the Senate, and Edwards served only a single term as a senator from North Carolina before leaving office. They see her two terms as first lady as well as two terms representing New York in the Senate as building the experience needed to push her plans through Congress.
"We are now living with a government that doesn't work, that none of us believe in, that has demonstrated time and time again they put cronyism above competence, ideology above true leadership," said Clinton.
She mixed her theme of experience with a populist message aimed at energizing union voters key to winning the Democratic nomination.
"Our country is great because of people like you," Clinton said. "We're out of balance right now. We're not paying enough attention to what made us great. It is not rich people who made America great, it is hardworking people like you."
At a labor rally in Des Moines that was also attended by Edwards, Clinton said Labor Day was about respecting and celebrating the hard work that built America, and making "sure that you have the right to organize and bargain your way into the 21st century."
"It is also essential that we resolve that we're not going to just celebrate labor on Labor Day, but that we're going to celebrate labor every day, and that we have a president who appreciates the contributions" of labor unions and working America, she told a packed crowd waiving signs including "This is Clinton Country."
The holiday swing was the second time former President Bill Clinton has joined his wife on the campaign trail in key early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton's record with labor is mixed, largely because he pushed trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which unions argue is a ticket to exporting American jobs.
In introducing his wife at the Sioux City stop, Clinton focused on the economic gains made during his tenure in office.
"When I was elected president, inequality in America decreased," Clinton said. "We had six years of manufacturing job growth."
In Iowa, he told the crowd that one of the biggest challenges of "being president is not being out of touch with the people who put you there." For his wife, he said that wouldn't be a problem.
"She will never forget you and how you live," he said.
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Associated Press Writer Amy Lorentzen in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
